DSGN 430 + 130 - Design Thinking and Innovation 

Contact Hour Distribution: 1-hour seminar, 3-hour lab. - A+A 313 - 3:30-5:30 Tuesday and Thursday

Course Descriptions

DSGN 430 - Introduction to design thinking and innovation for junior and senior undergraduate students from all majors. This course will assist students in how to work in multi-disciplinary teams to solve complex whole-to-part real-world problems. Students engage collaborative design thinking methods that emphasize producing unique, feasible, and implementable outcomes that can be applied in future classes and within career opportunities. Students will complete projects by generating a variety of ideas, applying and synthesizing knowledge from their discipline, building prototypes, and evaluating with critical thinking. 

OR

DSGN 130 Introduction to design thinking and innovation for first year and second year undergraduate students from all majors. This course will assist students in how to work in multi-disciplinary teams to solve complex whole-to-part real-world problems. Students engage collaborative design thinking methods that emphasize producing unique, feasible, and implementable outcomes that can be applied in future classes and within career opportunities. Students will complete projects by generating a variety of ideas, applying and synthesizing knowledge from their discipline, building prototypes, and evaluating with critical thinking.

Student Learning Outcome:

Understand and apply design thinking processes to real world problems:     

  • Discover and evaluate design opportunities through engaging cultural change and research
  • Interpret cultural meaning and understand user contexts 
  • Create an array of diverse ideas and critically refine ideas 
  • Experiment with prototypes and receive user feedback
  • Iterate and evolve design ideas with ethical boundaries
  • Become familiar, engage, and evaluate small group communication and decision making processes as related to design thinking

Leadership and Discipline Expertise (for DSGN 430 only)

  • Provide team leadership in areas of expertise
  • Demonstrate integration and synthesis of expertise of major subject matter in design projects

Understand and apply communicates skills related to presenting new design ideas. 

  • Integrate ideas from team design projects in oral presentations. 
  • Learn and apply oral communication skills in distinct contexts related to different phases of             design process
  • Develop listen skills and provide feedback to presenters for assisting in development of design projects and improving communication skills. 

Learn and apply basic visual communications skills to ideate, design, communicate, and synthesize oral and written communication in formal and informal settings. 

Required Textbooks

Communicating the New, Kim Erwin, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New Jersey. (2014)

The text is used to provide reading assignments and understanding for formal class student presentations. Each chapter will correspond to a required presentation that links oral communication and team design investigations. 

101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization, Kumar, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New Jersey. (2013)

This text is a reference for design process. Teams will use the book to select design investigation techniques for their individual project directions. 

The Sketchnote Handbook: the illustrated guide to visual note taking, Rohd, Peachpit Press; 1 edition (December 13, 2012)

Students will read and complete exercises from the text to learn basic visual note taking skills to increase overall communication effectiveness. 

Supplies

See assignment one. 

This is a project based course and students will be required to purchase supplies to complete design investigations and prototyping. Costs vary based on student determined direction. 

Attendance

Class attendance, working during class time, and participation at all meetings, except when specifically exempted by individual faculty. Course grades are subject to attendance and participation. More than two absences will lower the final grade a student receives for the course by one letter grade per day missed. All policies regarding allowable excused attendance as outlined in Hilltopics are in effect in this course. 

An important reason for requiring you be in class is the benefit of student interaction. With all students in attendance, impromptu meetings, discussions, and design activities can be held. Note that, unless you are excused from class, you are expected to be in the class during scheduled meeting times. 

Team Work

This course requires participation in team projects and activities. Students must have time to dedicate for team meetings outside of formal class time. Learning to be a good team member and improve small group communications is essential for success and a required part of the course. Individuals must be able to receive constructive feedback from team members and the willingness to give objective assessments of their peers group communications. 

Academic Integrity

You are strongly advised to review the University's policies on dishonest scholastic work as outlined Hill Topics. These policies place full responsibility on the student for the content and integrity of all work submitted. The issue of integrity is a priority in the College of Architecture and Design and is a matter that is the basis of the ethical standards of the design professions. University of Tennessee policies and procedures for academic integrity are in full implementation within this course.

An essential feature of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is a commitment to maintaining an atmosphere of intellectual integrity and academic honesty. The UTK policy on academic integrity, from Hilltopics Student Handbook, 2012-2013:

Study, preparation and presentation should involve at all times the student’s own work, unless it has been clearly specified that work is to be a team effort. Academic honesty requires that the student present his or her own work in all academic projects, including tests, papers, homework, and class presentation. When incorporating the work of other scholars and writers into a project, the student must accurately cite the source of that work. (See Standards of Conduct Honor Statement. Additional resources are available at http://www.lib.utk.edu/instruction/plagiarism/)

Please note that the need for accurate citation is not limited to written work, but includes design work as well. Students are required to know their sources. Each student must be able to document, within reason, the principle sources for their work. This includes the the use of visual creative work, product development, and traditional source of information (web site, monograph, journal, etc.).

An easy way to determine how to tell if you are allowed to work on each others projects is how it is labeled and credited with names. A group report or project would include all of the student contributor names. An individual project will only have the name of the individual student and would be solely authored or designed by the student. in individual projects you may always assist and help each other as long as you do not create the content for another student. 

Academic integrity is not limited to citations and copying, but includes vandalism, theft, intimidation, etc.

