critical thinking workshop contents

Critical Thinking Workshop Activities

• Idea Generation
• Issue Resolution
• Issue Analysis

Critical Thinking Mindset

A critical thinking mindset supports people to reflect by using critical thinking questions when they discover and discuss new information. Critical thinking involves the evaluation of sources such as data, facts, media, stories, observable phenomenon, and research findings. Good critical thinkers can draw reasonable conclusions from a set of information and discriminate between useful and less useful details to solve a problem or to make a decision. Critical thinking skills are key to making better, and well-informed decisions.

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Ethos, Logos, Pathos

The goal of this game is to channel Aristotle’s assessment of your argument.

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A Short Guide to Building Your Team’s Critical Thinking Skills

• Matt Plummer

Critical thinking isn’t an innate skill. It can be learned.

Most employers lack an effective way to objectively assess critical thinking skills and most managers don’t know how to provide specific instruction to team members in need of becoming better thinkers. Instead, most managers employ a sink-or-swim approach, ultimately creating work-arounds to keep those who can’t figure out how to “swim” from making important decisions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. To demystify what critical thinking is and how it is developed, the author’s team turned to three research-backed models: The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment, Pearson’s RED Critical Thinking Model, and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Using these models, they developed the Critical Thinking Roadmap, a framework that breaks critical thinking down into four measurable phases: the ability to execute, synthesize, recommend, and generate.

With critical thinking ranking among the most in-demand skills for job candidates , you would think that educational institutions would prepare candidates well to be exceptional thinkers, and employers would be adept at developing such skills in existing employees. Unfortunately, both are largely untrue.

• Matt Plummer (@mtplummer) is the founder of Zarvana, which offers online programs and coaching services to help working professionals become more productive by developing time-saving habits. Before starting Zarvana, Matt spent six years at Bain & Company spin-out, The Bridgespan Group, a strategy and management consulting firm for nonprofits, foundations, and philanthropists.  

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• Focal Session Descriptions
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• International Critical Thinking Manifesto
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• Program and Proceedings of the 39th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking
• The Venue: KU Leuven
• Call for Critical Thinking Ambassadors
• Conference Background Information
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• Conference Focal Session Descriptions
• Conference Concurrent Session Descriptions
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The 42nd Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking

Join Us for The 42nd Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking

Includes 10 Weeks of Free Membership at Our Subscription Website: The Center for Critical Thinking Community Online ! Access Begins July 13th!

Webcam Highly Recommended

Conference Theme:

Critical Thinking - Essential to Effective Reasoning in All Subjects, Fields and Professions

How Do We Make Sense of the World's Growing Complexity & Become More Effective Within It?

The Answer: Critical Thinking

A different type of conference.

• Highly interactive sessions filled with stimulating discussions and activities.
• Concepts and tools you can immediately apply to your work, life, learning, and teaching. Nothing "purely academic" is taught here!
• Sessions occurring multiple times to accommodate participants in different time zones.
• Ten weeks' free access to the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online - the world's largest repository of critical thinking publications, videos, activities, and interaction among fellow critical thinking enthusiasts.

Conference Rates

Types of sessions, focal sessions.

This year's Focal Sessions are live online workshops led by Fellows and Scholars of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. These sessions are 'Focal' because they focus on the very foundations, or the central ideas, in a rich conception of critical thinking. Each Focal Session targets one or more essential concepts or sets of principles in critical thinking, often in connection with essential applications of critical thinking. Most Focal Sessions are appropriate for both new and returning attendees, while a few are for those who have worked with us before; these will be plainly marked as 'Advanced Sessions'

Focal Sessions involve minimal lecture and a great deal of interactive group work. 

Guest Presentations

"how can i prepare to get the most from this conference", focal session presenters, dr. linda elder.

Dr. Gerald Nosich

Dr. Gerald Nosich is a noted authority on critical thinking and has given more than 250 workshops to instructors and governmental agencies on all aspects of teaching it. He is the author of Reasons and Arguments, Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum , and Critical Writing: Using the Concepts and Processes of Critical Thinking to Write a Paper . Dr. Nosich has given workshops for instructors at all levels of education  in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Singapore and England. He has worked with the U.S. Department of Education on a project for a National Assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills; given teleconferences sponsored by PBS and Starlink on teaching for critical thinking; served as a consultant for ACT in Critical Thinking and Language Arts assessment; and been featured as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia.  He is author of numerous articles, audio- and videotapes on critical thinking.  He has been Assistant Director at the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University. Dr. Nosich is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York Buffalo State and at the University of New Orleans.

