Design thinking as a learning strategy

Rote learning is no more valid as the domain of education is becoming highly competitive, innovative, and expansive and a highly challenging in the recent days. It is always appealing to see kids showing interest on the beautified stuff with great visual displays rather than the theoretical and plain textual memorization because this is how our brain loves to do. Our cognitive and perceptual systems are so built that they get attracted towards well designed concepts. Learning is meaningless if there is no innovative angle in it however, coming up with an innovative idea is easy but introducing the right one takes work. With design thinking, we can project out what we know and starting from scratch it is a great avenue to unlock all kinds of possibilities and opportunities. An extra gig of design implementation adds a great value to the learning and presentation. Design thinking promotes the notion of thinking out of the box.

What exactly is design thinking?

It is quite confusing when we talk about design thinking because it is widely used in many areas as pert their convenience, goals, resources and the capacity to skill the users. In business terms, it is a methodology applied to build innovative products and services while focusing on what actually customers by the help of continual validation and iteration so as to offer exactly that solution which provides value. But, design thinking in the field of education is a creative mindset and approach towards learning, collaboration, and problem solving. We try making things easy, shareable, interactive, problem solving, and affordable so that the whole processing of learning becomes easy but detailed. In practice, the design process is scientifically structured at identifying challenges, gathering information, generating potential solutions, while refining ideas and testing solutions.

Why do we need design thinking?

Users and user environment is always dynamic as what seems to be perfect today might not be the same tomorrow. This necessitates a new way of thinking, administration, redefinition of the newly existing challenges prepare protocols that address newly arising issues. It is just another version of what we already have but in a creative, crisp and innovative manner. Experts from architecture, teaching, engineering and many other fields use design thinking a valuable means of problem-solving. Innoclazz Academy prepares many tools including design thinking charts that help our home tutors in Bangalore

Procedural approach tom design thinking

Design thinking is a progressive approach rather than a handy and straightforward formula. Before implementing the protocol, it must be empathized, prepare the plan, define the needs and problems, ideate things, prototype and test it on the actual subjects. There are 5 phases of design thinking explained as under.

1. Empathize the users

It is a mind game of diving deep inside the minds of people to understand what people want and what not. At this point of time building a rapport and gaining proper understanding of what fits best for the subjects in the context. It is quintessential to spend time observing and engaging with the real users. Empathizing phase inspires us to gain an understanding of sentiments and thoughts about the product or service we deliver.

2. Define the problem

It is important to impart what users what instead of what you know. To do this, it is important to think of users view point and define things accordingly. During this phase, it is essential to define the user problems by gathering the required data and use it effectively. This needs a bit of caution, careful observation, empathetic approach and a dynamic research mind. At this phase it is very important to write problem statement that reflects the issue or challenge that we need to seek to address. Always remember to frame with the user’s perspective to deliver it to the best possible level. By the end of this phase, one must be very clear about are we addressing the right audience with an apt question within the available resources. It is good to tune the statement if in case it is necessary to do so as wrongly presenting a problem makes no sense.

3. Ideation

In this phase, we should stress on the value of creativity by generating many ideas on how to present things to the context that fits well for the given users. At this phase, we must be very clear about what exactly is the problem and what are the best alternatives that we can use to solve the problems because design is basically a problem solving approach by its nature. It is good to take opinions from others as this adds credibility to the angle of innovative approach that we use in the context. A new angles that renders to think outside the box is essentially a good practice. Once again, not to forget the users view point. To do this, there is nothing wrong in asking a user to review it. For instance if we have designed a physics lesson about electric current, the design must be explained to one of the student to get an opinion; which is like a pilot study before the actual study.

4. Prototyping

At this phase, we need to reorganize the ideas to prepare a scale down version of a product. This helps to save time and be in the track. The fundamental objective of the prototyping stage is to turn ideas into something tangible for the real users. While prototyping, keep in mind the about the user-centric approach, allowing you to gather feedback.

5. Testing

Finally after prototyping, testing is done to display prototypes in front of real users and watch over their response. At the testing phase, we need to carefully watch the expressions level of interest, and the way they respond to the presentation. Always think that testing is not the final stage but it can be a reentry of the whole process into new phase by taking opinions of the users. Therefore, it is imperative to go back and make improvements in case if necessary. Remember: The Design Thinking process is iterative and non-linear.

Design thinking –tool box for teachers.

In the field of education, design thinking uses various tools. We can make use of design Consultation strategies, brainstorming Kits including Post-it notes, Sharpie markers, and stickable chart papers to present ideas. Additionally, we can make use of physical Prototyping Cart with tones of creative, constructivist supplies, such as, yarn, foil, craft sticks, rubber bands etc. Follow us at Home tuition Bangalore for more articles like this.

I am Danish, seasoned author and a blogger. Currently working at Innoclazz Academy Bangalore,