Design Thinking at GCC

 General Design Thinking Philosophies and Principles

This semester you'll be working on a project that will require you to work individually and in teams to identify an issue related to the material covered in class and to explore it in detail using a process called design thinking. Design thinking allows us to gain deep knowledge of an issue by providing a framework where we identify and learn to understand a problem and then focus on designing, developing, and testing possible solutions. Design thinking empowers each of us to explore our potential as conscientious, intelligent, rigorous, and innovative problem solvers and scholars. 

Design Thinking is Unpredictable and Energetic

All humans are born as creative beings, but as we grow up, many of us lack opportunities to cultivate and apply our creativity. Students from all disciplines can learn the design thinking process as a methodology for creative and human-centered problem solving to prepare you to collaborate across disciplines and tackle the world’s biggest challenges.

We will use design thinking this semester to tackle a real world innovation challenge. As preparation for this challenge, you will explore the main design thinking concepts through short videos and readings and practice relevant methods and approaches as you work on your design thinking project. By the end of the course, you will have learned through hands-on experience the mindsets and basic tools for each stage of the design thinking process:

Empathize: understanding the needs of those for whom you are designing.
Define: framing problems as opportunities for creative solutions.
Ideate: generating a range of possible solutions. 
Prototype: communicating the core elements of solutions to others.
Test & Reflect: learning what works and doesn’t work to improve solutions and reflecting on experience.

As you work through the different stages you will interact with classmates to share your experiences and exchange feedback along the way. Developing self-reflection habits and the ability for effective peer-to-peer interactions are important learning outcomes of the course. 

 Design Thinking Assignment One

Design Thinking Assignment Two

Design Thinking Final Team Project and Presentation

Design Thinking Rubric

Brainstorm Rules

Design Thinking Resources