New Course Proposal for

Design Thinking

TECH 124-3

E. Jane Fee and Chantal Gibson, TechOne

January 24, 2007

Calendar Information

Course Number: TECH 124

Course Title: Design Thinking

Credit Hours: 3

Vector: 1-0-0-4

WQB Designation(s): B-Soc

Course Description:

Investigates the role design and the designer play in the world around us and explores how design facilitates our understanding of our environment and facilitates communication with others. Examines the importance of precedent in design and how examples, models, patterns or standards reflect learning and critical thinking.

Prerequisite(s): None

Co-requisite(s): None

Special Instructions: None

Course(s) to be dropped if this course is approved: None

Rationale for Introduction of this Course

Will this be a required or elective course in the curriculum; probable enrolment when offered?

This is a core course for TechOne and will be offered outside of TechOne at other SFU campuses as a stand-alone course. 300-500 probable enrolment annually.

Scheduling and Registration Information

Indicate semester and year this course would be first offered and planned frequency of offering thereafter:

Spring 2008, offered annually in TechOne. Offered annually at other campuses.

Which of your present CFL faculty have the expertise to offer this course?

Most faculty with primary teaching responsibilities in TechOne are either CFL faculty in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology or LT faculty with appointments ending July 31, 2008. Continuing appointments, with primary teaching responsibilities within TechOne, will be made once the revised program is approved.

Will the course be taught by sessional or limited-term instructors?

Only as part of a team led by CFL faculty

Are there any proposed student fees associated with this course other than tuition fees?

No

Does this course duplicate the content of a previously approved course to such an extent that students should not receive credit for both courses? If so, please specify.

No

Effective Date: 2007-08

Resource Implications

Does this course require specialized space or equipment not readily available in the department or university, and if so, how will these resources be provided?

No

Does this course require computing resources? (e.g. hardware, software, network wiring, use of computer laboratory space) and if so, describe how they will be provided.

Only requires computing resources already available at Surrey. Consider needs for other campuses.

Course Description

Design Thinking is a breadth course that investigates the term design and explores its role in the Faculty of Applied Science. It examines the ways design (a collection of critical thinking processes) and the designer (the facilitator of these processes) make possible both our understanding of the world around us and our communication with others. Students are introduced to design thinking strategies common to many design disciplines and will apply these critical thinking tools to their individual and team assignments.

The course examines the importance of precedent in design and how examples, models, patterns or standards reflect learning and critical thinking practice and how testing and understanding designs require the designer to connect and collaborate with others. Individually and in teams, students will model some of the ways designers use design thinking to both visualize and make sense of the world they see and experience, as well as to create and make things (from systems to objects to ideas).

The course also explores the complexity of the design audience. It maintains the idea that good designs are measured by the quality of ideas they provoke - and that successful designs are measured by how they contribute to the quality of life of users (pleasure, safety, knowledge, aesthetics etc.) and their communities. Student teams will make final projects that are informed by the critical thinking strategies learned throughout the course and inspire inquiry into their own lives and the communities they are part of. Assignment assessment will focus primarily on the quality of questions and ideas generated or interrogated through the iterative process of reaching a design outcome and not just on the outcome itself.

Course Syllabus

Why Does Design Matter?

Week 1: Introduction to Design Thinking: Introduction to the term design and the contextual nature of its meaning within the Faculty of Applied Sciences.

Week2: Design is all around us: Explores how design helps us to negotiate our everyday lives and connects us with others in our communities and the world.

Week 3: Design is social: Explores how design is used to facilitate communication with others and is facilitated through collaborative process.

Week 4: Design is historical: Explores the importance of precedent in design (how examples, models, patterns or standards) reflect learning and critical thinking.

Who is a Designer?

Week 5: Design enables understanding: Explores how designers (from different professions, backgrounds, disciplines) use design thinking to visualize and make sense of the world they see and experience.

Week 6: Design invites inquiry: Explores how designers use design thinking to visualize and to manipulate ideas under consideration.

How is Design Done?

Week 7: Design is a process: Explores how the process of achieving a design outcome (ideas, information, systems, organizations, products, prototypes, graphics, images,) facilitates the development of ideas and processes to test those ideas.

Week 8: Design is made by doing: Explores how the process of achieving a design outcome requires skill and the continuous development of skill.

Week 9: Design is collaborative: Explores the idea that the iterative testing cycle is improved by the generation and critical evaluation of many ideas.

How is Design Evaluated?

Week 10: Good Design satisfies its Audience: Explores the complexity of the design audience and how designers evaluate the needs of their audience.

Week 11: Good Design has no Ego: Explores how good designs are measured by the quality of ideas they provoke and invoke rather than the single point of view of the designer.

Week 12: Design begs Joy of Use: Explores how good designs are measured by how they contribute to the quality of life for users (pleasure, safety, knowledge, etc.) and their communities.

Week 13: Am I a Designer?: Student reflect on their roles as designers.

Course Objectives

Students will:

• Use design thinking strategies to develop critical thinking skills that can be applied to any field of study in FAS

• Students will use collaborative processes to complete an iterative design project that investigates the needs of a local community audience.

• Use design thinking strategies to make individual projects (ie: writing, maps, 2D and 3D models)

• Understand various ways to visually represent ideas

Textbook:

New Course Text: Norman, D. (2002). The Design of Everyday Things. Harper Collins ISBN 0465067107 (approx. $15 Cdn.)

A Course Package will also be used.