This course helps students understand and apply a powerful new approach to solving complex problems through human-centered thinking. Design thinking is a problem-solving framework that is transforming fields from entertainment to international development. Students will learn critical thinking, empathy, how to question assumptions, how to clearly define a problem and other core tools of reasoning. Student teams apply each step of the design thinking process – from research through observation of real people with real problems to brainstorming, prototyping, testing and finally identifying how to implement the solution. The work is creative, collaborative and experiential. You may be making an observation video in one class, filling a wall with sticky notes the next and designing a prototype in the university maker space the next.