Overview

Human-centered design is an approach that focuses on human needs, goals, and experiences to frame problems, develop solutions, and coordinate resources. Through a series of videos, activities, and reflection, learners will develop an appreciation for the value and impact of human-centered design as well as begin to understand what investment is required to practice it well. The course prepares learners to collaborate with human-centered design practitioners and deepen their own practice. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to - Understand concepts around gathering and synthesizing data about human attitudes, behaviors, and circumstances to match research methods to specific goals and subjects and then synthesize data into actionable frameworks that guide the design process, - Recognize human-centered issues and value understanding people's experiences, - Extract insights from diverse data for effective design, - Communicate ideas clearly to build strong connections and create a well-shaped narrative that integrates human empathy to gain buy-in and cooperation for design solutions, - Create ecosystem maps that identify key stakeholders and strategies to engage stakeholders effectively by considering their unique perspectives and expertise, ultimately leading to inclusive and coordinated actions for successful design implementation, - Generate varied ideas, create prototypes, set goals, ask precise questions, and nurture a safe environment for innovative thinking and solution exploration.

Syllabus

Course Introduction and Module 1: How to Navigate Ambiguity

Human-centered design is an approach that focuses on human needs, goals, and experiences to frame problems, develop solutions, and coordinate resources. Through a series of hands-on exercises and group reflection, learners will develop an appreciation for the impact human-centered design can make and begin to understand what investment is required to practice it well. This course is relevant to anyone who works with humans to achieve things for humans, regardless of title or field, and prepares them to collaborate with human-centered design practitioners and deepen their own practice.

How to Work Strategically

Learners explore how to identify needs by gathering data from people and interpreting that data. After understanding the cost of solving the wrong problem, learners discover what kind of data is valuable to gather and what methods might be best suited for gathering that data. Learners then have a hands-on experience gathering that data themselves. Through the gathered data, learners collaborate regarding needs to be interpreted and methods for doing so. Using one of the methods, learners arrive at a problem statement to address in the next module. Finally, learners use their naïve solution and individual goals to reflect on the value of design thinking and how it might apply to their daily work.

How to Understand Needs

Learners explore opportunities by facilitating generation and iteration of ideas. After learning about the relationship between psychological safety, creativity, and evaluation, they are shown methods for facilitating psychological safety for idea generation and prioritization. Learners then use these methods to generate and prioritize ideas. Learners will consider the undesirable cost of building the wrong solution and how strategic failure can reduce those costs. Learners also explore methods of strategic failure that identify and fill gaps in solutions, then apply those to their prioritized idea to refine it. Finally, learners use their naïve solution and individual goals to reflect on the value of design thinking and how it might apply to their daily work.

How to Explore Possibilities

Learners will understand how make their ideas happen once they have the right one. They reflect on their change in thinking since the beginning of the course and reflect on what was formative in this growth. Learners practice how to identify stakeholders. They also learn why stakeholders are important, and what stakeholders’ concerns might be. After mapping out stakeholders and diving deeper into a specific stakeholder’s perspective, learners analyze the utility of narratives and how to make a powerful narrative by considering human needs and organizational constraints. With that information, learners create and present a narrative aimed at their aforementioned specific stakeholder. Learners are presented with an overview to review ideas and strategies they have explored and experienced in the four modules, and then do a final reflection on how these may be applied to their daily work.

How to Coordinate Action

In this module, learners consider how to analyze and guide the collaborative process to ensure diverse perspectives contribute to achieving a shared goal. Learners practice coordinating action between various stakeholders, who each have unique expertise and viewpoints.