Design Thinking for Art Education
Unlock the power of design in your teaching! Learn to create innovative, problem-solving lessons that captivate and inspire students across all grade levels.
3 Credits|8 Weeks|$1275
Design is an indispensable facet of visual arts education and an integral part of our daily existence. This course, taught by special guest, Dr. Robin Vande Zande, aims to underscore the significance of design and provide effective strategies for incorporating it into educational curricula.
Teaching design starts with the use of the design process and design thinking — a human-centered, problem-solving approach. Students will learn to navigate the design process steps, starting with defining authentic local, national, or global challenges, followed by researching, brainstorming, creating prototypes, presenting, and revising for final solutions. This method fosters essential life and career skills, including communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
Guest Instructor: Robin VandeZande, PhD
Robin VandeZande, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus at Kent State University. Her research focus is design education for PreK-12 students and her book, Design Education: Creating Thinkers to Improve the World, is a seminal resource for teaching design-based learning to PreK-12 grade students and an anchor of this course.
Required Materials
Additional Materials
- Computer with basic audio and video output equipment
- Internet access (broadband recommended)
- Basic computing skills (see AOEU’s Technology Requirements)
- Access to AOEU’s online learning platform, Brightspace, to view course content, submit assignments, and engage in discussion (provided)
- A Google Drive account (provided)
- Word-processing platform (Microsoft Office, Pages, Google Docs)
