The document reflects on a design thinking course, noting that considering the design of space and questioning stakeholders are important. It discusses applying design thinking skills to redesigning a classroom to better meet student needs, and sharing what was learned with other teachers. Design thinking could also help improve the customer experience at Best Buy.

1. DESIGN THINKING
COURSE REFLECTION

2. TAKEAWAYS/LEARNING
• Design of space matters. Think about the environment
you want to create when you ideate and create
prototypes. Doing so will also make you aware of the
space of the people you will be designing for.
• Question your stakeholders carefully, digging deeper for
their thinking with questions such as “why” or “how
come”? However, don’t lead the witness!
• Be alert to the emotional states your stakeholder is
expressing and the non-verbal cues s/he is giving you.
• Be sure to include “blue sky” ideas, even if they can’t
actually occur in the real world. You never know how
you can adapt an idea to the real world.

3. PROCESS MAP
Watched videos and
read materials about
design thinking
Considered how I
thought about things
like design
space, empathy, ideati
on, and prototyping
Worked on my design
challenge
Applied the design
thinking process to
additional areas of
my life
Honed
questions
for my
stakeholder
Would I
have
enough
ideas?
Worked to
truly
consider
needs of my
stakeholder
Was happy the
challenge had
relevance in
my job as a
high school
teacher
Having prior
knowledge of
design thinking
made starting
easier
In line at Best Buy
recently, I was
considering how
to improve my
own user
experience using
DT

4. DESIGN THINKING AT WORK
• Requested that my
classroom be
redesigned – or
better yet that I
redesign it with my
students – so my
stakeholders – the
students – are more
successful
• Considering how to
incorporate what I
learned and
prototyped in the
design challenge into
my classroom and
school setting

5. DESIGN THINKING AT WORK
• Have solicited
teachers about
questions they have
on the area of
professional
development I’ll be
focusing on with
them
• Shared my design
thinking class
experience with
members of an
education Facebook
group I belong to

6. CONCLUSION
• I see many
applications of
Design Thinking,
particularly in my
workplace, and
can’t wait to
implement all I’ve
learned!

7. DESIGN THINKING AT HOME
• BEST BUY
• On line at the store, I
concluded Best Buy
needed a course in
design thinking:
customers had to
return merchandise
and meet with Geek
Squad in the same
place!
#notuserfriendly!