A Case Study on Introducing the Design Thinking into PBL

A Case Study on Introducing the Design Thinking into PBL Shuhei Ohsako1, Yasutaka Kamei1, Shintaro Hosoai1, Weiqiang Kong1, Kimitaka Kato2, Akihiko Ishizuka3, Kazutoshi Sakaguchi3, Miyuki Kawataka4, Yoshitsugu Morita5, Naoyasu Ubayashi1, Akira Fukuda1 1 QUTE: Kyushu University Research Center for Advanced Information and Communication Technology Education, Kyusyu University, Fukuoka, Japan 2 Fujitsu, Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan 3 FUJITSU DESIGN, Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan 4 FUJITSU UNIVERSITY, Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan 5 Graduate School and Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan Abstract - In this paper, we describe a case study on introducing the Design Thinking as preparations for Project Based Learning (PBL). The purpose of introducing the Design Thinking is to improve students’ skill in producing new added-value at the time of solving project problems and investigating PBL themes. In addition, we describe the results of the questionnaire carried out for evaluating the effect of this introduction. Keywords: Design Thinking, Project Based Learning 1 Introduction The curriculum of Kyushu University Information Communication Technology Architect Educational Program (QITO) [1], which is offered in cooperation with companies like Center for Future ICT Leaders (CeFIL) [2], has three educational approaches: "PBL (Project Based Learning)"[3], "ICT All-Round Education"[4], and "Long-Term Internship". These approaches are adopted for dealing with insufficiency in conventional education. In this paper, we focus on the PBL approach. QITO aims at upbringing the pi-type engineers, as illustrated in Figure1, who are going to lead the nextgeneration information-oriented society. In particular, we aim for upbringing engineers who have "Design Ability" that connects "Technology Ability", the knowledge of computer science, and "Creative Ability", the utilization of ICT for profiting society. QITO introduces value-creation oriented PBL to raise "Design Ability". In value-creation oriented PBL, students will learn "Technology Ability" (development skill, development technique, etc.) and "Creative Ability" (problem discovery and solution, etc.), and additionally, students are expected to design new added–value that raises society innovation, when they examine the theme of the PBL projects and the solutions of the problems. To this end, we introduce a lecture and the practice of the Design Thinking before the start of value-creation oriented PBL, so as for the students to learn techniques to create new services and ideas, and to raise "Design Ability" necessary for a pi-type engineer. In this paper, we describe the contents of the Design Thinking lecture that we carried out in PBL, its position in the PBL, and the effect of Design Thinking introduction. In section 2, we describe a summary of value-creation oriented PBL introduced in QITO. In Section 3, we describe the contents of the lecture and the practice of the Design Thinking that we carried out. In Section 4, we describe the effect of the Design Thinking introduction based on the results of questionnaires conducted after the lecture and the comments to the achievements of the practice. Finally, in Section 5, we summarize this paper and describe future prospects. Requested abilities Π-type engineers Connect “Creative” and “Technology” Design Ability How ICT could profit society Creative Ability Π Knowledge of computer science Technology Ability Figure1 Desired abilities for pi-type engineers 2 2.1 Project Based Learning Summary In the Fundamental PBL carried out in the first term of first-year master course, students are given a common problem of expanding an existing Web system for the purpose of acquiring basic software development and project management skills. On the other hand, in the Practical PBL carried out in the second term of first-year master course and in the Advanced PBL carried out in first term of second-year master course (Practical and Advanced PBL are treated as value-creation oriented PBL), each student team start-ups a project on a different theme, where these themes could be society problems provided by teachers or companies, or students self-planned themes, etc. In addition to techniques necessary for completing a project theme, another purpose of such practice is to let students acquire abilities to discover problems and to think about means to solve the problems by students themselves based on teamwork. 2.2 Value–creation oriented PBL In value-creation oriented PBL, each team works on a different theme as described follows. Because solutions are not prepared for these themes in advance, it is important that students could come up with solutions with higher added value when they solve the problems of the project.  System development type (Company collaboration type) The purpose of this theme type is to develop systems according to requirement specifications provided by companies or teachers.  Contest challenge type This project aims at winning the championship at ESS robot challenge [4]. Through using a vacuum cleaner type robot, students examined and developed algorithms for making the map of the competition field, as well as for arriving at the destination within specified time.  International type / research type The purpose of this theme is to conduct research, in collaboration with an overseas university, on topics requested by teachers.  