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School of Arts, Humanities & Education

Design Thinking

Online Graduate Certificate in Design Thinking

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$0 Application Fee
$0 Transfer Credit Evaluation
72%Have Graduated with No APUS-incurred Student Loan Debt1

About This Program

Note: This certificate is not currently available for admission.

Using design thinking, organizations and leaders can better support and retain those they depend on—their clients, customers, and employees. American Military University (AMU) offers an online graduate certificate in design thinking.

Design thinking draws on multiple fields. As a student in this design thinking certificate program, you will learn to conduct and apply research to design data-informed solutions and products that best fit the needs of users.

AMU’s program helps you understand and apply the process to support creative innovation and user-focused solutions. Sample coursework includes:

  • Applied Design Thinking
  • Consumer Behavior, Emotions, and Narratives
  • Leading Organizational Change

What You Will Do

  1. Describe how design thinking fosters innovation and transformation
  2. Identify the role leadership plays in developing strategies and managing organizational change
  3. Compare different ways to collect customer/user needs and experiences
  4. Assess risk, cost, and benefits of data-informed solutions to organizational challenges

Program at a Glance

Number of Credits
15
Transfer up to 9 credits
Cost Per Credit
$370 | $250*
*with military grant
Courses Start Monthly
Online
and vary from 8 to 16 weeks

Program Requirements Printable Catalog Version

Must take all courses for this section.

Course ID: 5268

|
Today’s global business environment is complex and ever-changing. Change is now a constant and driving change can be a difficult leadership task. This course is designed to help leaders proactively lead change. Students in this course will learn strategies to effectively assess potential drivers of change, facilitate the implementation of change, and become a change agent in an organization by propelling momentum toward positive results. Students will practice skills to move ideas toward results, combat organizational and employee complacency, and overcome resistance to change.
Registration Dates Course Dates Session Weeks
09/26/22 - 03/03/23 03/06/23 - 04/30/23 Winter 2023 Session D 8 Week session
12/26/22 - 06/02/23 06/05/23 - 07/30/23 Spring 2023 Session D 8 Week session

Course ID: 5346

|
This course examines the concepts of consumer behavior in the marketplace. Behavioral aspects of the marketing process from manufacturer to consumer are considered. Consumers’ actions during the search, purchase, use, and evaluation of products and services to fulfill needs are explored. This course illuminates how marketers can use the concepts of consumer behavior to influence individuals’ purchases of products and services.
Registration Dates Course Dates Session Weeks
09/26/22 - 03/03/23 03/06/23 - 04/30/23 Winter 2023 Session D 8 Week session
12/26/22 - 06/02/23 06/05/23 - 07/30/23 Spring 2023 Session D 8 Week session

Course ID: 5357

|
Organizations and businesses face a changing social landscape in which their products and services are inextricably linked with the needs of the people who create and consume those products and services. Stakeholders looking to innovate and seize opportunity, or needing creative solutions to challenges, must thoughtfully integrate knowledge and tools from different disciplines to strike a balance between what is feasible from the organizational perspective and what is needed from the consumer perspective. For stakeholders facing multifaceted challenges, design thinking is an important process and tool that supports creative innovation and user-focused solutions. Students in this course will become familiar with design thinking as an approach and tool, learning how to apply it to their professional and personal goals.
Registration Dates Course Dates Session Weeks
10/31/22 - 03/31/23 04/03/23 - 05/28/23 Spring 2023 Session B 8 Week session
01/30/23 - 06/30/23 07/03/23 - 08/27/23 Summer 2023 Session B 8 Week session

Course ID: 5358

|
Design thinking is an approach that helps bridge organizational needs and consumer needs, with deep focus on consumer-driven data that informs innovation and practice. Students learn how to apply design thinking principles through work on case studies as well as application to an issue in their field of study or career. This course focuses on building mixed methods research skills like participant observation, focus groups, interviews, and surveys - to create and test data-informed solutions, and report findings to organizational stakeholders. (Prerequisite: SOCI530)
Registration Dates Course Dates Session Weeks
08/29/22 - 02/03/23 02/06/23 - 04/02/23 Winter 2023 Session I 8 Week session
11/28/22 - 04/28/23 05/01/23 - 06/25/23 Spring 2023 Session I 8 Week session

Course ID: 5359

|
This course focuses on an applied project related to the student’s major field of study or career path. Integrating knowledge and skills from the other courses in the design thinking graduate certificate will be critical in this course. Students will identify a multi-faceted problem or challenge that they want to address from a design thinking perspective, collect and evaluate stakeholder insights and data, and then design and assess multiple solutions. (Prerequisite: SOCI531)
Registration Dates Course Dates Session Weeks
09/26/22 - 03/03/23 03/06/23 - 04/30/23 Winter 2023 Session D 8 Week session
12/26/22 - 06/02/23 06/05/23 - 07/30/23 Spring 2023 Session D 8 Week session

Courses Start Monthly

Next Courses Start Mar 6
Register by Mar 3
Apply Now Request Info

Admission Requirements

  • All AMU master's degree/graduate certificate programs require a bachelor’s degree (or higher) from an institution whose accreditation is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA®).
  • Please read all graduate admission requirements before applying to this program and be prepared to submit the required documentation.
  • There is no fee to complete the AMU admission application. View steps to apply.

CHEA® is a registered trademark of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. 

Materials Cost

Technology fee: $65 per course | $0 for active-duty military, National Guard members, and Reservists.

Need Help?

Selecting the right program to meet your educational goals is a key step in ensuring a successful outcome. If you are unsure of which program to choose, or need more information, please contact an AMU admissions representative at 877-755-2787 or info@apus.edu.

Quality Education Should Be Affordable

So you can focus on the opportunities ahead, without the financial burden of more expensive schools who are not as invested in your success. Learn more about paying for school.

Consumer Information

Disclosures

Maryland Residents learn more about costs, completion rates, median debt, and more.

1Alumni Graduated with No APUS-incurred Student Loan Debt As of December 31, 2021

Includes alumni who graduated with an associate, bachelor's, or master's degree from APUS. Student loan debt is defined as student loans and private education loans used for tuition, fees, living expenses, and book costs associated with courses taken at APUS. Many APUS students receive military tuition assistance and veterans education benefits, which are not student loan debt.

*Cost Per Credit Hour

To minimize out-of-pocket costs, U.S. active-duty servicemembers, their spouse/dependents, National Guard members, and Reservists receive a tuition grant that caps undergraduate, master's degree, and graduate certificate tuition at $250/credit hour. In addition, a university book grant provides no-cost textbooks and ebooks for all undergraduates and military-tuition-grant-eligible master’s-level students.
See all military student benefits.