Design Thinking four-phase process (Singapore Polytechnic toolkit)¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article adopts the Singapore Polytechnic Department of Educational Development (2011) account of Design Thinking as a four-phase cycle: "sense and sensibility, empathy, ideation, and prototype." Sense and sensibility uses all the senses to search information; empathy involves understanding users by feeling like them, using ethnography, interview, observation and insight generation; ideation generates various ideas and theories with ideation tools until one concept is selected; prototype makes concepts tangible and examines the concept-user experience relationship. The study focuses on the ideation phase as the most challenging one.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Learners are encouraged to explore with users across the four phases

Constraints¶

• The article states Design Thinking "should be carefully included by teachers or instructors in their courses in any approach ideally based on the linguistic competence of students" (citing Cleminson and Cowie)

Target Learners¶

• tertiary EFL students

Target Learning Objectives¶

• innovative problem solving
• speaking and critical thinking in a foreign language

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

• Ideation discussion activities in Design Thinking course
• M&E toolkit accompanying the four-phase approach

Key Sources¶

• Buphate, T. & Esteban, R. H. (2022). Using ideation discussion activities in Design Thinking to develop EFL students' speaking and critical thinking abilities. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 15(1), 682-708. https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/LEARN/index