CHENNAI: After coding, now design thinking has become the latest education fad to attract the attention of students. Last year, the CBSE had introduced design thinking along with Artificial Intelligence (AI), as part of its skill-based courses and since then, the demand of the course has increased significantly. D-Innothinkr, a startup providing courses on design thinking, notes that since last year, they have offered the course to over 100 students. “The CBSE may have introduced design thinking course for Class 11 students, but analysing the demand, we have designed our course for those aged 8 years and above,” says Rajalakshmi S, co- founder of D-Innothinkr.
“Demand for the course is really encouraging. Design thinking course will inculcate the trait of a creative problem-solving approach among students. The training will help them in personal and professional lives,” Rajalakshmi adds.
“The design thinking course is a combination of critical and creative thinking approaches. A collaborative, constructive and holistic approach helps achieve innovation,” points out Kavitha Ramamoorthy, curriculum strategist at D-Innothinkr. The course also provides immense job opportunities.
Vikas Gupta, Managing Director of Wiley, WileyNXT, an academia firm that offers a certificate programme on design thinking, says, “Gone are the days when innovation was based merely on assumptions. In a world where customers enjoy a certain amount of hegemony, application of design thinking has become the need of the hour. It is a professional skill which is industry and job-role agnostic.”
“So far, we have certified over 10,000 students and learners in design thinking. In fact, design thinking is one of the major aspects of our curriculum, which is integrated into most of our programmes and certifications. Going forward, with more and more organisations aiming at maximising return on investment (ROI), enhancing customer-centricity and building unique solutions for problems, there is going to be a huge demand for design thinking practitioners across sectors and industries,” Gupta adds.