Dr. Carmen Polka

Dr. Carmen Polka has worked diligently to infuse critical thinking into her classroom instruction, curriculum, and assessment for nearly twenty years. Focused on transforming education through the implementation of quality instructional practices, Dr. Polka instigated and co-authored the Colorado Academic State Standards targeting research and reasoning based on the Paul-Elder framework. As a leader and critical thinking expert in her district, she led professional development and coached K-12 teachers to effectively utilize Paulian theory. Dr. Polka is currently a principal at an elementary school, and she recently earned her doctorate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program at the University of Northern Colorado. She is also a licensed K-12 Special Education teacher.

Dr. Paul Bankes

For nearly twenty years, Dr. Bankes has played an important leadership role in fostering the Paulian conception of critical thinking in multiple school districts. As a principal, he led the implementation of this critical thinking approach to bring about state-recognized levels of achievement in three different Title I schools – a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school. He helped author the reasoning portion of the Colorado Academic Standards that are based on the Paul-Elder framework. In addition to his administrative experience, Dr. Bankes was an elementary school teacher, continues teaching critical thinking courses at the college level, and is currently serving as a Director on his School Board of Education.

Dr. Brian Barnes

Dr. Brian Barnes holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Louisville. Barnes is a veteran of the US Army, along with other non-academic careers, and currently teaches face-to-face and online classes at several universities in traditional philosophy topics, sustainability, and critical thinking. He has co-authored articles examining critical thinking strategies and tactics for the National Teaching and Learning Forum and is author of the textbook, The Central Question: Critical Engagement with Business Ethics . Barnes co-hosts the weekly radio show, Critical Thinking for Everyone! , on 106.5 Forward Radio in Louisville; he also created Adventures in Critical Thinking , a critical thinking comic book series.

Dr. Linda Tym

Dr. Linda Tym is an Associate Professor of English in Tennessee. Originally from Canada, she completed her PhD studies at the University of Edinburgh and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. She is currently pursuing her Certification in the Paul-Elder Approach to Critical Thinking under the mentorship of Dr. Elder. In addition to Dr. Tym's focus on critical thinking, her research focuses on memory studies, Scottish literature, and Scottish-Canadian diasporic literature. Her work has been published in the Scottish Literary Review, Journal of the Short Story in English, Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Gender series, and Gale Cengage’s Contemporary Literary Criticism series.

What People Say About Our Conferences

Overview of sessions.

• A more visually intuitive Overview of Sessions is available her e
• A detailed daily schedule can be seen here
• Full Session Descriptions can be seen here

Sunday, July 24:

1:00 p.m. - 7:00p.m. edt.

Pre-Conference

• Placing Critical Thinking at the Heart of Teaching and Learning Every Day … Dr. Brian Barnes
• Improving Student Writing in Any Class Through Explicit Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Advanced Session: Improving Your Instruction Through an Enriched Understanding of Critical Thinking Fundamentals... Dr. Paul Bankes

MONDAY, July 25:

Pre-recorded.

• *Introduction to the Conference … Dr. Linda Elder *Please view before attending sessions.

12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions I Choose from the following…

• Foundational for New Participants: Understanding Critical Thinking as Essential to Education in Any Field of Study and at Every Level… Dr. Linda Elder
• For Business and Government: Using Critical Thinking to Analyze Problems … Dr. Paul Bankes
• For Returning Attendees: Practice Deconstructing Problems in Your Classes or Profession… Dr. Linda Tym
• *Introduction to the Conference … Dr. Linda Elder *If you haven't already, please view before attending sessions.

