Introduction
We are pleased to inform you of the exciting workshop; “Design Thinking for Your Creative Practice”, to be held in coming October and start of call for applications of the workshop. This workshop has been held at Tokyo Tech every year since 2014 and got over-subscription every time. The workshop has a reputation for its effectiveness to understand the core of Design Thinking; concepts of Creative Confidence and User Centric. The workshop is also informative and enjoyable by its speedy Silicon Valley style process. We are inviting 3 facilitators, who have long experience for teaching Design Thinking in d.school, Stanford University and other organizations.
It is essential for students to have capability of leadership and entrepreneurship in a borderless society in order to generate new values, and “design thinking” is a fundamental concept and methodology for such leadership and entrepreneurship skills. Many Japanese and international enterprises are actually asking their employees to learn and utilize the concept of “Design Thinking”.
Facilitators for the workshop are Thomas Both, David Janka, and Scott Witthoft. They are all professional product designers and educators. They teach design thinking at the Stanford University d.school, the University of Texas at Austin, and at organizations around the world.
*Although this workshop will be held as a part of ToTAL(Tokyo Tech Academy for Leadership)’s course of “Fundamental Group Work for Leadership I/II (F)”, any Tokyo Tech students who are not applying to the ToTAL course or students from other universities can also apply to the workshop. (Credits will not be granted to those students).
*This workshop has been designated as an event of “Tokyo Tech Program for Development of Next-Generation Front-Runners with Comprehensive Knowledge and Humanity (Tokyo Tech SPRING)” students as well.
Outline
| Date and Time | -Day 1: Saturday, October 26, 2024 10:00AM-6:00PM -Day 2: Sunday, October 27, 2024 10:00AM-6:00PM |
| Venue | S4-202 lecture room (South Building 4, Ookayama Campus) |
| Capacity | Around 35 students |
| Important Notes | ・All current university students, both undergraduates and graduates, are eligible to apply. Students outside of Tokyo Tech are also eligible. ・There will be a selection in case of over-subscription. In case of selection, the order of priority will be 1) ToTAL students, 2) students who registered for ToTAL’s courses, and 3) others who are participating in an ad-hoc basis. Your answers to the Application Form below; ” Please indicate your English capability, such as “Native”, “Advanced”, “Intermediate”, or “Beginner”, and/or score of English assessment tests including TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS, Cambridge and/or EIKEN” and ” Your aim(s) or expectations you have for this workshop, or motivation for joining the workshop.” will be taken into consideration for the selection. ・Applicants to this workshop need to make the following commitments : 1) attend both 2 days, and 2) not be late nor leave early for both days. |
| Language | English *This workshop will be held entirely in English. (Scores over 750 for TOEIC and 80 for TOEFL iBT are preferable). |
| Fee | Free |
| Application Deadline | Friday, October 11, 2024 |
| Application | Please apply from the link below and fill out all necessary information. Whether you can join the workshop or not will be informed to applicants after the application deadline. Application Form：https://forms.gle/LyQtyaQ9txrh4Ngp7 |
Facilitators
■Thomas Both:
Thomas is a designer and design educator whose passion is helping people understand the practice of human-centered design—and their ability as designers—to innovate how they learn, think, and solve problems. He is director of the Designing for Social Systems program at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University. In this program, he teaches professionals how to apply design thinking to complex social challenges and facilitates workshops for social impact leaders to develop a more human and strategic practice.
■David Janka:
Design consultant and creative strategist; former Fellow and current lecturer at the Stanford University d.school. David has a medical degree from Stanford and works to integrate design thinking principles into medical education, healthcare delivery, and medical device design.
■Scott Witthouft:
Professional space and product designer; former Associate Professor of Practice at University of Texas at Austin; former Fellow and lecturer at the Stanford University d.school. Scott is author of the book “Make Space,” a tool for designing collaborative spaces. He has a professional background in structural engineering.
Comments from the students who joined in the workshop in the past
■Hands-on creativity practice. You can learn about the different ways and processes for generating new ideas and how you can transform them quickly into tangible prototypes. (D1)
■It was a really fun, relaxing and interactive workshop. The workshop is very well organized and it allows the participants to learn very effectively.(D2)
■This workshop provides an opportunity to interact with other students and understand your own space. It made me realize that I want to do more, and, more importantly, to do things in a professional manner.(M2)
■I really enjoyed learning the concept of design thinking and practical skills such as effective sketching techniques. It was also a good opportunity to use my English, so I would recommend it to everyone! (M1)
■ The content and participants were of very high quality, and the workshop was very satisfying. Personally, I have improved my English discussion skills since joining ToTAL in June, so I was able to feel my own growth in that respect as well through this workshop. Let’s join together next year! (M1)
ToTAL’s aims and characteristics of this workshop
■ All Tokyo Tech students are expected to develop and execute new value for society when they become “professionals” in any fields. At ToTAL, we believe that the core of “leadership” is the motivation and skills to develop such new value for society proactively.
■ The concept of “Creative Confidence”, meaning that creativity is for everybody and anyone can generate new ideas, and “User Centric”, which is making new values to be accepted in society, are the fundamentals of Design Thinking. Establishing such concepts in your mind, developing logic and taking actions will lead to such new values.
■ Although it is often understood that Design Thinking is a kind of method to generate “innovations” by following 5 steps; empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test, the core of Design Thinking is the 2 concept above.
■ This workshop aims to establish such 2 concepts in your brain and body. d.school tutors designed the agenda especially for Tokyo Tech to satisfy such aim, which is deferent from usual design thinking workshop of merely learning the 5 steps.
■ During this 3-day workshop, students should try to understand and experience the mind-set of Creative Confidence and the skill set of User Centric; exploring mechanism of needs and jump belong logic, through d.school way of speedy, friendly and diversified learning environment.
Inquiries:
Prof. Yamada, Tokyo Tech Academy for Leadership (ToTAL)
Email: yamada.k.be@m.titech.ac.jp
Room: S6-309B, Ookayama Campus
