ABSTRACT
Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that emphasizes building empathy for user needs. This chapter introduces design thinking as a creative problem-solving process that emphasizes a focus on building a deeper understanding, or empathy, for the people who will benefit from the design. Design thinking has been a staple in the creative world of design, but virtually unknown in higher education and student affairs. Design thinking’s focus on process mirrors student affairs work. Student affairs professionals either directly or indirectly strive to foster student learning and development, which is a process. The design thinking approach is beneficial in a higher education setting where resources are scarce. Design thinking offers rich learning and collaboration opportunities for students. Design thinking consists of five steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.
