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Abstract

Design thinking—understanding the human needs related to a problem, reframing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach to prototyping and testing—offers a complementary approach to the rational problem-solving methods typically emphasized in business schools. Business school instructors may perceive design thinking, a relatively new and complex multistep, iterative process, to be beyond their capabilities or time/resource constraints. This experiential exercise provides a relatively easy, low-investment approach to incorporating an overview of design thinking into any course. With minimal instructor preparation, participants can have a positive experience using design thinking to solve a real problem, consuming as little as an hour of class time. This activity is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in any business discipline. The provided lesson plan, slides, and workbook make it easy to facilitate students’ experience of the design thinking process.

Keywords

design thinking human-centered design human-centered problem solving innovation creative mind-set creative process creative confidence empathy critical thinking problem-solving reframing learning by doing active learning process mastery

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Design Thinking: A Creative Approach to Problem Solving

Abstract

Keywords

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Supplementary Material