Design Thinking 101 Dawan Stanford

Holly Owens is an Adjunct Professor at the Touro College Graduate School of Technology, where she teaches in the Instructional Technology program, and works full time as an Instructional Designer with PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy. She has over 15 years of experience in education in various roles, including high school educator, instructional technologist, and podcast host. Today, we talk about instructional design and designing learning experiences for adults.

Listen to learn about:
>> What is instructional design?
>> Adaptive, individualized learning
>> Andragogy and designing learning experiences for adults
>> Incorporating strategic plans and goals into the learning experience

Our Guest
As a Corporate Instructional Designer at Amazon Pharmacy, Holly brings over 17 years of diverse experience in education, specializing in instructional technology, design, and teaching. Since 2012, she has been actively involved in online education, currently serving as an educator at Touro University's Graduate School of Technology in their Instructional Design/Technology program.
With two master's degrees from the University of Maryland, Global Campus—one in Instructional Technology and another in Distance Education—Holly also holds a certificate in Distance Education Leadership and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Organizational Leadership.
Holly’s dedication lies in promoting online learning and its vast potential to empower students worldwide. As the host of the EdUp EdTech podcast, she offers a leading resource to stay updated on the latest and most impactful Ed Tech tools revolutionizing education. The podcast features guests from the EdTech industry, sharing personal and professional growth stories while exploring how technology is reshaping the education landscape.

Show Highlights
[01:49] Holly discovered a love of EdTech while teaching high school, her first career.
[02:12] Moving into higher education and instructional design.
[03:44] Getting a job with Amazon Pharmacy.
[05:09] Dawan explains why we talk about instructional design on the podcast.
[07:06] What is instructional design?
[08:59] Holly’s thoughts on remote/distance learning.
[11:36] Adult vs young learners.
[13:33] Designing learning experiences for adult learners.
[15:07] Holly discusses how she designs learning experiences.
[18:00] Adult learners want to know the destination and the what and how of getting there.
[20:10] Fitting the strategic plan and business goals into the learning experience.
[22:32] The differences between the corporate and education spaces when it comes to
innovation.
[27:18] Holly’s thoughts and advice for those thinking about getting into instructional design.
[31:23] Books and resources Holly recommends.
[34:24] Where to find out more about Holly and her work.

Links
Holly on LinkedIn
Holly at Touro University
EdUp EdTech
Holly Owens—Making the Leap
from Educator to Instructional Designer
An Insider's Perspective:
The Journey from Educator to Instructional Designer w/ Holly Owens
Holly Owens with Host Toddi
Norum: The Changing World of Online Ed & the Future of the Instructional
Designer
Holly Owens - The Secret is
in the Sauce: 5 Key Ingredients to Use When Designing an Online Course from
Scratch
5 Ways to Help Students
Succeed in Online Courses with Holly Owens

Book Recommendations
Map It: The hands-on guide to strategic training design, by Cathy Moore
Design for How People Learn, by Julie Dirksen
Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change, by Julie Dirksen
What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer, by Luke Hobson
The eLearning Designer's Handbook: A Practical Guide to the eLearning Development Process for New eLearning Designers, by Tim Slade

DT 101 Episodes
Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change with Julie Dirksen — DT101 E131
5.5 Things Every Designer Should Know About: The Future of Higher Educati

David Staley is an associate professor in the Department of History at Ohio State University. He teaches courses in digital history and historical methods. He also holds courtesy appointments in two departments, the Department of Design, where he has taught courses in digital history and design futures, and the Department of Educational Studies, where he has led the forum on the university. We talk about the future of higher education and learning, remote learning, and explore some of the ideas in David’s latest book, Knowledge Towns.

Listen to learn about:
>> AI and its potential impact on education
>> How will we define a “university” in the future?
>> Remote learning
>> David’s book, Knowledge Towns

Our Guest
David Staley is an academic, writer, designer, futurist and journalist.  He is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and (by courtesy) the Departments of Design and Educational Studies at The Ohio State University. He is the author of "Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education", the co-author of "Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as Talent Magnets" and author of "Visionary Histories", a collection of futures essays.

He is an Honorary Faculty Fellow at the Center for Higher Education Leadership and Innovative Practice (CHELIP) at Bay Path University, and a fellow at the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. In 2022 he was awarded "Best Freelance Writer" by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists for his "Next" futures column with Columbus Underground.

