Think by Design: Celebrating Design Thinking and Experiential Learning

Stacy Neier Beran

Nov 2024 · Business Expert Press

About this ebook

Uncertainty has an upside. In Think by Design (TBD), you’ll practice a hands-on approach to combine design thinking and experiential learning in business education. Our world’s biggest challenges put pressure on everyone. These challenges require us to blend how we act with how we think. Through combined action and reflection, we learn to use what’s TBD as a problem-solving advantage.

TBD’s methods and tools humanize problem-solving. Through four chapters, you’ll practice design thinking in an experiential learning challenge characterized by authentic uncertainty. The challenge includes eight design thinking experiences and four retrospectives. Each chapter features a playful posture, used to activate core values. Templates and checklists equip you to collaborate using digital whiteboards. In the Conclusion, you’ll write a TBD Manifesto to prepare for future challenges.

TBD acts as a unique primer for design thinking fundamentals. This book is perfect for business educators and students in experiential, interdisciplinary collaborations. Business practitioners who want to incorporate digital whiteboards will also find the templates and checklists actionable.

About the author

Stacy Neier Beran, PhD, is the Director of Experiential Learning at Loyola Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business. A board member with Chicago Fair Trade and Rogers Park Business Alliance, Stacy is also a Researcher with PinPoint Collective, a women-owned creative research and strategy studio. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, from the Journal of Marketing Education to Mintel’s North America Trend Observations. She lives in Chicago with her husband Matt and their French Bulldog Twombly.