Introducing members of the intelligence community to Design Thinking and Design Research.
North Carolina State University | Instructional Designer + Course Instructor
Short course on Design Thinking and Design Research for professionals of diverse backgrounds working in the intelligence community. In this week-long course, participants engage in a situated design challenge to learn and apply a variety of design methods. Participants conduct research on a complex problem (e.g., intentional food contamination, open source research), analyze information using visual tools, propose numerous design concepts, materialize them creating low fidelity prototypes, and refine them based on group feedback.
The challenge in this project consisted in presenting a complex and non-linear process to a group of professionals used to standardized procedures and rote learning. The solution consisted in providing an immersive design experience in which course participants developed a design project with the guidance of a professional designer. Each design facilitator had up to five students per group, creating a personalized learning experience that was different from group to group depending on individuals' needs.
My role in this project comprised the following responsibilities:
Co-design the curriculum of the course with the Professor in charge of the project.
Co-author the course's program and the brief of the project developed throughout the course.
Review literature on the topics covered in the course.
Prepare and deliver presentations introducing design research methods.
Design digital and printed instructional materials to support course activities (e.g., presentations, maps, diagrams).
Design the visual identity of the course to be used in all printed and digital materials.
Facilitate the learning experience of one group of participants during the course.
Provide feedback and guidance to the whole group on their projects.
Analyze an exit survey and produce a report with recommendations for future versions of the course.