Show Highlights
[04:32] David starts off the conversation by talking about how AI will impact and change the future of higher education.
[05:12] The Interface.
[06:10] One of the top design problems for the remainder of the 21st century.
[09:11] What our relationship with AI might look like.
[09:40] David gives a few hints on a book idea he’s working on.
[10:19] The importance of knowing the level of dialogue a learner needs at any given moment.
[11:26] David believes that AI will become a pretty important part of the classroom system.
[14:01] New forms of knowledge.
[14:46] Preparing students for a world of dynamic change.
[18:01] David asks Dawan if he thinks students will come to university to solve problems rather than to learn a discipline.
[21:26] A Miro Moment.
[23:28] David discusses the epistemic culling phenomenon happening in higher education.[27:40] Will we be redefining what a university is? What might that look like?
[32:41] Dawan asks, What is higher learning, and how does it serve us?
[33:39] David takes us back to the early pandemic years, and the remote class experience.
[34:39] Using the experience as a teaching opportunity.
[34:53] The generic feeling of taking classes remotely.
[35:32] The idea of Place.
[36:43] The value of learning together.
[37:20] Where will the location of teaching and learning be in the future?
[38:07] Will the numbers of remote students continue to increase?
[38:41] The emergency nature of online learning during the pandemic, as opposed to designed online learning.
[42:26] How does a university bring what is unique about them into the online learning experience?
[43:30] David contemplates future online learning looking like tutorials and one-on-one learning.
[47:51] David believes that the best teaching and learning happens one-on-one.
[49:35] Colleges and universities are talent magnets.
[51:29] Place does matter when it comes to universities, but mostly from an economic development standpoint.
[53:37] When remote working and learning can happen anywhere, workers and learners will have the choice in where they live, learn, and work.
[56:04] Universities and colleges need to rethink their relationship with the place they are located.
[57:32] Moving beyond survival to thriving.
[59:18] Graceful endings in higher education spaces.

Links
David on LinkedIn
David’s articles

This is a Design Thinking 101 episode in the Ask Like a Designer series. Ask Like a Designer helps people explore creating services and solutions by thinking and solving like a designer.

You’ll learn about design thinking, service design, learning design, leading and building high-performing teams, and ways to achieve better outcomes.

This episode is based on this article: ALD014 // 5 Ways Nobody Cares About You and How They Make You a Better Designer. Read the article and others like it on Fluid Hive’s Ask Like a Designer.

What did you think of this episode? Please send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team.

Cheers ~ Dawan
Design Thinking 101 Podcast Host
President, Fluid Hive

Show Highlights
[00:51] Your tiny narcissist.
[00:55] The five ways nobody cares about you.
[01:52] Nobody cares what you create.
[02:13] Nobody cares about the problems you solve.
[02:35] Nobody cares what you know.
[02:56] Nobody cares about your experience.
[03:19] Nobody cares if you win.
[03:51] Fluid Hive’s free thinking tool has all of the questions you need to answer to keep your inner narcissist in check. 
The Design Thinking 101 Podcast’s Ask Like a Designer series
Ask Like a Designer — DT101 E61

Design, and One Question to Rule Them All // ALD 002 — DT101 E63
There Are No Problems Worth Solving — Only Questions Worth Asking // ALD 003 — DT101 E65
Your Good-Life OS: Designing a System for Living Well and Peak Performance // ALD 004 — DT101 E67 The Swiss-Army Lives of How-Might-We Questions // ALD 005 — DT 101 E69 
Designing Facilitation: A System for Creating and Leading Exceptional Events // ALD 006 — DT101 E73 
The Innovation Saboteur’s Handbook // ALD 007 – DT101 E77 
Three Little Words for Better (Business) Relationships // ALD 008 — DT101 E79 
The 30-Minute Solution Matrix: How to Think and Solve Under Pressure // ALD 009 — DT101 E87 
Protect Your Solutions with Transformation Stories: Part 1 — Crafting Well // ALD 010 — DT101 E89 
Protect Your Solutions with Transformation Stories: Part 2 — Telling Well // ALD 011 — DT101 E92 
Want Better Outcomes? Find Better Problems. // ALD 012 — DT101 E99 
Designing a Learning System for the Good Life // ALD 013 — DT101 E108

Julie Dirksen is the author of the books Design for How People Learn and Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change. She is a learning strategy consultant with a focus on incorporating behavioral science into learning interventions. Julie was my guest for episode 42 of the show. In this episode, we talk about her latest book, ways to motivate learners and workshop participants, designing learning experiences for skill development, and more.