Business planning type (Entrepreneurship) Students propose services and systems, which have the potentials to be developed into new business, and conduct the actual development. One example of past themes is "plan and development of a Web Service to visualize topic flow"[6], which was proposed and developed by students themselves in 2013. 3 3.1 Design Thinking Summary The Design Thinking is a technique to create new service and business causing innovation to bring the society a change[7]. The approach called "Co-creation" is important in uncertainty and diversifying society. "Co-creation" is to adopt the wisdom from every person like businessmen and customers as well as designers, and to create services. The first step of service creation in the Design Thinking is to notice exiting problems by inspecting a field. Then, a prototype and a business model of the expected service are created by considering solutions to the problems by teamwork. Furthermore, the service and business model are brought into a close on-site examination in repeated cycles, during which new problems are extracted through inspecting the field by using the prototype developed. 3.2 Aims of the introduction We introduced the Design Thinking lecture so as to let students learn how to solve project problems and to come up with more attractive ideas, which are necessary for valuecreation oriented PBL. Aim 1: Let students learn techniques and means of thinking to create new ideas for solving society problems, and to learn the process of reaching mutual agreement. Aim 2: Let students deepen their understanding about the importance of "The Three Actuals" (actual place, actual part, and actual situation) for solving problems, rather than learning impractical theory. 3.3 Schedule We carry out the lecture before the start of the Practical PBL in the second term of first year master course to utilize the Design Thinking when students examine the theme of business planning type and create ideas in PBL. In 2013, we carried out the Design Thinking lecture as part of a lecture called "Advanced Topics on Social Information Systems" to demonstrate examples of the social problem solutions and innovation essence using ICT. The lecture of the Design Thinking was carried out in group work on July 4 and July 11, and an achievement presentation was conducted on July 19. The aim is to create new ICT services by using the Design Thinking, based on the lectures about the utilization of the ICT in real scenarios of social infrastructures (medical care and agriculture, etc.), which were carried out nine times from May 9 to June 20. 3.4 Practice contents We set a virtual project in this lecture for the purpose of "Raising social innovation in Kyushu University Library". Theme decision Field Work Viewpoint Card awareness (similarities/differences) Vision Making Proaction Cafe Discussion Theme Personal Worksheet Service Environment Brest New Service “Information” “Activity” Concept of the library Service Scenario Simple Persona Users of service Figure2 Work flow and works in the practice The time schedule of the group work is shown in Table1. We chose a library as the theme of the practice, because students have a well-understanding of it and can perform the field work easily when they investigate new services. The work flow and achievements in this practice are shown in Figure2. It was intended that students just create new innovative services in this practice without necessity for examining the feasibility and possibility of commercializing the services. In the Design Thinking, it is important to think and discuss with a positive attitude. Therefore, we set the following rules when we carried out the practice.  3.5 Practice system People who constitute this practice are shown in Figure3. We invited lectures from Fujitsu and Fujitsu Design Limited because they have experience in examining new services in actual fields. In addition, as an important part in the Design Thinking, we carried out information gathering and problem hearing of the actual field in the Ito Library of Kyushu University. Furthermore, students of Kyushu University Graduate School of Design joined the practice as facilitator who made the discussions more activate and supported to visualize proposed ideas. To talk frankly about personal thinking and feeling without hesitating. 3.6  To accept comments from other persons with a positive attitude, without negation and judgment. 3.6.1  To enjoy a discussion with many scribbling memos on tags. Table1 Time schedule of the group work Day Time Contents Unit Jul 4 50min Field work Pair 20min Share of awareness Pair 10min Theme decision Whole 20min Pro-action cafe Group 30min Vision making Group Home Personal worksheet Individual work Jul 11 60min Service environment Group brest 60min Simple persona Group 60min Service scenario Group Practice contents of the first day (July 4) Field work Two students make a pair and perform the field work in the Ito Library of Kyushu University so as to understand the present conditions of the library. The explanation tour guided by the library staffs is carried out in the library and students receive the explanation of the functions of the library. Next, every pair observes the library and performs a hearing of the library staffs and users. Lecturer Fujitsu/Fujitsu Design Actual Situation Ito Library (Kyushu Univ.) Explanation of Actual Situation Instruction/Advice Facilitator