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References

Wahl, D. C. (2019, June 11). Facing Complexity: Wicked Design Problems. Age of Awareness. https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/facing-complexity-wicked-design-problems-ee8c71618966

IDEO. (n.d.). Design thinking. Retrieved from https://designthinking.ideo.com/

Solomon, A. (2012, September 22). Design Thinking for Social Good: An Interview with David Kelley. Boing Boing. https://boingboing.net/2012/09/22/design-thinking-for-social-goo.html

Vidal, J. (2021, March 20). Our biggest challenge? Lack of imagination: the scientists turning the desert green. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/20/our-biggest-challenge-lack-of-imagination-the-scientists-turning-the-desert-green

Stolzoff, S., & Wesp, L. (2020, June). How Would You Reimagine Learning? 5 Visions for Our Post-COVID Future. Boing Boing. https://boingboing.net/2020/06/05/how-would-you-reimagine-learnin.html

Interaction Design Foundation. (2021). Stage 4 in the Design Thinking Process: Prototype. Interaction Design Foundation. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/stage-4-in-the-design-thinking-process-prototype

RMIT University. (2022). What is Design Thinking? RMIT University Study Online Blog. Retrieved from https://studyonline.rmit.edu.au/blog/what-is-design-thinking

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The Final One

Week 13, It's a wrap. We have completed the presentation of our prototype to address the wicked problem from Life Without Barriers, which is our documentary Silverlining - A Portrayal of Miraculous Stories in the Foster Care System based on real-life events. We completed this task very well and await our results from the markers. Overall, the course has expanded my knowledge on the Design Thinking process, and I have gained a lot of new knowledge on what it means to become a foster carer.

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Filming

To accompany our presentation, we are tasked with making a short film. We have chosen to make the film a simulation interview with the director (me). We sat down and filmed myself answering questions that directly relate to our prototype describing what it is in short, sharp terms.

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Week 12

As we approach crunch week, the tutorials have been focused on finalizing our presentation plans. Currently, we have a solid overall structure in place, and everyone is contributing effectively. Our main focus now is on fine-tuning the details and ensuring that each team member speaks with confidence and clarity. This will help us stay within our allotted time and deliver a polished presentation.

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Week 11

We conducted a group road mapping session where we meticulously broke down the necessary steps to reach our project's completion. This collaborative process took place during our tutorial session, and by the end, we successfully assigned tasks to different team members. Each individual now has clear responsibilities to contribute towards our project's progress.

Road mapping below

A key emphasis of design thinking is collaboration, and iterative prototyping to create innovative solutions (RMIT University, 2022). We are definitely in the midst of design thinking in this task as we are deep into group work and many iterations have been made.

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Week 10

In week 10, our group has finalised the direction in which our show/documentary will go for our final product for the wicked problem. We are planning to implement a real-world show that showcases the most extraordinary cases of success within the foster care system. We are implementing it with actors who portray real-world people and their stories.

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RESEARCH into reality TV

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Week 9

In the tutorial this week, we developed the idea of the direction we are going to take for our final presentation for Life Without Barriers, addressing the wicked problem of the deficit of foster carers and eliminating a barrier of entry. The focus of our efforts is on eliminating the educational barrier related to life in foster care, available resources, application processes, etc. We aim to accomplish this by creating an innovative reality TV show, documentary based on real-life events, or a perspective show portraying real-life experiences.

We have implemented a work around the ideas in the tutorial by doing the rose, bud and thorns as shown below:

This was also reworked into a online platform:

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Week 8

Coming back from the semester break we reconnected this week as a group and discussed what everyone did over the holidays of course. In the tutorial we were prompted to start to generate solutions to the problem that are outside of the box and are very innovative and abstract. To help with the idea generation we implemented LEGO serious play. A new strategy implemented by many companies as a way to try and spark innovative ideas through the building of physical items that can be then seen as a metaphor and physically stand for something.  

Our serous play below

This weeks reading outlines how the design thinking process should not be taken as a linear process and outlines how prototyping allows designers to visualise and test ideas, gather feedback, and refine solutions before investing in production (Interaction Design Foundation, 2021).

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Week 7

This was the week that we presented out research and findings to our wicked problem of how we can eliminate one barrier for getting more people into foster care. our group chose to present first and covered a good summation of our research towards the topic.

some of our presentation slides below

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We should focus on teaching how to think not what to think.