Listen to learn about:
>> Julie’s latest book, Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change
>> Behavior change challenges
>> The biggest challenge when creating virtual learning experiences
>> Motivating and engaging learners
>> AI in education
Our Guest
Julie Dirksen is the author of the books Design For How People Learn and Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change. She is a learning strategy consultant with a focus on incorporating behavioral science into learning interventions. Her MS degree is in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University. She’s been an adjunct faculty member at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and is a Learning Guild Guildmaster.
She is happiest when she gets to learn something new, and you can find her at usablelearning.com.

Show Highlights
[02:02] Julie gives a quick summary of her first book and how Talk to the Elephant is its natural sequel.
[02:42] The new book tackles the challenges in actually changing behavior.
[04:26] On learning experiences.
[05:21] Julie is starting to organize a third book, which will be on skill acquisition.
[05:34] The evolution of behavioral design.
[06:21] The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest behavior change experiment in the history of the world.
[07:06] The book’s audience are those in the learning and development field — people who design learning experiences.
[08:00] The Change Ladder.
[08:54] Julie offers one case study she uses in the book to demonstrate the challenges around behavior change.
[14:17] The importance of communicating and working with the people you serve when it comes to changing behaviors.
[14:58] Julie tells a story illustrating the importance of talking to and understanding the people you serve and their needs.
[17:57] It’s important for people to participate in their own behavioral design.
[20:15] Creating the conditions for learners to motivate themselves.
[21:22] Making things as easy as possible for someone to do.
[22:42] A Miro Moment.
[25:27] Creating learning experiences that engage learners.
[26:14] The biggest challenge in designing virtual workshops.
[27:55] Why Julie is interested in Virtual Reality.
[29:34] The top two challenges Julie sees in almost every behavior change.
[34:55] Immediate impact and immediate rewards help learners stay motivated.
[37:21] Helping learners see what they will be able to do with this new skill or new knowledge.
[42:53] Julie shows appreciation for how video games onboard players as a great example of guiding people along the learning curve.
[45:11] Designing learning experiences to make your learner feel smart and capable as they acquire new skills and knowledge.
[48:42] Julie talks about research on self-directed learning by Catherine Lombardozzi.
[49:20] Julie and Catherine will be doing a webinar on the key behaviors seen in good self-directed learners.
[52:05] Julie ponders how systems thinking and design fits into behavior change.
[52:54] Dawan and Julie talk about AI and its role in education.

Links
Julie on LinkedIn
Usable Learning
Designing for how people learn

Book Recommendations
Design for How People Learn, by Julie Dirksen
Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change, by Julie Dirksen
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
Nudge: The Final Edition, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
How Change Happens, by Cass Sunstein
Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things, by Dan Ariely
Pred

David Lemus is an independent design strategist with engineering roots working with organizations to empower teams to be customer obsessed and have a culture of iterative learning. He has designed and facilitated dozens of design thinking workshops across Fortune 500 companies, non-profit and government organizations. David is also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Portland's Pamplin School of Business and leads the Portland Design Thinking Meetup community.
Listen to learn about:
>> Team facilitation
>> Human centered-design: mindsets over methods
>> [Re]Building human connection 
Our Guest
David Lemus is an independent design strategist with engineering roots working with organizations to empower teams to be customer obsessed and have a culture of iterative learning. He has designed and facilitated dozens of design thinking workshops across Fortune 500 companies, non-profit and government organizations.
David was in-house at Capital One on the Design Thinking and Strategy team. That team focused on changing the way the enterprise worked by empowering all employees with the mindsets and tools of design thinking. His team scaled practitioner and senior leadership programs throughout the risk-averse organization.
Prior to Capital One, David was a senior consultant at Peer Insight, a service design and innovation firm where he led service design projects with Fortune 500 and non-profit clients. David is also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Portland's Pamplin School of Business and leads the Portland Design Thinking Meetup community. David has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland.
Show Highlights