3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions II

Choose from the following …

• Teaching Students to Properly Assess Reasoning in Every Course… Dr. Gerald Nosich 
• Connecting Evidence-Based Instruction to the Rich Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Paul Bankes
• For Returning Attendees: Where Are You in the Stages of Critical Thinking Development?…  Dr. Carmen Polka 

8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions III

Choose from the following…

• Repeat (Foundational for New Registrants): Understanding Critical Thinking as Essential to Education in Any Field of Study and at Every Level... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Repeat: Connecting Evidence-Based Instruction Based on the Broader Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Linda Elder
• Repeat (For Returning Attendees) : Practice Deconstructing Problems in Your Classes or Profession … Dr. Linda Tym

TUESDAY, July 26:

Focal sessions iv, choose from the following…  .

• Helping Students Learn the Fundamental and Powerful Concepts in Your Courses ... Dr. Linda Elder
• For Business and Government: Using Critical Thinking to Evaluate Alternatives in Complex Contexts... Dr. Brian Barnes
• Practice Deconstructing the Reasoning Embedded in Articles or Chapters to Improve Your Instruction and/or Knowledge Base in Any Field... Dr. Paul Bankes

3:30 p.m. - 6:00p.m. EDT

Focal Sessions V

Choose from the Following Focal Sessions...

• Why Education Should Entail the Development of Intellectual Character as Well as Skills and Abilities... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Helping Students Learn to Reason Through Social, Political, and Environmental Issues Using the Tools of Critical Thinking... Dr. Carmen Polka
• How Egocentric and Sociocentric Thinking Lead to Belief in Misinformation, Fake News, Conspiracy Theories and All Manner of Nonsense... Dr. Brian Barnes

Focal Sessions VI

Choose one of the following sessions to attend…

• Repeat: Helping Students Learn the Fundamental and Powerful Concepts in Your Courses ... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Educating for Freedom of Thought and Why This is Essential to Cultivating Fairminded Critical Societies  … Dr. Linda Elder
• Repeat: Practice Deconstructing the Reasoning Embedded in Articles or Chapters - to Improve Your Instruction and/or Knowledge Base in any Field ... Dr. Paul Bankes 

WEDNESDAY, July 27:

3:00 p.m. edt.

Guest Presentations Posted

• Read Guest Presentation Descriptions Here

8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EDT

Special Meetings on Professional Development (interested participants can choose one at the conference)...

• K-12... Dr. Linda Elder
• Higher Education... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Business & Government... Dr. Brian Barnes

THURSDAY, July 28:

Focal sessions vii.

• How to Approach Students as Thinkers in K-12 Instruction ... Dr. Paul Bankes
• How to Assess Yourself as a Reasoner; How Students Can Assess Themselves as Reasoners... Dr. Brian Barnes
• Why Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Social Justice and Anti-Racism Require Critical Thinking... Dr. Linda Elder

Focal Sessions VIII

• Reworking Your Syllabus Using Critical Thinking Foundations ... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Distinguish Questions of Fact, Preference and Judgment ... Dr. Paul Bankes
• For Administrators: How to Support Critical Thinking at Your Institution ... Dr. Carmen Polka

Focal Sessions IX

• Repeat: How to Assess Yourself as a Reasoner; How Students Can Assess Themselves as Reasoners ... Dr. Brian Barnes
• Repeat: Reworking Your Syllabus Through Critical Thinking Foundations ... Dr. Gerald Nosich
• Critical Thinking Therapy for Mental Health and Self-Actualization ... Dr. Linda Elder

FRIDAY, July 29:

Choose from the following closing sessions..., 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. edt.

• Early Closing Session ... Dr. Linda Elder
• Late Closing Session... Dr. Gerald Nosich

[email protected]  |  (858) 459-7600

Critical Thinking

Better Thinking

This workshop is targeted at both individuals and teams.

People who only receive the usual training in collaboration and process improvement techniques will be missing the requisite critical thinking skills. Because of this, their own thinking and the outcome of many of their collaborations with others will be frustrated. They will be unable to match the best tool to the task and can’t shift gears for a better fit. Symptoms of a need for improved critical thinking include: difficulty with (or avoidance of) complex issues, long meeting times with complaints of lack of progress or going in circles, frustration when attempting to influence others, and failure to agree or develop optimal, highest quality actions.

Typical is not good enough

The tools portion of most process improvement and collaboration training includes techniques designed for data gathering, data organizing and creativity. Critical thinking is not taught. Some people adapt to this by taking their favorite tool (e.g., fishbone diagram) and using it to fill the gaps. But when a specialized tool is used for a purpose it was not designed for – it fails. Results often suffer and people struggle. Some tools are over-utilized while many tools are not used at all.

