Reshaping Engineering Culture with Design Thinking

 

Content

In the course "Reshaping Engineering Culture with Design Thinking" of the module "Expanding Engineering Limits: Culture, Diversity and Gender – In Practice" students are introduced to the Design Thinking approach, which is a distinguished method of problem solving and of creating innovation.

In the last few years, the application and popularity of the Design Thinking approach in various business and research contents has increased. The approach is taught and developed particularly at the d.school of the "Hasso Plattner Institute of Design" in Stanford. Design Thinking focuses strongly on the heterogeneity of team members providing diverse backgrounds, ways of thinking and other characteristics. The course combines societal issues and topics like social innovations with Design Thinking and examines engineering cultures and practice through the lens of a diverse society. This results in the extension of engineering science perspectives to the needs of a diverse society and thus potential target groups for future engineering science innovations.

In the frame of the course students build skills in taking diversity perspectives as well as user-oriented perspectives in concrete application scenarios. The teaching concept provides an active involvement of the students, their interests, views and ideas. Participants develop own application cases in multidisciplinary teams, which have a strong reference to topics in their later occupational fields.

Credit points can be acquired by contributing to a group work combined with a presentation and a brief written elaboration of the respective topic.

The course will be conducted in a block format.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Fundamental knowledge of the five steps of Design Thinking, Application of the Design Thinking approach, Transfer of Diversity perspectives to different future fields of activity in the engineering sciences.

 

Sustainable Development Goals