[02:10] How David went from engineer to design strategist.
[02:59] The two experiences as an engineer that led David into design thinking.
[04:46] Experimenting to find the right career path.
[06:54] The challenges of experimentation and risk-taking in the workplace.
[09:07] Teaching human-centered design and creativity at Capital One.
[11:16] David’s focus is on mindsets, not methods, when it comes to teaching design thinking to others.
[14:08] Helping non-designers to understand and use human-centered design in their work.[17:04] A Miro Moment.
[18:53] Breaking down silos.
[20:29] The lack of skilled facilitators for collaboration at work.
[21:20] Finding ways to make meetings productive and fun.
[22:40] Do you really need a meeting?
[24:47] Designing meetings.
[26:09] Practicing active listening during meetings.
[27:26] Cultivating the right energy in the team and creating the right environment in the room for the work you’re doing.
[27:26] Designing the right activities for your meeting in order to achieve the meeting’s goals.
[30:46] David and Dawan talk about why people’s design thinking expectations are often not met in reality.
[33:23] What David is working on now: Connection.
[38:37] Where to learn more about David’s work.
Links
David on LinkedIn
lemus&co
David’s website
Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like
Public Sector Design + Outcome Chains + Prototyping for Impact with Boris Divjak — DT101 E26
Designing for Healthcare vs Sick Care + The Emergency Design Collective — DT101 E52
The Experimentation Field Book with Natalie Foley — DT101 E123

Liz Chen is Design Thinking Lead at Innovate Carolina, the unit dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Liz is also a co-author of The Experimentation Field Book, a practical how-to guide on rigorously testing assumptions and concepts. We talk about teaching and applying design thinking in higher education, and learn more about The Experimentation Field Book.
Listen to learn about:
>> Innovate Carolina
>> The Experimentation Field Book
>> Design thinking and public health
>> Design thinking in strategic planning
Our Guest
Liz is Design Thinking Lead at Innovate Carolina, the unit dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She leads the interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Innovation for the Public Good and launched her team’s recharge center that allows grad student Design Thinking and Innovation Fellows to work on staff as part-time employees to support design and innovation projects with clients inside and outside of the university. Liz is also a co-author of The Experimentation Field Book, a practical how-to guide on rigorously testing assumptions and concepts. Liz is a former high school science teacher, tech nonprofit co-founder, and public health researcher.
Show Highlights
[02:50] Getting accepted into Innovation Next as a grad student, a national innovation acceleration program.
[03:30] Completing her Ph.D. and becoming the Design Thinking Lead at Innovate Carolina.
[04:16] The changes Liz has seen in how design thinking is being used in research.
[04:54] Liz talks about a project funded by the EPA that she and her student team are working on, to reduce food waste.
[06:34] UNC’s graduate certificate program in Innovation for the Public Good.
[07:24] Divergent vs. convergent thinking.
[08:41] The challenges in using design thinking when many funding organizations ask you to pitch a “single solution.”
[11:15] Sharing what didn’t work is as important as sharing what did work.
[12:24] Innovate Carolina has consulting services, where grad students and fellows get to work on client projects.
[15:43] Liz talks about how Innovate Carolina’s infrastructure works within the infrastructure of the university.
[19:15] The Experimentation Field Book provides resources for readers to self-teach the process of testing ideas and assumptions.
[20:59] A Miro Moment.
[23:35] Some of Liz’s favorite tools from the book.
[25:45] The book’s five-step testing process.
[28:17] Using design thinking in public health.
[33:56] Three things Liz wishes people knew about teaching science at the high school level.
[39:29] The Experimentation Field Book is for anyone who is problem-solving or innovating.
[42:11] Liz and her team are helping with the work on UNC’s Carolina Next strategic plan.
45:51] Dawan shares a little about his strategy design experiences at Ohio State University.
Links
Liz on LinkedIn
Liz on UNC’s website
Liz on ResearchGate
Liz on GoogleScholar
Innovate Carolina
Carolina Graduate Certificate in Innovation for the Public Good
MyHealthEd
Want 20% off of The Experimentation Field Book?  Click here and use promo code CUP20
Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like
The Experimentation Field Book with Natalie Foley — DT101 E123
Experiencing Design: The Innovator’s Journey with Karen Hold — DT101 E71
Designing Facilitation: A System for Creating and Leading Exceptional Events // ALD 006 — DT101 E73