Students of QITO Hearing Students of graduate school of design Support of Visualization Figure3 Lecture system in this practice Viewpoint card Smoking area The Apple store Video arcade Sushi shop Airport Table2 Discussion theme and concepts of new libraries created in this practice Kind Theme (Keyword) Concept Similarities There are persons who do not use it at all Enjoyable leaning Similarities There is Macintosh Appealing that something is there Similarities The characters of the users vary according to floors Height of floor shows height of will Differences There is home delivery Handbill operation Similarities It is used other than its original purpose Library to feel We use the "Viewpoint card" as means to get awareness of the library. A name of the public facility, such as an exhibition, a hospital, a bar, or a restaurant (except the library) is written in a viewpoint card. The viewpoint card is distributed to each pair at random beforehand. When each pair performs the field work in the library, they carry out inspection and hearing in a viewpoint of similarities/ differences between the library and the public facility written in the viewpoint card, and they take notes of the awareness about the characteristics and the function of the library. 3.6.2 Share of awareness / Theme decision Each pair shares the awareness gotten in the library. Each pair shares the contents of the memo written in the card, and writes keyword on tags in a viewpoint of similarities/differences between the library and the viewpoint card, and puts it on the white board. theme that they sympathize most, and form groups for the following practice. 3.6.4 Vision making Each group investigates the concept of the selecting theme, and makes the cover catalogue of a new library. It is important that each group thinks about how they attractively convey the appealing point of the new library by using not only wording but also illustration. Concepts made by this practice are shown in Table2. For example, as shown in Figure4, as a result of digging into the theme "used other than its original purpose", a concept of "Library to feel" was made for the purpose of acquiring new constituencies through installing the theme parks, by which users can experience a world view of books. 3.6.5 Then, further discussion themes are chosen from the keywords extracted by each pair. Each student votes for five keywords that he/she consider important from all the keywords extracted by other pairs. After that, keywords with the most votes are selected as discussion themes. In this lecture, five themes shown in table 3 are selected as discussion themes. For example, library users may use study hall and learning consultation in addition to the original borrowing books purpose; airport users may not only board an airplane but also buy souvenirs and eat meals. Therefore, the keyword "It is used other than its original purpose" was extracted, and selected as a discussion theme. Pro-action cafe While digging into the extracted themes, students construct groups to examine ideas for each of the new library themes. At first, each table is assigned a discussion theme, and one student is remained at last as a host for the theme. Then, other students who have interests in this theme may move to the table and further discuss about the theme. Students except the host may freely move to other tables/themes in the middle of the discussions. Students discuss themes at each table, and perform development and deepening of the themes. Japanese vellum is prepared at each table, and students write down new opinions extracted from the discussions. After having repeated movement several times, students choose the Personal worksheet As homework to be done before the practice of the second day, each student writes down on a worksheet his/her viewpoints of the theme, as the starting point of his/her ideas. By imaging an ideal operation state of the new library according to each theme, students summarize according to the following items.  All "participants" who use the new library  "The exchanges" that are carried out in the new library Library to feel The times when user only read were over 3.6.3 Figure4 Examples of the concepts of a new library  "Feeling" of the participants who use the new library  Solved small "inconvenience" and "social problems"  "The value" that is brought about in the new library 3.7 Practice contents of the second day (July 11) 3.7.1 Service environment brest The worksheet contents of each student are shared within the group. From the worksheets, each group extracts keywords about the "information" concerning the library (books, users, floors, etc.), and about the "activity" which expresses the action of users, and then record these two information on tags. For example, as "information", keywords about users (such as "couple", "parent and child"), and about the characteristics of the library (such as "local oasis", "bad access", and "silent") were extracted. As "activity", keywords such as "search", "study", as well as "eat and drink" were extracted. After that, each group thinks about the ideas of the new services by combining the "information" and "activity" extracted. Then, one idea should be summarized in one piece of A4 sheet. It is important that students think about combinations as much as possible within specified time. The quantity, rather than the quality, of the ideas are attached more importance. then may become interested in books in which dishes offered by the restaurant appear. 