Introduction to Design Thinking: Undergraduate Course at UAM
Introduction to Design Thinking and Innovation was an undergraduate course designed for students of Business and Finance at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
Role: Learning Design Consultant
Client: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Learners: Undergraduate students across UAM's Faculty of Business and Economics
Sector: Higher Education
Photo of Bill Bixby as Tony Blake from the television program The Magician.
The Brief
Today innovation is everyone's business. Whether you are a manager in a global corporation, an entrepreneur starting up, a teacher, a maker, or in a policy-maker, everyone is expected to do better with less. That is why we all need design thinking. At every level in every kind of organisation, design thinking provides the tools needed to become an innovative thinker and uncover creative opportunities that are sometimes hard to see.
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I was hired by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in 2018 to prototype a 12-week course on Design Thinking for undergraduate students in their Faculty of Business and Economics.
My Design Process
My ​own Master's degree was a novel course bringing Management studies and Design Innovation together. Reflecting on skills I developed and the strategies my course designers and tutors had applied, I started prototyping the design of this course for UAM.
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In consultation with Prof. Raquel Galindo, Associate Professor of Economics and Business Administration at UAM, I designed the course structure and activities based on the facilitation skills and content knowledge of the facilitators at UAM and the needs of the students.
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One of the key steps we followed, was to write 3 prototype course descriptions with learning outcomes and sample activities and presented these as options to the students to opt into the course structure they would enjoy the most. This way, we were able to ensure we co-designed a course that met the learning objectives of the faculty and students.
Outcome
The 'Design Thinking and Innovation' course is designed as a 12-week course delivered in 14 weekly sessions.
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The objective of the course is to provide an overview of design thinking and introduce learners to build the skills of adaptability, agility, creative problem solving, and collaboration. The interactive course combines case study analyses, games and activities that get learners to think like designers, and reflective evaluation tools. Throughout the sessions, while being introduced to the stages and tools of Design Thinking, students get an opportunity to meet and work with stakeholders from across their University or local businesses who provide students with a design challenge.​
Impact
While this course is currently in prototype and will be implemented in the coming academic years, it is the first time UAM's Faculty of Business and Economics looked to introduce Design Thinking as a course offering.