Design thinking isn’t just another buzzword—it’s a way of approaching problems in a human, structured, and creative way. And it’s this approach that allows you to create not only meaningful solutions for everyday work situations, but also effective educational programs—whether they’re online courses, internal training, or team development programs.
Updated: September 5, 2025
Design thinking helps you first understand people: what motivates them, what causes them difficulties, what would really move them forward. Only then do you begin to design – gradually, step by step – so that the result resonates with their needs and brings about real change.
This article will show you how to do it—how to use a human, empathetic approach to create training that people don’t just use out of obligation, but that they really enjoy and that brings results.
What Is Design Thinking
The word “design” has many meanings. Most people think of graphics or the design of a product, such as a car. But that’s not all. I couldn’t resist typing the word “design” into Google (try it yourself) and came up with a lot of interesting links.
For example, according to Wikipedia, design is the creation of a plan or agreement for the construction of an object or system. It can refer to both the activity of the designer and the resulting product of their activity. The English word “design” is said to be derived from the Latin de-signare: to mark, to designate. Gradually, it also took on the meanings “to propose, proposal.” The goal of design is to connect the functional and aesthetic aspects of the proposed object or system as effectively as possible.
In our work, we rely on what is known as design thinking. This approach has been gaining popularity in recent years. However, it has been known to the world since the 1970s. Its essence lies in a deep interest in understanding the people for whom we design products or services.
Picture 1: Design thinking process, author Interaction Design Foundation
This brings us to the essence of this article, which is the use of design thinking in education, specifically in the creation of educational programs and materials. In today’s fast-paced world, there is an increasing emphasis on online education and the development of e-learning applications.
Good design and planning are very important in the implementation of e-learning projects. If you design and then create online courses for employees appropriately, you don’t have to change study materials as often, saving you a lot of time. This issue is addressed by a field called educational design, sometimes referred to as instructional design.
What Is Instructional Design
From the perspective of corporate training, our main goal is to expand the knowledge and skills of employees and thus increase the performance of the organization as a whole. This is a significant investment, so it is necessary to approach the design and development of training materials systematically.
Instructional design provides us with the necessary support. It involves the systematic development of study materials, during which we use design thinking and methods. These help us to ensure the quality of the training we prepare and the fulfillment of the expected goals.
There are several design models for education, but most of them are based on the popular ADDIE model.
Picture 2: ADDIE model, author Water Bear Learning
ADDIE is an acronym for the five stages of instructional design:
- Analysis
- Design
- Development
- Implementation
- Evaluation
The ADDIE model assumes that each phase is carried out in a specific order. However, it leaves room for feedback and repetition (known as iteration) during development. The model offers an effective and targeted approach that provides feedback for continuous improvement.
It is important to realize that each course has a different purpose, scope, and target audience. The ADDIE process covers all the options that can be included in the creation of educational materials. It is a comprehensive approach, but one that needs to be adapted to your specific requirements. You can skip or simplify some steps depending on your circumstances, such as your budget or expertise.
Analysis
Before you start preparing educational content or a training strategy, you should map out the current situation and identify any gaps in your knowledge.
A needs analysis should be carried out at the beginning of any development process. If we are developing a new educational product, the analysis will help us determine:
- what knowledge and skills we want to supplement with training,
- in what areas e-learning is the best choice for training.
In order to understand the current situation and set the goal of the training itself, you need to know the answers to the following questions (examples):
- Who is the target audience?
- What is the purpose of the training?
- How will this training help?
- Are there any limitations?
- What are the delivery options?
- What is the project completion timeline?
Answering these questions will help you determine the next steps and decisions later on.
It is important to understand the needs of the target audience. Each course must be tailored to the people it is intended for. It is necessary to focus on the content and style of language, but also on the technical implementation of the course itself.
The discovery phase will also help us define the content of the course:
- Task analysis identifies work tasks that learners need to learn or improve during the course. This type of analysis is mostly used to develop specific skills closely related to work.
- Topic analysis is usually performed to help us determine the content of the course. We use it most in courses designed to convey information.
Main output from this phase: Training needs analysis and training plan.
Picture 3: ADDIE model – infographics, author KloudLearn
Design
After designing the training plan, we move on to the stage of designing the structure and form of the content. Here, you will use all the findings from the previous stage and apply them to practical decisions.
The design stage includes the following activities:
- determining the sub-learning objectives that lead to the achievement of the basic objective of the entire course,
- defining the order in which the objectives should be achieved,
- selecting instructional, media, assessment, and delivery strategies.
This will give us a prototype that we will use to create the course. It will allow us to present the course outline using lessons and topics. By creating a prototype, you can quickly verify whether your course/training has real value for the target audience.
Testing the prototype in the initial phase is always a good idea. It is a way of checking the proposed concept before you invest a lot of valuable time and money in it.
Output from this phase: proposed course structure and form of study materials.
Development
At this stage, we begin creating the actual course content. The content varies depending on the resources provided to us.
The development of multimedia interactive content is divided into two main steps:
- content creation: writing and searching for the necessary material and knowledge,
- script development: a document that describes all components of the final product, including images, texts, tests, behavior, and more.
At this stage, you can start creating the actual course content. You have already created the course outline, so stick to it. In addition to the content, you also need to fine-tune the visual aspect of the study materials.
You can achieve this by adding graphics, choosing the right colors, and deciding on the font type. It may seem trivial, but it has a big impact on whether the course content is perceived as interesting. Careful selection of visual elements will allow you to present the course in a way that appeals to/engages your target audience.
The development process should be iterative. Once you have created the course, you should test it. This will ensure that it does not contain basic errors—grammar, spelling, etc.
Testing should also focus on the mechanics of the course. Navigation is a key consideration at this stage. Often, these are trivial issues that were not detected simply because the course was not tested.
Output from this stage: course content
Picture 4: ADDIE model – connections, author Learn Upon
Implementace
Once you have completed your courses, tested them, and are satisfied with them, it is time to share them with your students—that is, your colleagues at work.
Upload the courses to the LMS and set up access options for the study materials. You can specify in the application who the course is available to, how much time the user has to complete the course, how the course will be evaluated, and how you will obtain feedback.
One of the best ways to avoid problems during the implementation phase is to run a pilot course before releasing the content to all your other colleagues.
Output from this phase: Your online courses in the e-learning application.
Evaluation
We can evaluate an e-learning project based on expected results. It depends on what goals we set for the project.
For example, we can evaluate the speed at which new employees are integrated, the transfer of work experience or skills, or the impact of the project on the performance of a selected department or the entire company.
A great way to get feedback is to ask students (colleagues) to fill out a questionnaire at the end of the course. This can be done at the course level using an LMS.
Create questions specific to the areas being evaluated, but also encourage students to give you honest feedback, for example in the form of answers to open-ended questions.
Output from this phase: Evaluation report with suggestions for changes to current or future courses
Summary
The main purpose of the ADDIE model is to provide a structured method for creating training programs. It is also a powerful tool for improving the way new training materials are tested.
Getting feedback on all aspects of your courses is really important so that you can improve and revise the content.
Investing in your employees’ education always pays off. It will pay for itself in the form of better work results, engagement, and motivation among your employees.
What is your experience with preparing online courses or other educational materials? Let us know.
Header image: Pixabay
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I enjoy connecting people who belong together, supporting their cooperation and inspiring them to find new solutions. I help companies create an attractive employer brand. I am interested in design thinking, lean approaches and agile marketing. You can also meet me as a lecturer at our workshops.
