Master of Design Thinking & Venture Development Curriculum Development
Master of Design Thinking & Venture Development Curriculum Development
Thomas M. Waller | 2017
Abstract
Traditional “linear thinking” forms of marketing, product and service development, and problem solving have been challenged by businesses seeking to find new innovative ways of staying competitive in a global economy.Design Thinking offers a creative, successful alternative methodology to linear thinking for businesses, non-profit organizations and government entities.Design Thinkingis thedesign of things, products, services, and problem solving and thethinkingbehind the design of things, products, services, and problem solving. It is a human-centered or customer-centric driven approach integrating the needs of people. The customer drives customer-centric design; it is about looking out from the inside, not outside in. It is about observing the customer experience and the way they see the world. Products and services must create intrinsic value and address specific customer needs. This cannot be accomplished unless the customer is an integral part of the entire product life-cycle, not as an afterthought. It is achieved through direct observation of and interaction with customers.
The twelve courseMaster of Design Thinking & Venture Development(DTVD) Curriculum Development fills a gap inDesign Thinkingeducation providing a comprehensive, sequential, and integrated curriculum for the practice and educational advancement ofDesign ThinkingwithVenture Development. The curriculum explores the origin and furtherance ofDesign Thinking’semergence as a field of professional expertise, introduction and development of a product or service, problem solving, and innovative methods for an established organization.
The DTVD curriculum program and course objectives and learning outcomes engage requirements for moving a product, service or problem solving from customer observation and experience; needfinding and research; problem solving; human-centered design; rapid and rough prototyping; ideation, iteration, and failure; contextual design; design strategy; empathy and storytelling for better design; communications; product market introduction and success; toDesign Thinkingleadership and culture development. The vision for the DTVD curriculum is to empower individuals—unemployed and employed, start-up entrepreneurs and organizational entrepreneurs, designers and non-designers, and students with and withoutDesign Thinkingskills—with the tools enabling innovation and personal effectiveness for their ideas in the creation of products and services, user needs, and discovering solutions for resolving problems.