6 Easy Steps to Use Design Thinking for VR and AR

Design thinking: The basis of using VR and AR in the classroom

Before incorporating immersive technologies like virtual and augmented reality into the classroom, you need to start with a few different frameworks.

By building your VR and AR implementation framework according to three different models, design thinking, futures thinking and station-based learning, this blend of teacher-guided and student-centred approaches will make for easy adoption of VR and AR.

In this blog we take a look at design thinking in more detail.

What is design thinking?

Design thinking is an ideology used far beyond the classroom — often relied on by businesses across the world. Its purpose is to provide users a standardised innovation process to develop creative solutions to problems. Focusing on the solution, rather than the problem, design thinking invites students to utilise empathy, curiosity, constructiveness and continuous iteration to come to a collaborative solution.

For example, our Education team created a lesson plan based on the design thinking framework called Operation: Safe Planet. The lesson introduces students to the concept of extreme natural events through immersive learning experiences. The students are then asked select an issue arising from an extreme natural event for which they create a creative VR campaign to solve the problem.

Incorporating the design thinking framework into your lessons

How do you go about integrating VR and AR into your teaching using this framework? As VR and AR equipment grows more accessible in teaching, you need an entry point as you begin to develop lessons with this tech. We find the design thinking framework provides a highly suitable place to start.

This framework is reasonably universal and can be adapted and customised to support various ideas and lesson plans as you work. Here are the 6 steps: 

Step 1: Empathising

Students have the opportunity to explore a particular problem or challenge, getting to grips with this obstacle and gaining personal insight into the difficulty it represents. At this stage, students are encouraged to really engage with the problem, asking questions and reflecting on how it can be overcome. It’s worth noting that VR allows students to empathise in ways not previously possible. Putting them quite literally in the shoes of another offers another level of immersion and experience.

Step 2: Defining

In the next phase of the lesson, students need to define what the problem is, putting it into words and confronting it in a different way. This provides the foundation they need as they consider what comes next — what did they think was the biggest challenge, and what do they think needs to be tackled with the most urgency? All of this helps students to gain a more profound understanding of what they are dealing with.

Step 3: Ideating

With the problem now defined, students can begin to ideate the solutions they can use to overcome this issue — reinforcing the problem/solution dynamic that is at the heart of practical learning. At this point, we are still in the blue-sky thinking phase, during which students come up with as many potential ideas and solutions as possible. This enables them to engage their critical and creative thinking faculties, exercising these useful problem-solving attributes.

Step 4: Prototyping

Prototyping is the next phase following blue-sky thinking, where students have the opportunity to transform their ideas into genuine solutions. AR and VR software can play a big role here, as this can provide an excellent environment in which to develop solutions. Digital and physical modelling can also assist with rapid prototyping.

Step 5: Testing

This is where solutions are put through their paces and given real examination by the students. In the classroom, students do not often get the time to prototype let alone, “test” their ideas. Design thinking specifically allows students the opportunity to validate their ideas with their teachers and peers. Your class can develop structured feedback loops to keep conversation flowing and to keep advice and commentary constructive. For instance, students may state what they like about something, what they wish they could change, or question “what if…” when introducing new ideas.

Step 6: Implementing

Once testing is complete, you may move on to the implementation phase. This essentially means taking the prototype and displaying its capabilities through virtual presentations and tours. You may choose VR and AR environments to do this, although not every lesson will progress into this implementation phase, and students can benefit significantly from the Empathising, Defining, Ideating, Prototyping and Testing phases.

Integration of VR and AR Technology into the Teaching Environment

Here at Lumination, we have developed Lumination Learning Labs — automated, multi-purpose, and immersive environments that help schools utilise VR and AR technology as part of the teaching day.

We want to demystify this whole area, giving educators the tools and resources, like design thinking, they need to uncover exciting new worlds and opportunities for their students.

Explore our site and discover more about Lumination and the teaching resources we provide and subscribe to our newsletter for more on VR and AR in the classroom.