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Term 1, Class 3

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Introduction to Design thinking

Learning Objectives

• Continue build rapport among students, and with teaching team
• Understand the meaning and importance of “empathy” in design thinking. That is, seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

Pre-Class Assignment

• Jane Fulton-Suri: What Nature Can Teach Us About Design (18 min)
• Tim Brown urges designers to think big (17 min)
• “This is me” auto-ethnography exercise.
  • Goals: To create a snapshot of yourself, and describe yourself to others. Doing this provide you with a unique perspective on yourself, as well as a way of imagining how you might perceive others. When we share these in class, this helps us understand each other better, and build empathy. It also serves as a foundation for ethnographic work in understanding others.
  • A second purpose of this exercise is to practice providing concise explanations. This is a skill that will be useful in many contexts, including job interviews, networking, and in your career. To this end, your presentation will be timed. You will have 5 minutes to present, which means you only have 20 sec to describe each picture.
  • Take a series of photos — You are welcome to interpret each prompt in whatever way you see fit. Put the photos (in the order below) in a PowerPoint presentation, one picture per slide, with the titles below for each slide/picture. Create a self-running presentation and set the duration of each slide to 20 sec. In class we will share these with each other.
    1. This is me
    2. This is me
    3. This is me
    4. This is where I live
    5. This is where I study/do schoolwork
    6. This is my favourite drink
    7. I spend most of my time here
    8. This is something I need
    9. This is someone I love
    10. This is where I relax
    11. This is someone I respect
    12. This is beautiful to me
    13. This is something I worry about
    14. This is something I am proud of
    15. This is something I want to improve

Class Outline

• Discussion of the assigned videos and reading. Where do innovative ideas come from? (20 min)
• This is me (5 min/person)