Course Description
Immersive experience in Design Thinking, a proven problem-solving approach driven by user input to generate innovative solutions to social challenges. Intended for students interested in careers in nonprofit and government sectors, social enterprise, and community organizing. Students will engage with nonprofit organizations and communities to design solutions to their challenges.
Athena Title
Design Think Social Innov SL
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in MNML 7908E
Non-Traditional Format
Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. Students will be involved in the planning and implementation of the projects(s) and may spend time outside of the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning component for approximately 50-75% of overall instructional time.
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
• To develop a strong understanding of the design process and how it can be applied in a variety of settings. • To learn techniques to understand users'/clients' motivations and to gather deeper insights. • To learn to research and understand the unique needs of an organization and its clients around specific challenges. • To come up with an array of ideas and be able to critically refine them. To learn to build empathy for target audiences. • To communicate their ideas through visual story-telling and prototyping. • To gain an understanding of and appreciation for a user- centered, empathetic approach to addressing problems. • To develop and test ideas through a rapid iteration cycle. • To learn how to create physical prototypes and receive user feedback. • To gain experience in employing Design Thinking method to guide organizations and communities through the process of coming up with new ideas, developing those ideas, and their implementation. • To learn how to collaborate within an interdisciplinary context and use diversity of perspectives and differences to build creative solutions. • To synthesize ideas and viewpoints to come up with new solutions.
Topical Outline
1. Teamwork 2. Primer on Design Thinking 3. Design Thinking Process 4. Inspiration/Ethnographic Research 5. Empathy/Journey/MindMapping 6. Data Synthesis 7. Ideation 8. Prototyping 9. Design Thinking Showcase