Design Thinking Curriculum

Curriculum Description:

This collection includes all components of the Spring 2021 Integrated Design Thinking curriculum developed by NorthWest Arkansas Community College (NWACC). Design Thinking begins as a framework for discovering and developing solutions that can be applied to a variety of problems." NWACC's approach to Design Thinking attempts to "... guide designers through established stages and tools to expose them to the Design Thinking framework." The stages include: Human Centered Design, Creating Project Definition, Generating Ideas, Rapid Prototyping, and Integrating. 

Curriculum Contents:

The curriculum includes a PDF module for each stage of the framework. Modules include an information presentation and a supplementary document (if required). Supplementary documents include tools, techniques, best practices, sample questions, mind maps, and more.  

A document of case studies and an in-class activity document are also included. Each stage of the framework is discussed for the three cases studies that are included. The case studies go over an architect designing a cabin, an artist designing an art instillation for a courthouse and police station, and key leaders from NWACC creating an integrated design lab. 

The 10-page activity has students partner up and create an ideal wallet. The students interview each other, create a project definition, generate ideas, share solutions, receive feedback, and then share final feedback. During the activity, students practice using their active listening and interview skills.

For orientation purposes Spring21-DesignThinking-Module1.pdf is included as a separate attachment and offers a sample of the type of material included in this module. 

Below is a list of the files included in the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

Sp21-Design Thinking Curricular Modules (8 files, 22.3 MB)

• Design Thinking Activity: The Wallet Project (Spring21-DesignThinking-Activity.pdf 1.8 MB)
• Case Studies (Spring21-DesignThinking-CaseStudies.pdf 1.5 MB)
• Module 1: Design Thinking Overview (Spring21-DesignThinking-Module1 4.4 MB)
• Module 2: Creating Project Definition (Spring21-DesignThinking-Module2 2.4 MB)
• Module 3: Generating Ideas (Spring21-DesignThinking-Module3 2.6 MB)
• Module 4: Rapid Prototyping (Spring21-DesignThinking-Module4 4.4 MB)
• Module 5: Integrating (Spring21-DesignThinking-Module5 5.1 MB)