Design Thinking Methods for Engagement @ SFU 2020

As part of the Dialogue and Civic Engagement Certificate Program at SFU, this workshop is designed to be a combination of lecture, dialogue and practice – applying design thinking tools and methods through different activities across scales from personal to community to work place.

This was the 5^th iteration of this course (and it was FULL)!

Over the past two years, DLOG faculty have been engaging with the leadership team to reflect on the ways in which issues of Power, Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Intersectionality are represented and taught. Talk about a humble sandwich! I learned so much in this process, and continue to do so from my fellow instructors. It’s all about reflection and iteration.

Next offering is Jan. 21, 2021 with 8 spots left!

In the context of civic or public engagement, design thinking is about building capacity and strengthening relationships –– to enable people to become active citizens and to collectively improve our communities. It’s not the be all and end all solution, but rather something that can plug into larger engagement and planning strategies and can also be blended with other disciplinary approaches to research and problem solving. Particularly, we see it being applied in social planning, urban design and architecture, health care, government, community building.

One of the most transformative resources I came across during my redesign of the course is equity x design co-authored by Caroline Hill, Michelle Molitor and Christine Moritz. Highly recommend.