1. To equip educators with a basic understanding of design thinking.
2. To equip educators with the ability to use the tools and processes of design thinking to create solutions that better meet the needs of users (i.e. students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders) in their areas of work.
3. To equip educators with the basic tools for facilitating a design thinking programme.

This course introduces participants to the concept of design thinking, as well as a basic set of design thinking tools and processes. Participants will learn by doing: working in groups of 4-5, participants will immediately put into practice the tools and processes they have learned as they attempt to create innovative solutions to solve a real-world human problem. They will interact with people who experience the problem on a daily basis to acquire a deep understanding of their needs and challenges; they will develop and refine their solutions on the basis of feedback from their fellow learners and guests.

The course takes the form of a simulated design project aimed at tackling an important issue in human society. Given the length of the course, participants should not expect to be able to create solutions that might actually work. The focus of the learning is on the processes, tools, and values of design thinking, not the solutions that participants eventually produce. One useful way of thinking about this is to treat the course as the first two days in an actual design project.

The course ends with a brief exploration of possible ways of applying design thinking tools and processes in Singapore schools, as well as some of the challenges involved.

All educators