Starting on 8 May, 2019, a new online course on the e-learning platform openHPI will introduce the core principles of Design Thinking beyond the process level. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Beyond Brockhaus Thinking: With Design Thinking to a Networked Culture” aims to inspire leaders to create a culture of collaboration in their organizations.

Prof. Ulrich Weinberg, Director of the HPI School of Design Thinking (HPI D-School) in Potsdam, and Claudia Nicolai, Academic Director of the HPI D-School, are leading the English-language course. They will share how Design Thinking evolved from a university program to a globally respected and applied set of methods and tools for driving change towards a networked culture in organizations.

“In the course, we will show that Design Thinking is more than just a creative process to develop new ideas, products, and services”, says Weinberg. Design Thinking has become “a strategic approach for human-centered transformation processes in organizations that is based on agile principles.”

Weinberg and Nicolai want to discuss the basic concept of Design Thinking as well as its relevance for organizational culture with the participants of the online course. “It is important for us to demonstrate how the approach can help foster an active transformation towards a networked organization”, Weinberg adds. He also explores this transformation in his book “Network Thinking: Beyond Brockhaus Thinking”.

If you would like to learn more about the core principles of Design Thinking and about application examples, the five-week online course if for you. “However, the course is not a substitute for a real Design Thinking workshop, which will give participants a deep and diverse team experience in a creative environment”, Nicolai emphasizes.

Nicolai promises that the course will help participants, “to develop a conceptual understanding of why and how they can apply Design Thinking as a strategic approach to organizational transformation. Participants will learn that to do so, they will also need a new leadership and organizational culture.”

Both course instructors have prepared practical assignments helping participants to reflect the discussed concepts and approaches. They also hope that many users will share and discuss their personal thoughts and experiences with the community in the openHPI forum. Weinberg and Nicolai expect a work load of two to three hours per week.

Previous online courses on Design Thinking are still accessible in the archive of openHPI:

“Human-Centered Design: From Synthesis to Creative Ideas” (2018)

“Inspirations for Design: A Course on Human-Centered Research“ (2017)

Another Design Thinking online course titled “Human-Centered Design: Building and Testing Prototypes” will start in autumn 2019.

Photos: Kay Herschelmann / HPI D-School