DTSPS - DESIGN THINKING FOR SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS & SERVICES by NTUC LearningHub

Course Overview

Employees face constant pressure to improve existing products, services or processes; or to introduce breakthrough ideas that can overcome sustainability challenges. However, many creative ideas get ‘stuck’ in the boardroom or are subject to intra-organizational tensions or group think. This course provides methodologies to break through these challenges.

In this practical hands-on workshop, discover the transformative power of Design Thinking in solving organisations’ most frustrating problems, with a lens that puts the user at the centre.

Participants will undertake a real-life design challenge in class, for which they will use the full range of tools to discover real customer needs, co-create solutions to transform the customer experience, to experiment through prototyping and validate the best sustainable solutions.

Throughout the course, participants will explore the intersection of design thinking and sustainability, including topics such as circular economy and life cycle assessment.

This practical hands-on course peppered with interesting videos, games and hands-on collaborative activities; and provide ample opportunities for reflections. Participants work individually and then in teams in a ‘diverge and converge’ manner collaboratively.

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Use a variety of design thinking tools and methods to generate innovative solutions in a user centric manner
• undertake sustainable product design or to extend the product/service roadmap of their organization.
• Develop a sustainability mindset that considers the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability
• Understand the principles of circular economy and apply them to real-world sustainability challenges
• Use life cycle assessment to analyze the environmental impact of products and services

Pre-requisites

The admission requirements are:

• Read, write, and speak English at WPL Level 3

Course Outline

• Overview of Design Thinking: Introducing the principles and methodology of design thinking for problem-solving.
• Sustainable Design: Exploring the importance of considering social, economic, and environmental aspects in product and service development.
• Empathize with User and their Needs: Techniques for understanding user perspectives and needs related to sustainability.
• Defining Needs: Articulating the challenges and opportunities for sustainable design based on user insights.
• Ideating for Solutions: Generating a wide range of innovative ideas to address the defined needs, focusing on sustainability and user-centricity.
• Prototyping: Creating tangible prototypes to visualize and test concepts quickly.
• Testing to Validate Ideas: Gathering user feedback and refining prototypes to ensure viable and desirable solutions.
• Implementation Plan: Developing strategies for scaling up sustainable solutions, considering market feasibility, business models, and stakeholder engagement.

Certificate Obtained and Conferred by

• Upon meeting the attendance and assessment(s) criteria, participants will be awarded with a digital Statement of Attainment (SOA), accredited by SkillsFuture Singapore. SOA will be reflected as DSN-ACE-4014-1.1 Design Thinking Practice
• Upon meeting the attendance and assessment(s) criteria, participants will be awarded with a digital Certificate of Completion from NTUC LearningHub.