3.8 Achievement presentation (July 19) Each group presents its design, and conveys the concept of a new library to participants. In this practice, the presentation documents were made by utilizing illustrations and images, and the presentation time was set to 25 minutes per group, including question and answer time. Each group presented the concrete suggested service scenarios. The presentation explains how a "persona" (which was set with concrete profile) used the "service" (which took into account the combination of "information" and "activity") in the new concept library. Examples of suggested services by each group are shown in Table3. Students’ fieldwork reveals that there were few users of the Ito library. To deal with this fact, students proposed services for increasing user numbers of the library. The service category is as follows.  Enhancement of students’ will to use the library For the purpose of raising students’ will of using the library, new services are proposed, which include, e.g., visualizing students’ efforts and providing better services according to usage frequency; and recommending research laboratories according to book rental history.  3.7.2 Simple persona To concretize the usage scenario of the proposed service ideas, simple personas of different usage styles are made. For each persona, a concrete profile such as hometown, hobby, character, and sense of values is set. In addition, each group thinks about how a persona uses a service idea in a chronological order. The image of each persona should be summarized in one piece of A4 sheet by using not only words but also illustrations. 3.7.3 Service Scenario Each group realizes services by considering concrete scenarios through combining service ideas and personas, and summarizes the design of the new library. Each group builds up concrete service scenarios with sympathy, while using illustration on one piece of sheet by putting together the combination of "information" and "activity". Such combination becomes the starting point of the service, the use scene, the scenario that related with the scene, and the persona concerning with the scene. One example of the service in the "Library to feel" is shown in Figure5. The service is to start a restaurant in the library that serves foods. It is expected that persons, who don't usually read books and are only interested in eating, may come to visit the library for using the restaurant, and Expansion of the constituencies of the library To attract users who do not usually use the library, it is proposed to set up theme parks and hold events such as quiz contest or lottery. It is expected that such means can attract new non-student users like children and housewives  New encounter / interchange Through setting up places for task display or hobbies, and photograph galleries, the proposed services are expected to be able to deepen interchange among not only students who use the library but also local inhabitants. Meal corner Person feels like eating, and seldom read books Meal x Book The space where users can really eat food while reading books Figure5 Example of a service scenario provided in a new library Concept Enjoyable leaning Appealing that something is there Height of floor shows height of will Handbill operation Library to feel Table3 Examples of suggested themes provided in a new library Information Activity Persona Contents of service indifference go to library family, holding a contest to look for the answer to a child problem from books grandchild use PC child, promoting local interchange through teaching the generation and mobile old person operation methods of PCs and smartphones by a child everyone search books foreign searching and displaying the route to a book student using tablet terminal advanced somehow student of increasing friends with a common hobby by varied hobbies setting up places for free talks books public lottery students, performing a lottery using the ISBN of books housewives among people who borrowed the books in the past library use facilities students, making comfortable rooms available for people professors who uses the library more times teachers, rental history Students recommending a suitable laboratory to a user students based on his/her book rental history physical introduce student for the providing places for persons who have interests science products encounter in the same fields through displaying student themes infants experience mother with not only making comfortable usage available for children housewives, but also attracting children’s interests to the library The ideas created by this practice received the following comments from lecturers and participants.  More library services are concretized than expected, and the services are considered to be feasible with respect to realization. However, since the fieldwork was conducted only in a short time, it is necessary to further dig into demands from actual situations.  Because it has been shown that problem solving abilities are improved by repeating the cycle of idea creation, such techniques learned from this practice should be continuously utilized in the future.  The created ideas were slightly felt insufficient from the viewpoint of innovation. At the initial stage of idea creation, it is expected that students could catch more the operation mechanism of the library. 