SPEC 35
Making & Managing Choice with Design Thinking Winter 2023

This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

he course will introduce Design Thinking (or Designerly Thinking) as a practice for making and managing choice across a broad range of meaning-making scenarios, from problem-solving to innovation. Design Thinking enables people to create multiple opportunities for positive change that may consist–in a worst-case scenario–in failing fast, and failing cheaply. While learning and practicing Design Thinking participants will develop empathic listening, problem framing, divergent and convergent thinking, creative and analytical problem-solving, risk and failure management, visualizing information, and cross-disciplinary teamwork, among other skills. The course consists of daily (Monday through Friday) 75-minute sessions of instruction, followed by approximately 3 hours of self-directed, practical fieldwork in teams of 5 to 6 people. Each session will consist of four components: 1. a presentation, recap, or variant of the framework of Design Thinking (including references for further reading, listening, or viewing as appropriate); 2. a description of a specific practice within the framework; 3. illustrations of that specific practice with real-world examples; 4. a description of the self-directed fieldwork assignment, with clarifications as required. Following the first fieldwork assignment, each session will begin with Q&A on challenges or other considerations that arise from the previous sessions’ assignment(s). Each team may choose a practical topic to work on in the field for the duration of the course. The topics may be original with each team or shared. We suggest topics familiar enough to the participants to avoid steep learning curves, but not to the point of risking too much bias during the problem framing. The instructor will provide a template for teams to present the outcome of their project during the last session. Failed projects will be integral to the learning experience, and accepted as deliverables.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 30
Expected: NA
Class#: 1374
Grading: pass/fail only
Requirements/Evaluation: Final project or presentation.
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: Applied arts or applied sciences majors
Unit Notes: Trained in architecture, engineering, design, and city planning, Ralf Korbmacher has practiced Design Thinking since 1988 to create growth opportunities for businesses, GOs, NGOs, and cities in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Attributes: EXPE Experiential Education Courses

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