Faculty Development Program in Design Thinking

In this module, participants will dive into the first stage of design thinking: empathizing with users. They will learn about user-centered design and why understanding users’ needs and emotions is critical to creating effective solutions. The module introduces practical empathy-building techniques, such as observations and interviews, allowing participants to gain meaningful insights from real user experiences. It also covers the creation of empathy maps and user personas, which serve as tools to visualize user data and guide the design process with a focus on user-centric outcomes.

The Define module focuses on framing the right problem to solve. Participants will analyze the data gathered during the empathy phase to define the problem space clearly and precisely. They will explore how to reframe these problems in a user-centric way, ensuring that the focus remains on addressing the users’ real needs. This module also teaches participants how to create clear, concise problem statements that serve as a foundation for the next phase, ideation. By the end, they will have a well-defined problem statement to guide the solution-generation process.

In the Ideate module, participants will explore various creative techniques to generate a wide range of potential solutions to the problem they’ve defined. The session introduces brainstorming and other ideation methods, encouraging participants to think outside the box and embrace all possibilities. They will use an Ideation Canvas to organize and structure their ideas, ensuring clarity and focus during brainstorming. The module concludes with the Idea Evaluation Matrix, which helps participants evaluate and prioritize ideas based on criteria such as feasibility, impact, and innovation potential.

This module introduces participants to the concept of prototyping as a way to transform ideas into tangible models. Prototyping allows for early testing and refinement of ideas, and this session emphasizes the importance of starting with low-fidelity prototypes that can be created quickly and cheaply. Participants will learn how to prototype not only physical products but also services, enabling them to model interactions and processes. The goal is to create simple prototypes that can be tested with users, allowing for iterative improvements based on real-world feedback.

In this module, participants will learn how to test their prototypes with users to gather feedback and iterate on their solutions. Testing is a crucial step in design thinking, as it reveals how users interact with the prototype and identifies areas for improvement. Participants will explore product experimentation techniques and how to conduct effective usability testing. This includes setting up tests, asking the right questions, and observing users’ behaviors. By the end of the module, participants will understand the importance of testing as part of the iterative design process.

The final module focuses on the iterative nature of design thinking. Participants will learn that design thinking is not a linear process, but a cycle of continuous improvement based on feedback and testing. They will explore how to incorporate user feedback into subsequent iterations, refining their solutions to better meet user needs. This module reinforces the importance of adaptability and openness to change in the design process, ensuring that solutions evolve and improve through multiple iterations until they effectively address the users’ challenges.