Design thinking: creativity for the 21st century
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| 5 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-course assessment | No residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
This course, packed with new learning innovation, will change your way of seeing and solving complex problems forever. Through a mix of academic and practical work you’ll develop an understanding of design, acquire new designing skills and build a portfolio of design projects as a strong foundation for future study. The course looks at common principles of design and ways of thinking that lead to ideas and creative solutions. The course materials are studied online with hands-on activities. Interaction with fellow students is very important, so you will meet, encourage and help one another within a specially created virtual design studio.
Course content
The course is presented in four blocks corresponding to the different levels at which design thinking can have an impact on our lives: at the individual, group, social and global level. You will have practical activities, skills development and academic coursework to do each week, and the freedom to manage your own learning.
Central to the course is an online virtual design studio, where you will upload your practical work – using images you have created – to discuss with other students and your tutor. You will also be able to see and discuss the design work of other students. Learning to use the expertise of others is a vital part of design thinking and something that is encouraged in the design studio environment. Throughout the course you will be encouraged to engage with the world around you, formulate and solve design problems that are relevant to your own life, and participate in the U101 community of design thinkers.
Block 1: Design and the Individual
In the first part of the course we concentrate on the skills that you will need to begin your creative work: taking and uploading digital photographs, composition, basic drawing and observation. You will be introduced to Compendium, a software tool with which you can record and link together different types of information in a digital scrapbook. You will also be introduced to the OpenDesignStudio environment, where you will create a profile and upload your creative work. Along with your skill development there will be more academic study, introducing you to the world of design and design thinking through text, audio, video and multimedia. You will see interviews with design practitioners, and case studies of their work. As you work through the block you will carry out a sequence of activities that will lead up to your first assessed design project: the design of a T-shirt.
Block 2: Designing for Others and with Others
In the second block of the course our attention focuses on designing for the needs of specific groups of people. You will investigate what types of design make other people happy, as well as finding out what it’s like to experience what other people experience. You will learn skills of making and presenting prototypes – crucial in design thinking – and you will learn about how to ‘frame’ a problem, and how to recognise a good solution. This block is not only about designing for others but also about designing with others. Knowing how, and when, to collaborate with others is extremely useful in designing and as part of your assessed design project for this block you will work online with a small number of your fellow students. For your project in this block you will propose a modification to an existing product to make it easier to understand and use.
Block 3: Design in Society
Block 3 looks at how design can have an impact in society through services and systems such as housing, planning, health, transport and recycling. You will gain an understanding of the factors influencing change in a society and how they apply to your local context. And you will learn how to search for information, observe, map, and analyse complex environments. In your online study you will see a number of case studies where design has made a significant impact at the society level. For your design project you will design, produce, and test a game, based on a service you have studied.
Block 4: The Global Impact of Design
When the full context of design is taken into account we have to consider how design thinking can have a global impact. This final part of the course brings together all the skills you have learned in previous blocks to teach you about how to integrate them all – balancing people, processes and materials – through the process of design. You will look at the global context of design and consider the ethical implications of what design thinking can achieve. In the final design project assessment you will be encouraged to pursue your own design thinking inquiry around a specific theme – for example, food, health, or leisure – leading to you designing a website to promote your ideas.
Day schools
The course has three regional day schools associated with it. These will provide an opportunity to take your creative work for criticism and development, as well as engaging in creative activity. Attendance is encouraged but not compulsory. The cost of the day schools is included in the course fee.
You will learn
At the end of the course you will be able to identify the characteristics of design thinking and how it is different from other types of thinking. You will also have an awareness of how design thinking can be applied in a wide range of contexts from the personal to the global.
On a more practical level you will learn how to investigate and think creatively about design problems and opportunities, integrate different styles of thinking in a design process, and explore, evaluate and critique the design thinking of others. You will also discover how an attitude of playfulness can aid design thinking.
The course has a large online element and, in exploring the different environments it offers, you will learn about the creative possibilities of the internet. You will also learn how to identify and use expertise through social networking.
Vocational relevance
Design thinking is an ability that can be applied to a wide range of contexts, from the personal to the business sphere. It can help you creatively engage with a problem situation in almost any discipline. Design thinking is thus a course that has vocational relevance equally in the so-called ‘creative industries’, and in business more generally. The course is designed as a foundation for future study in design at The Open University but will also provide a foundation in design should you be considering studying design elsewhere.
Entry
The course does not require any previous qualification, although it would be useful to have some experience of using the internet and a playful, creative attitude to life. If you have completed the short course Digital photography: creating and sharing better images (T189) you will be familiar with some of the teaching concepts in Design thinking, but this is not required.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Outside the UK
This course is available to students outside the UK.
Preparatory work
Students registering for the course will receive a specially designed U101 Creative Welcome Pack with design thinking challenges to be used during the course.
Qualifications
U101 is a compulsory course in our:
U101 is an optional course in our
It can also count towards most of our other degrees at bachelors level, where it is equally appropriate to a BA or BSc. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
The course aims to teach students to solve problems creatively and we would like to encourage and support students with a disability or additional requirement to engage with the spirit of this in resolving any issues that they might experience during the course. Students with a visual impairment will probably need a sighted assistant to complete some of the course elements, but in other ways may find themselves in a strong position to talk about and utilise design thinking to improve their everyday life.
Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed and online material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and graphic materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the course materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
The course is taught using multimedia and online materials including an interactive web-based design studio so students will need to spend considerable amounts of time using a personal computer and the internet. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in operating a computer and have any concerns about accessing the type of materials described, you are advised to talk to the Student Registration & Enquiry Service or contact the course team about the support that can be given to meet your needs.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
- A U101 Creative Welcome Pack; this is a specially designed box containing materials you need to begin your creative journey
- Online course materials including: U101 Course elements for study, containing audio, video and other multimedia, OpenDesignStudio, (the virtual design studio for the course); The Open University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), including full access to library materials; Software downloads of Compendium and Elluminate, which you will be using during the course
- A printed course overview, giving you a reference for the course in book form, with all key information that you need.
You will need
You will also need the following to study this course:
- a digital camera – 2 megapixel or greater – to take photos of your creative work
- broadband internet access for quick downloading and uploading of information
- a microphone for your computer to narrate presentations
- a printer to print out your work.
Although not essential to study this course, you might also find it desirable to have access to the following:
- a scanner to bring your doodles and sketches onto your computer
- a graphics tablet to help you interact with your computer with a pen instead of a mouse.
Computing requirements
This course includes computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note you may have difficulties completing this course with a Linux computer as some of the web tools do not have a Linux-compatible version.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the course material and mark and comment on your work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. If you are new to The Open University, you will find that your tutor is particularly concerned to help you with your study methods. Tuition will take place across a range of media: there will be group tutorials and day schools that you are strongly encouraged to attend.
Your tutor will also support you in your online activity – reviewing and giving feedback on your OpenDesignStudio pages regularly – as well as being a point of contact to discuss any other course-related issues. As a rough guide, 50 per cent of tutor support will be online, with 50 per cent being offline.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You must use the online eTMA system to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs).
A design portfolio and a 1500-word essay make up the end-of-course assessment (ECA).
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2011. It will be available again in October 2011. From 2012 it will be available twice a year, in February and October.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
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