Government crest Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

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Laying the foundations for the local public services of the future

Get creative with people to solve problems

Contents:

  1. Who this course is suitable for
  2. What you’ll achieve
  3. Who developed this course
  4. Apply for this course

Have you ever had a digital problem that you didn’t know how to solve? Get acquainted with the principle of human-centred design.

Summary

Find effective resolutions to digital problems using design thinking

Human-centred design is a creative approach to problem solving. It focuses on understanding the needs of the people who have a problem in order to design appropriate solutions.

On this course you’ll learn about the five-stage process and have the opportunity to take part in practical activities to try each stage of the process.

You’ll learn why this method of thinking is effective, how to use it, and which jobs use the process.

You’ll also become familiar with how to collect the right information and data to prove a solution can work in the real world.

Featured in the UK government’s The Skills Toolkit collection.

Who this course is suitable for

This course is designed for people who have digital skills but would like to build confidence in using digital technology in the workplace.

The course will also be useful for anyone in employment who wants to boost their digital skills or anyone returning to the workplace who’d like to gain confidence in how working practices have evolved.

What you’ll achieve

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:

  • Identify the kinds of problem that can be solved with human-centred design
  • Summarise the activities needed to run a successful human-centred design project
  • Develop a human-centred design mindset to approach a problem
  • Apply the Design Thinking process to a real-world problem
  • Investigate how making and testing rough prototypes helps improvement
  • Collect information and data that help prove a solution will work in the real world

Who developed this course

University of Leeds

As one of the UK’s largest research-based universities, the University of Leeds is a member of the prestigious Russell Group and a centre of excellence for teaching.

Institute of Coding

The Institute of Coding is a family of learners, businesses and educators creating a new way to develop the digital skills needed at work and beyond.

Apply for this course

  • To apply for a funded position on this course, please complete the form below.

    Who is eligible to apply
    • Applications are open to local authority staff in England only.
    • Applicants may only submit an application for 1 certified course at a time. Upon completion of that course, an application for further training can be submitted.
    • Applicants are expected to begin the course within one month of their application being accepted.

    Please allow 7 days for us to process your application.

  • This is to verify that you work for an eligible local authority. If you would like to provide a different email address for course correspondences, you can input it in the next form field.
  • This is the email address we will use to register you with FutureLearn. Information about the course will be sent to this email address.
  • We are interested in tracking how your knowledge increases as a result of completing this course, so please provide an indication of your current knowledge of the course topic.
  • *

Course details

Start date: Available on-demand

Duration: 2 weeks

Study time: 2 hours per week

Cost: Funded by LDCU

Agile, Human centred design, Problem-solving

Course provider

Future Learn

Learn 100% online with world class universities and industry experts. Develop hobbies, new skills and career-changing expertise with FutureLearn’s flexible courses.