Visualization Design Sprints for Online and On-Campus Courses

TL;DR

This paper explores integrating design sprints into visualization courses to enhance student engagement and practical skills through rapid prototyping and user testing, applicable in both online and on-campus settings.

Contribution

It provides a detailed methodology and teaching materials for incorporating design sprints into visualization education, with insights from five years of implementation.

Findings

Increased student engagement and hands-on experience.

Positive student feedback on learning effectiveness.

Successful adaptation of design sprints for various course formats.

Abstract

We present how to integrate Design Sprints and project-based learning into introductory visualization courses. A design sprint is a unique process based on rapid prototyping and user testing to define goals and validate ideas before starting costly development. The well-defined, interactive, and time-constrained design cycle makes design sprints a promising option for teaching project-based and active-learning-centered courses to increase student engagement and hands-on experience. Over the past five years, we have adjusted the design sprint methodology for teaching a range of visualization courses. We present a detailed guide on incorporating design sprints into large undergraduate and small professional development courses in both online and on-campus settings. Design sprint results, including quantitative and qualitative student feedback, show that design sprints engage students and help practice and apply visualization and design skills. We provide design sprint teaching materials, show examples of student-created work, and discuss limitations and lessons learned.