DESIGN THINKING
In Education
ANDRES OSPINA
INTERACTIVE
PRODUCTION
Fall 2014
How am I going to do this?
Why am I doing this?
Because I care;
I wanted to share more
Because I care;
I wanted to share more
I felt a great responsibility for
the type of impact I was going to
make on the students’ lives.
I felt a great responsibility for
the type of impact I was going to
make on the students’ lives.
I wanted to bring real life
approaches and processes
into the class
I wanted to bring real life
approaches and processes
into the class
How can I start?
Listen
to people
Create
Empathy
Meaningful
Service
Collect
Feedback
(Know them
individually)
Inspire
through
storytelling
(Make a
connection)
Solve
meaningful
problems
(Focus on doing
what’s best for them)
CLASS PRINCIPLES
ESTABLISH A
RELATIONSHIP1
Inspire
Think Big
User Student=
Self persona exercise
Collect
Feedback
and ideas
BUILDING
TEAMS2
Pitching and
recruiting
talent
HCD
Technology
Business
Design
32 Students
6 Teams
A lean start
up mindset
What smart companies
expect from their employees?
It doesn’t make sense to hire smart
people and then tell them what to
do; we hire smart people so they can
tell us what to do.
—Steve Jobs
NEW COURSE
OUTLINE3
Increasing number of tools
= generic product
Unique product
= much better value 
Because
is fun!
I used Simon Sinek’s Golden
Circle approach to structure the
product design process from the
WHY to the WHAT
Class Road Map
Problem
Discovery
Business
Research
Customer &
User Research
UX Strategy First
Assumptions
Prototyping Testing
Observation &
opportunities
finding
SWOT Matrix Customer &
User Research Road mapping
Features definition
UX & UI Tools
Final Presentation
Case Study
Qualitative Testing
& Refinement
Sep 02 Dec 09
CC
Final Exam
WHY HOW WHAT
CC CC CC CC CC CC CCCC
Inspiration &
Learning
Class Cycle
Team work /
Research
Discovery &
Ideation
Prototype
Share
Iterate
PROBLEMCC
Inspiration &
Learning
Class CycleCC PROBLEM
Senior UX Designer - UI Developer - Jul 2011
Dec 2012
subaru.ca
Usability analysis,
UX research and IA
Feb 2012
Improved usability
of subaru.ca from
position 29th to 6th
on J.D. POWER
usability ranking
May 2012
Subaru
UI Framework
Increased
Production
Speed
Faster
2X
$98K
Savings
Dec 2012
Mobile
Hybrid
Responsive
solution
Dec 2012
subaru.ca mobile
web app redesign
Dec 2011
2012 Canada
Autoshow Kiosk App
UX, UI, AS3
“I want to say thank you for all
your stories of success and failure
that you’ve shared with us. This
really helps me to stay motivated
and be positive about what I’m
doing.”
- Andrew
Inspiration &
Learning
Class Cycle
Team work /
Research
PROBLEMCC
HUMAN CENTERED RESEARCH
Qualitative and Quantitative Data
Inspiration &
Learning
Class Cycle
Team work /
Research
Discovery &
Ideation
PROBLEMCC
STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER
Inspiration &
Learning
Class Cycle
Team work /
Research
Discovery &
Ideation
Prototype
PROBLEMCC
Inspiration &
Learning
Class Cycle
Team work /
Research
Discovery &
Ideation
Prototype
Iterate
PROBLEMCC
Inspiration &
Learning
Class Cycle
Team work /
Research
Discovery &
Ideation
Prototype
Share
Iterate
PROBLEMCC
CLASSS
APPROACH4
Students Cognitive findings:
• Social Fears
• Wrong expectations
• Lack of inspiration
• Sense of ownership
• Mental health
Find and solve problems
Create opportunities for the
implicit memory to express
itself.
Iterative process
Develop sense of resilience.
Lose the fear to fail.
One on One
Time
7:30am
8:00am
One on One Time +
On the road calls
Tuesdays: 10:30am - 11:30am
You make the call
647 287 1517
We need larger boards!
FINAL
EXAMS5
An opportunity
to retrospect
“UX Strategy is the subject we know the least
about at this point in our program. Aside
from this class, we only had one other course
last year that touched a bit on it, so this is
definitely an area that I think I can improve
on.” 
— Hazel
“I think in school we focus too
much on the ‘WHAT’ and not so
much on the ‘WHY’” 
— Shawn
“This semester has been incredibly useful and
informative for me. Dabbling in freelance work I
can take everything that I’ve learned and apply
it to working with clients big or small. Definitely
my favorite class and most impactful topic this
entire two year course.” 
— Casy
CASE
STUDIES6
Compile their 15-week
design process story in a
20-minute presentation.
THE FINAL CHALLENGE
“You are the most
important product
you are building. Use
these principles to
iterate yourself.”
Thank you
very much!
@pinxelar

Lean & Design Thinking in Education