4 4.1 4.2 The results of the questionnaire are shown in Table4. About thinking techniques, because the students could realize the effect of introducing the Design Thinking, we obtained the result that there was constant effect for future PBL practice. About the structure and process of the practice, there was the opinion that argument was activated by students from Kyushu University Graduate School of Design, who joined the practice as facilitators. On the other hand, there were indications about motivation and time designation of the practice, which are considered as future tasks. Furthermore, about the contents of the achievement presentation and the process of the lecture, the comments as described below were obtained from the people related to Kyushu University Library.  Effect of introducing the Design Thinking Summary We carried out a questionnaire to students after the achievement presentation with the purpose to evaluate the effect of introducing the Design thinking and hence to improve the lecture contents for the next fiscal year. The questionnaire is in a free description form and students can describe their impression and thought experienced during the Design Thinking. Effect The services were very unique and interesting. In the future, students are expected to be able to think about things by innovative approaches like used in this practice, without narrowing a range from the beginning.  Because students only visited the library at the time of fieldwork of the first day, they should investigate the services already provided by the library and collect demands from actual situations other than pure lecture time.  There were many public library oriented services, and few ideas targeted at university libraries. Classification thinking techniques process of the practice 5 Table4 Questionnaire results about the practice of the Design Thinking Good points Points to be improved Number of Contents Number of Contents responses responses 17 Because more opinion exchange was 3 Lectures about the process of putting conducted than conventional the ideas into practical use (e.g., discussions, many new ideas were whether the ideas are feasible with able to be created. respects to techniques and cost) are necessary Suggested services were able to be concretized by understanding the problems existing in actual situations. 8 The visualization method and the 6 It was vague whether ICT should, and way of thinking of the students from to what extent, be utilized in the Kyushu University Graduate School practice. of Design were very useful for Because there was too much work in reference purposes. the practice, understanding of the importance of each process seemed to be shallow. Conclusion We introduced the lecture of the Design Thinking as a preparation for value-creation oriented PBL. The purpose is to let students learn the thinking methods and the process of reaching agreement for creating added value when they solve problems, and let students understand the importance of solving problems based on opinions from actual situations, rather than based on impracticable theories. As the results of the questionnaire after the Design Thinking lecture, we understood the effect of such PBL practice including " Through the methods of the Design Thinking and the way of thinking of students from Kyushu University Graduate School of Design, more ideas could be created than convention discussions" and "the importance of making clear what is happening in actual situations could be understood better". On the other hand, some issues for improving the lecture contents were pointed out, such as "lectures about the process of putting the ideas into practical use are necessary" and "the investigation of actual situations was short". Furthermore, the refinements about the accomplishment degree of the practice were also pointed out, such as "the ideas for solving the problems of university libraries were insufficient". Therefore, we will feed back the comments for the process of in future lectures. 6 Acknowledgement This research is carried out in the programs of "Project for Establishing a Nationwide Practical Education Network for IT Human Resources Development (Education Network for Practical Information Technologies)" and "IT Specialist Program Initiative for Reality-based Advanced Learning" supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. Furthermore, this research received the cooperation of the Ito Library (Kyushu University Library) at the time of the field work and the evaluation of the practice results. 7 References [1] Website of QITO, Kyushu University http://www.qito.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/ [2] Website of CeFIL (In Japanese): http://www.cefil.jp/ [3] Akira Fukuda, Naoyasu Ubayashi, Keijiro Araki, Tsunenori Mine, Shigeru Kusakabe, Kunihiko Kaneko, Yasutaka Kamei, Norimichi Hiroshige, Zenjiro Ohba, Kaoru Nakatani, and Keizo Tatsumi. PBL practice guide for university teachers of computer science, 2012. (In Japanese) Download Website (In Japanese): http://www.qito.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/publicationspresentations/publications/3826 [4] Tetsuya Ohishi, Weiqiang Kong, Norimichi Hiroshige, Naoyasu Ubayashi, and Akira Fukuda. Remote lecture using many spots connection device, Research report of JET Conferences 12(4), pp.73-80, 2012. (In Japanese) [5] Website of ESS Robot Challenge (In Japanese) http://www.qito.kyushu-u.ac.jp/ess/2013/index.html [6] Branchat (In Japanese): http://branchat.net/ [7] Tim Brown, Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review, 2008.