Grading Scale

Grades are given under the following guidelines based on assignment criteria and expected outcomes:

(A) Excellent and superior academic work. A clear and thorough demonstration to the knowledge of the topics studied in the course as presented by the instructor. The student must also clearly demonstrate the ability to critically apply knowledge, skills, processes and ideas studied in the course with independent thought, insight, integrity, and thoughtful creative expression. Students must clearly demonstrate that they have the ability to go beyond requirements in the course or class activities as outlined by the instructor in meaningful and thoughtful methods.

(B) Above average, approaching excellence in academic work. A clear and thorough demonstration to the knowledge of the topics studied in the course. The student clearly demonstrates the ability to critically apply knowledge, skills, processes, and ideas studied in the course with limited implementation of independent thought and creative expression. The student may go beyond course requirements as outlined by the instructor, but may not have realized or demonstrated the full potential independent thinking, integrity, insight, and creative expression within the course.

(C) Average academic work. A clear understanding and knowledge of central topics, skills, processes and ideas studied in the course or class activity. The student sufficiently demonstrates the ability to critically apply knowledge, skills, processes, and ideas studied in the course Limited or misdirected independent thinking or effort to go beyond course requirements.

(D) Below average academic work. Minimal acceptable understanding and knowledge of central topics, skills, processes, and ideas studied in the course or class activity.

(F) Unacceptable academic work. Inability to demonstrate minimal understanding of central topics, skills, processes, and ideas studied in the course or class activity.

(I) Incomplete - Under extraordinary circumstances and at the discretion of the instructor, the grade of Incomplete may be awarded to a student who has satisfactorily completed a substantial portion of the course but cannot complete the course for reasons beyond his or her control.

Grading 

Projects must be submitted by the due date to receive full credit. Late work is lowered by one letter grade (10%) each day it is passed due. 

 10% Process Overview Project - The first three weeks of the course you will engage a sprint design thinking project to gain a holistic experience of design process prior to starting the 12 week real world design project. 

25% Real World Design Project - The 12 week team design thinking project for learning in depth innovation and design. Emphasis placed on synthesis of integrating knowledge of major field of study in projects. 

25% Presentations - Five times during the semester design teams will make a presentations to the class. Each presentation is based on a key phase of the design process and emphasizes an important aspect of communication process of introducing and presenting new ideas.

  •     Finding the Conceptual Center
  •     Framing the Work 
  •     Targeting your Constituents
  •     Introduce New Thinking
  •     Expanding the Conversation 

The OC Presentations are designed to assist in organization and facilitation of the real world design project. 

5% Workshop Interview Activity - Team activity to learn and apply interview skills for gaining user knowledge related to the design thinking real world project. 

5% Workshop Think Out Loud Activity - Team activity to learn how to apply listing and instruction skills related to learn how users interact with your real world design thinking prototypes. 

10% Communications Homework- Five individual work exercises used to improve the development and integration of visual in presentation, note taking, and small group communications. 

10% Final Real World Design Thinking Project Presentation - Final project presentation during the final exam period. (Required attendance and project completion for course grade.) 

10% Small Group Communication and Creative Decision Making Evaluations and feedback based on workshop activities and assessments made on instructor observations, self evaluations, and team member evaluations.

Tentative Course Schedule

The following schedule is an estimated timeline of events. Adjustments will be made in class to maximize learning. 

Part I – Design Thinking Overview 

The first week of the course is comprised of an overview of the design thinking process in “sprint” project. Students will become familiar with the basic process of design thinking and build team relationships. The experience of Design Thinking Overview will prepare students for a more comprehensive design thinking project in Part II of the course. 

Week One

Introduction to Design Thinking - Elements, Principles, and Processes

  • Project I Overview
  • Fieldwork Assignment  

Week Two

  • Sharing Field Work Results
  • Ideation and Communication 
  • Ideation and Prototyping with Paper
  • Field Testing Assignment

Week Three

  • Developing Heuristics and Generating Refinements
  • Team Project Presentation (O.C.)

Part II – Real World Design Thinking

Real world design thinking will provide student teams the opportunity to ideate, test, and refine a real world innovative design project. The project will emphasize viability and implementation. Student will work in the context of the opportunities of a local community. Teams will study the needs and opportunities of the community to develop entrepreneurial skills and test and refine design ideas. The project will end with a comprehensive project presentation. 

Week Four

  •     Visual Communication I 
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)    
  •     O.C. Overview - Finding the Conceptual Center
  •     Team Project Development Time

Week Five

  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Six    

  •     O.C. Presentations - Finding the Conceptual         Center
  •     O.C. Overview - Framing the Work
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)    

Week Seven    

  •     Business Viability
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop) 
  •     Visual Communication II
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Eight

  •     O.C. Presentations - Framing the Work
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)
  •     O.C. Overview - Targeting your Constants
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Nine

  •     Engineering Implementation  
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop) 
  •     Visual Communication III
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Ten

  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop) (OC)
  •     O.C. Presentations - Targeting your Constants
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Eleven

  •     O.C. Overview - Introducing New Thinking 
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)
  •     Understanding People with Social Sciences
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Twelve

  •     Visual Communication IV
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop) (OC)
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Thirteen

  •     O.C. Presentations - Introducing New Thinking 
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)
  •     O.C. Overview - Expanding the Conversation 
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

Week Fourteen 

  •     Visual Communications V
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)(OC)

Week Fifteen 

  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)
  •     O.C. Presentations - Expand the Conversation 
  •     Team Project Development Time (workshop)

FINAL EXAM PERIOD     

    Final Project Presentation