Integrating design thinking into instructional design: The #OpenTeach case study

Abstract

Online education is becoming the norm in higher education. Effective instructional design methods are required to ensure that “ever-connected” students’ needs are being met. One potential method is design thinking: an agile methodology that stresses the importance of empathy with the student. The #OpenTeach fully online course was designed using design thinking principles and delivered in Spring 2020. This article reports on a case study which focused on the use of design thinking to design and develop the #OpenTeach course. The five iterative stages of design thinking (empathy, define, ideate, prototype and test) were integrated into the design and development of the course materials. The findings of this study indicate that the use of the design thinking process may be used by instructional designers to achieve empathy with their learners, which will ensure learners successfully engage and achieve the learning objectives of the course.
 Implications for practice or policy:
 
 A rich case study of the successful integration of design thinking within the instructional design methodology of an online teacher education project is valuable to educationalists who wish to follow a user-cntred empathetic approach.
 Instructional designers should focus on empathising with their student cohort to successfully engage students in the content that has been designed, and developed, as part of an online course.

Analysis of Innovation Product Development of The Boardgame "Kewania”

“…The second stage of design thinking is to consolidate the information obtained during the empathy stage to define the problem and establish features and functions that will help solve the problem (Shé et al, 2022). In the define stage, the Kewania board game identifies the key factors needed by the target consumer, reflecting the continuity of understanding from the previous stage, namely empathize.…”

“…The third stage is the design thinking process, i.e. ideating or developing ideas on how to solve problems creatively (Shé et al, 2022). In the ideate stage, Kewania boardgames show a focus on creativity and idea development to create innovative solutions.…”

“…Developing a draft or prototype version of the final solution is the fourth stage in design thinking (Shé et al, 2022). In the prototype stage, the Kewania boardgame shows a focus on developing a draft version or prototype as a concrete step in realizing the final solution.…”

“…The final stage of the design thinking process is testing. This stage involves redefining and empathizing with the end user to ensure the best solution is sought (Shé et al, 2022). In the test phase, Kewania boardgame demonstrated the approach by detailing the design and planning of the game based on four core values: fun interaction, role play, introduction to the animal world, and storytelling.…”

Proposal Optimization Website of the Company PT Indoptune Net Manufacturing

“…A prototype is a part of implementing ideas obtained previously for produced products or trial applications (Surachman, Andriyanto, Rahmawati, & Sukmasetya, 2022). Stage prototype is stage four from development design thinking draft or prototype as solution final design thinking (Shé, Farrell, Brunton, & Costello, 2022).…”