COUniversity of Virginia Darden · on Coursera
Design Thinking for Innovation
Beginner 12 hours English Course Certificate Certificate
About this course
This University of Virginia Darden School course teaches design thinking as a structured innovation methodology: building empathy with users through observation and interviews, defining problem statements, ideating broadly with creative techniques, building rapid prototypes, and testing with real users.
The curriculum draws on Darden's business school context, applying design thinking to product development, service design, and organizational problem-solving. Students apply each phase to a self-selected innovation challenge throughout the course.
What you'll learn
Build empathy through structured user research and observation techniques
Define problem statements using the How Might We framework
Generate diverse solution ideas using structured ideation methods
Build rapid prototypes to test assumptions without heavy investment
Design and run user tests that yield actionable feedback
This course includes
12h
On-demand video
Yes
Certificate
Yes
Mobile access
English
Language
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Instructor
JL
Jeanne Liedtka
Coursera instructor
450K+ learners5 courses4.7 instructor rating
Taught by Jeanne Liedtka, UVA Darden professor and author of multiple books on design thinking in business contexts.
Requirements
- No design experience required — this is a business methodology course
Who this course is for
- Business professionals who want a structured approach to innovation
- Product managers and UX practitioners formalizing their design process
- Entrepreneurs who want to validate ideas before building
About this provider
CO
Coursera
University-backed online learning platform. 142M learners, 7,000+ courses from 325+ institutions.
Frequently asked questions
No — it's used for business model innovation, service design, policy design, and organizational change. The methodology is domain-agnostic.
Very similar — Liedtka's version is grounded in business strategy, making it particularly applicable to corporate innovation contexts.