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Week 6

This week was meant to be a mock presentation with our group getting ideas for the final product together. However, this tutorial was cancelled. Our group decided to individually work on gathering information towards the wicked problem.

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Week 5

Through the tutorial this week we completed a user journey map. A user journey map is ideally used to identify how a user might react to a proposed design, identify what the users’ goals and motivations may be, is the design going to deliver these expectations, and identify the type of interactions there will be between user and product/design. Overall, we have learnt that a user map is a visualisation of the processes that a user goes through to complete a goal.

sample user journey maps:

Complete user journey for our wicked problem:

This article being the weekly reading has an interesting view about the limitations of what we deem possible in society. It suggests that our limitations are not always physical or resource-based but are often rooted in our inability to think beyond existing boundaries. This is indeed a hard concept to visualise as a barrier faced in innovation however, is a very prominent challenge (Vidal, J, 2021).

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Week 4

During the tutorial for this week, we have learnt about empathy maps and personas. Empathy maps are a useful tool that can be helpful in gaining understanding of the user. By using empathy maps and stepping into their shoes and seeing the world through their eyes, we can design solutions that truly meet their needs and preferences. The empathy maps were created from personas. The personas were also created alongside the empathy maps and are fictional characters used to represent a specific demographic that we wished to empathy map.

Example Persona templates:

Worked empathy maps:

Empathy map implemented in presentation:

The reading this week How Would You Reimagine Learning? 5 Visions for Our Post_COVID Future highlights the fact that the education system is some what lacking in terms of the deliverable for students. The article talks about the need for a more inclusive, adaptable, and student focused approach to education. While also, exploring the rapid changes in education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights innovative responses from educators, parents, and students. It talks about how we can reimagine education systems, focusing on key themes such as equity, flexible learning environments, student-managed schedules, support for families, and new measures of success (Stolzoff, S., & Wesp, L, 2020).

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Week 3

Week 3 tutorial consisted of team building this consisted of 3 steps 1) share who you are 2) Agree on roles 3) plan your approach. After this exercise our team was coming together to fully agree on a wicked problem and then define our wicked problem. This week after discussion within the tutorial we chose to explore the concepts around the wicked problem presented to us by life without barriers. The problem space is centred around the foster care system, and they state the problem as how might we eliminate one barrier that prevents the right people from becoming foster carers, so we have more than enough people to support children when they have been removed from their families. This is the problem space my group have chosen to explore and hopefully find a new concept to help this problem.

During this time we have been completing our contract for collaboration also.

A interesting point this week was the reading Design Thinking for Social Good: An Interview with David Kelly.

In this reading David talks about the importance of empathy in design and how important the details of design are for user convenience. Having designers that understand the user wants and need for a product will inevitably lead to the creation of a product that humans want. The concept of creative confidence is also talked about, this time in a schooling text of K-12. Stating that students are particularly creative at these times but often begin to state they are not creative in order to fit into a social group or because of a pervious experience when a creative idea has been criticised or mocked (Solomon, A, 2012). This time period is critical for the development of creativity, if we can evoke their spark to grow students could become the new innovative ideas society needs.

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Week 2

In this week's lecture, we explored the concept of Art Thinking and its intersection with Design Thinking. The lecture introduced us to the idea of Country Centred Design, a methodology that incorporates Indigenous knowledges into the design of places, experiences, and critical technologies.

One idea that I had not though into especially as an educator was mentioned in today's lecture. It is the repositioning of the importance of teaching and learning how to think, rather than what to think. I believe this shift in focus is largely overlooked within the education system today. This focus on the how of thinking would develop students critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving abilities, which are essential in all aspects of life and the fields of art and design.

Art Thinking and Design Thinking are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary approaches to problem-solving and innovation. By incorporating elements of both approaches into our work, we can gain a deeper understanding of complex problems and create more impactful solutions.

Our depth of the concept of a wicked problem is continually expanded, with this weeks reading conveying the definition as “wicked problems are real world problems that acknowledge the complex interdependence of diverse factors and stakeholders, rather than simplistic, linear cause and effect abstractions that isolate the product of design from its context” (Wahl, D. C, 2019).

Wicked problem image