The User Innovation Toolkit: Project-Based Learning for Non-Designers

Abstract

Increasingly, higher education is turning towards project-based learning as part of its curricula. Concurrently, there has been increasing attention given to the ways in which designers typically solve problems, popularized under the term 'Design Thinking' with several commercial and educational efforts to present non-experts with tools to apply design thinking in their own organizations. Yet, as a review of these tools illustrates, while comprehensive in nature, they provide novices with an overwhelming number of tools and techniques, making it hard for non-experts to apply. To this end, we have developed an online wizard, intended for use by novice non-design students that provides a curated selection of tools to support students in project-based learning, with an emphasis on end-user involvement. The toolkit follows an iterative approach, with checks on whether intermediate requirements are met (i.e.: problem definition, knowledge of the user or stakeholders). Our article will present this toolkit and its use among a group of students who did not follow a traditional design education (n=18). We expand on the rationale for the toolkit and reflect on the results of the evaluation.