Unit rationale, description and aim
In today’s dynamic and competitive business environment, it is essential to solve complex problems creatively and collaboratively. Design Thinking offers a human-centred, innovative approach to addressing business challenges and uncovering new opportunities. This unit introduces students to the principles and practices of Design Thinking, focusing on its application within a business context.
The unit explores the key stages of Design Thinking. Students will learn how to identify customer needs, define complex problems, generate creative solutions, and refine these solutions through feedback and testing to design products and services to more effectively and sustainably meet customers’ needs and desires.
Students will apply Design Thinking methods to solve challenging problems and develop sustainable, user-centred solutions. Design Thinking integrates values of inclusivity, sustainability, and cross-cultural sensitivity, encouraging students to consider diverse perspectives, including Indigenous and global viewpoints. It also aims for solutions in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This unit aims to equip students with the mindset and tools to become adaptable, innovative leaders with the creative confidence and collaboration skills needed to navigate and influence a rapidly changing business landscape and capability for driving positive change in business and society.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Analyse complex business challenges requiring a de...
Learning Outcome 01
Develop productive collaboration by applying inter...
Learning Outcome 02
Elaborate on the methods, strategies, and mindset ...
Learning Outcome 03
Address complex challenges using design thinking s...
Learning Outcome 04
Apply the most effective design thinking tools to ...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- The origins, applications and fundamentals of design thinking.
- The importance of self-reflection and self-evaluation in the Design Thinking process
- Investigating the challenge, the importance of discovery.
- Key tools used in design thinking.
- How design thinking differs from other problem-solving strategies.
- Contribution of empathy and creativity and what it means to put the customer at the centre of design thinking.
- Understanding the value of teams to the success of design thinking.
- Fostering inclusion, safety and creativity in diverse teams.
- The open mind, the growth mindset, and the courage to fail in design thinking.
- The principles of co-design, ethical and sustainable design.
- The importance of prototyping.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy for this unit encourages students to develop skills of self-reflection, self-awareness, critical thinking and empathy (Assessment 1). It builds on this foundation to challenge students to utilise high-level communication skills as they collaborate and negotiate with others in evaluating, exploring and responding to a complex business challenge (Assessment 2). Students will also be required to demonstrate knowledge of the design thinking strategies and provide rationale for their application and deductions from those strategies, as well as their responses to the business challenge.
The final assessment (Assessment 3) requires students to critically reflect upon their learnings in the unit, noting the strategies that may have challenged them, and those that provided new and valuable insights, as well as evaluate the efficacy of the design thinking process in yielding appropriate responses to wicked problems.
Strategies aligned with transition pedagogies will be utilised. For each assessment, developmentally staged tasks will be incorporated with a focus on a progressive approach to learning. This will be achieved through activities, including regular feedback, particularly early in the unit of study to support learning.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: What is a design thinking cha...
Assessment Task 1: What is a design thinking challenge?
This assessment item requires students to identify a wicked problem in business, such as the environmental impact of packaging. Keeping in mind business imperatives, the task is identifying how to approach such a challenge within an organisation using design thinking strategies. The challenge must address one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The submission must include rationale and justification for the choice of challenge; evidence of the ‘problems’ of the challenge; a strategy for addressing the challenge using design thinking; and identification of potential obstacles that might inhibit a successful design thinking outcome.
The submission can combine text with illustrations (such as sketches or diagrams) and must include evidence of the validity of the issue they would hypothetically address (that is, documented research) and clearly explain how design thinking strategies could address the challenge.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Written document (1200-1500)
30%
Assessment Task 2: Challenge definition and Empa...
Assessment Task 2: Challenge definition and Empathy mapping
This assessment item requires students to work in small teams to complete a detailed challenge definition, demonstrating research and in-depth evaluation of the challenge, as well as the production of a detailed empathy map. Using ONE of the student’s successful completion of the assessment one design thinking challenge, the requirement now is to firstly, collectively undertake appropriate research and investigation into the topic, including exploration of other’s attempts to address this issue, such as packaging, for instance. The objective is to build a robust, well-documented and convincing case for the need to address the challenge.
The second part of this project is to complete an in-depth empathy map. While working as a team on part one, each member of the team will complete an individual empathy map, for which they will have undertaken interviews and, if appropriate, follow-up questioning. The empathy map – indeed the involvement of the end-user in the Discovery process – is central to the design thinking approach.
This task replicates how design thinking works in real life, with some essential collective work and other elements relying on individual efforts.
Submission Type: Group Discovery report plus individual empathy map
Assessment Method: Written document (1200-1500)
30%
Assessment Task 3: Reflective Journal Thi...
Assessment Task 3: Reflective Journal
This assessment unit requires the submission of a reflective journal demonstrating self-awareness, self-reflection and critical thinking. Submitted upon the completion of the course, the Reflective Journal is a thoughtful, well-considered analysis of what has been learned in this unit of study and how it might be applied in a business context.
The Reflective Journal should detail challenges met by the student during their study, critically reflect on their experience of group work, and with demonstrated self-awareness identify their personal strengths and challenges in using the design thinking process.
Submission Type: Reflective journal.
Assessment Method: Video file (8-10 minutes)
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Students should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of study for this unit over a twelve-week semester or equivalent study period, including class attendance, readings, online forum participation and assessment preparation.
This unit may be offered in “Attendance” and/or “Online” mode to cater for the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants.
Attendance Mode
Students will require face-to-face attendance in blocks of time determined by the school. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for students to prepare and revise.
Online Mode
This unit utilises an active learning approach whereby students will engage in e-module activities, readings and reflections, and opportunities to collaborate with peers in an online environment. This can involve, but is not limited to, online workshops, online discussion forums, chat rooms, guided reading, and webinars. Pre-recorded lectures will be incorporated within the online learning environment and e-modules. In addition, electronic readings will be provided to guide students’ reading and extend other aspects of online learning.