Innovation through Design Thinking A

📸  Google Photos for our class

Course Enrollment Requirement
Before our first class, please take a few minutes to complete this survey about your experience working collaboratively. The deadline is listed in the course calendar. 

Course Description
Design Thinking is not the same as Design! Rather, it's an approach to innovation and problem-solving that uses the methodologies of designers on complex problems in business and society. As such, this isn’t a ‘design course’; it’s for all professions who want to think creatively and innovatively. We’ll use analysis, social science, and business thinking to come up with solutions. The course uses hands-on approaches to learning.

Your grasp of Design Thinking will only come gradually, and you will likely be confused along the way. That is the nature of innovation: Ambiguous and with few hard facts. If that is not something you care for, then this course is possibly not for you. On the other hand, if you thrive in an atmosphere of experimentation, collaboration, innovation, and creativity, you will love it here.

The course will help you to:

• Lead innovation in a collaborative setting in multidisciplinary teams
• Master creative thinking and problem-solving
• Learn techniques to understand users’ motivations and to gather deep insights
• Learn from failure: Innovation entails taking risks and trying new things
• Communicate through engaging visual storytelling and video-prototyping

We have three hours of class time each week. Outside of class, you’ll also have six hours of work, most of which will be assigned to your team. Therefore, planning your week is essential.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will:

• Have fundamental capabilities in the methods used for practicing Design Thinking
• Understand the challenges and benefits of Design Thinking
• Be able to communicate clearly about Design Thinking
• Be open to innovating in multidisciplinary teams
• Have a process and mindset suited to innovation and creative problem-solving

Faculty

Mikael Fuhr, Architect and Industrial Designer

Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. +25 years of experience in design management, innovation, communication, and leadership. Design manager and project manager in DSB - Danish State Railways, Head of Design Vision Lab in DSB, Director of Design in DSB, Founding Partner in FUHR. With DIS since 2013.

Readings

• Brown, Tim, and Barry Katz. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation. Harper Business, 2019
• Osterwalder, Alexander, et al. Value Proposition Design. Wiley, 2014
• Selected articles and cases

Expectations of the Students

Be prepared to participate, contribute, ask and answer questions, and think creatively:

• Are you willing to test new ideas and new ways of thinking?
• Do you promote an environment where everyone feels free to express their ideas and stretch their thinking?
• Do you contribute to the learning environment by sharing your thoughts and experiences?

Assessment and Evaluation

Practice project [team]: Practice Design Thinking in a real-life project that you define yourselves.

Presentations [team]: Present the Practice project in class. Your presentation and communication skills are essential: Do you convey your message clearly and convincingly? Do you engage your audience?

Communication project [individual]: Document the process used in your Practice project. Reflect on process and tools. The paper should be 1.500 words long (+10% accepted). A highly visual and engaging paper is expected.

Engagement [individual]: This grade is based on your engagement both in and out of class. A valued form of engagement is the input, articles, and knowledge from other classes that you research on your own. Also, your level of activity in exercises, and in your team is part of the engagement grade.

Grading

Individual grades for team assignments may be applied. The course policy is that late assignments are not accepted.

Disability and Resource Statement

Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the Office of Academic Support (acadsupp@dis.dk) to coordinate this.  In order to receive accommodations, students should inform the instructor of approved DIS accommodations within the first two weeks of classes.

Academic Regulations

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• • • Course Enrollment and Grading  
    • Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

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