2019 Annual Conference

Distance Learning (Technology and Online Learning)

Concurrent Session (45 minutes)

This session introduces Design Thinking as a creative problem-solving process and a flexible toolkit to enhance online course design. Participants will be guided through the Design Thinking process focusing on real-world examples for addressing various online course design challenges.

Adult educators, instructional designers, support personnel, instructors

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
• Recognize Design Thinking as a process and a toolkit for originating innovative solutions to a range of online course design challenges.
• Develop a plan for applying Design Thinking strategies in creating new online courses or enhancing existing ones.

Many online instructors and course designers are not fully taking advantage of the capabilities of new learning technologies, often using new tools to do old jobs. As educational institutions develop digital learning ecosystems to support online programs, adult educators and designers need to think about and approach the design of online courses in new ways to better exploit the potentialities of new digital learning tools.

This session introduces Design Thinking as a creative problem-solving process and a flexible toolkit to enhance online course design. Participants will be guided through the design thinking process focusing on practical strategies for addressing various online course design challenges. The following Design Thinking strategies will be addressed:

1. The five Cs of empathic design: caring, curiosity, conversations, and changing
2. Framing design challenges in a solution agnostic way
3. Brainstorming creative ideas using “what if” prompts
4. Rapid prototyping and feedback techniques
5. Testing and refining new designs
6. Implementing innovative solutions

Examples will be provided on how to apply Design Thinking for creating new or enhancing existing online courses that result in more impactful learning experiences.

The session will begin with an explanation of design thinking as a process and a toolkit. Presenters will walk through the stages of the design thinking process using real-world examples from online course design challenges. Then, they will demonstrate the adaptability and flexibility of design thinking for developing or enhancing online courses.