Give people a new and dramatic boost in thinking effectiveness with mastery of BPI’s clear, simple, thinking framework complete with tools that can address any issue.  Learn how teams can converge on the true cause, and then converge on the best decision. During this two-day workshop Critical thinking methods are modeled, practiced, and then applied to the real job issues and projects of participants. These thinking methods work for applications of all types including process improvement, operations problems, people problems, and anytime collaboration and clear thinking are important to resolving an issue.

Tailored case study packages

Tailored case study packages are available from over two dozen industry packages:

• Manufacturing
• Pharmaceutical
• Electronics

One Day Workshops

Portions of the content selected from Critical Thinking is available in these one-day workshops:

• Systematic Problem Solving
• Systematic Decision Making

• Login / Register
• Nomad Learners
• The Masterful Virtual Trainer
• Workflow Learning & Experience Design
• Story-Based eLearning Design
• Microlearning for Disruptive Results
• HYBRID Remote and Hands-On Training
• Training Frontline Leaders
• Critical Thinking For Modern Learners
• Architect Workshop
• Advanced Skills In Webinars
• Scenario & Story-Based Content Development
• Reinventing Compliance and Technical Training
• About Vignettes Learning
• About Ray Jimenez
• Testimonials
• Professional Services
• Custom Content Development Service
• Innovations
• Special Benefits
• Publications
• Cancellation Policy
• Ray Intellectual Property

Even before COVID-19, we have seen disruptions in businesses and organizations. More automation, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and robotics were creating shifts in the nature of work. Experts say that the pandemic accelerated the great reset of the workplace.

Deloitte Consulting, McKinsey & Company, and The Economic Global Forum even conducted studies showing that one of the pressing and top skills required by workers, frontline leaders, and leaders is critical thinking. The need for critical thinking in employees and leaders is driven by the uncertainties and the increasing unknown factors in business environments. Coupled with the growing remote work and the rapid change in emotional sentiments of employees and customers, modern workers and leaders need to be thinking about how to quickly fix, solve, and improve work by relying on their creativity and capacities.

In this session, you will learn how to design and implement learning initiatives and programs that raise the capacity of workers and leaders to critically think, fix, solve, and improve work. Join me in the workshop.

Ray Jimenez, PhD

At the end of the certificate, you will own examples and demos to serve as your models. In addition, you will be able to:

• Design a learning architecture and a program that help learners, workers, and leaders improve their critical thinking capacities and skills
• Use the Thinking Tools Design Templates to create easy learning experiences. 
• Implement a critical thinking impact report and analytics to justify and persuade your stakeholders to implement critical thinking programs. 

This is not a software workshop. This certificate workshop is not about authoring tools and learning platforms. It focuses on content development, design, and delivery. It does not promote a singular product, but rather uses multiple products for illustration purposes. The course will focus on using digital technologies to help learners learn critical thinking. However, the ideas are applicable to in-person and webinar exercises. 

Learn more and get specific answers to your questions. In this course, a mentor will be assigned to work with you on completing your mini-projects. You will have another chance to interact with Ray Jimenez in small Quick Mentoring Zoom sessions. This is a very small group session with Ray.

Two hours for an online session and one hour and a half for self-directed application work. The application period is intended for you to apply your ideas to your own business needs and realities. You will be required to submit your mini projects to the course instructor for review. 

• What is critical thinking and why has it become a more pressing learning issue today? 
• How do you conduct a small investigative survey to find out the gaps and opportunities that will benefit critical thinking skills?
• What are the key foundations of critical thinking and its impacts at work? 
• How do you modernize your learning objectives, lessons, and assessments in traditional lessons to include critical thinking learning?
• How to apply simple, easy, and quickly useful critical thinking exercises?
• What is a critical thinking learning architecture?
• How do you select the appropriate critical thinking methods to match a problem?
• How do you make sure your critical thinking initiatives produce immediate impacts at work?
• What digital technologies support critical thinking learning?
• How do you “rig” or “hawk” a platform or software to allow critical thinking learning?
• How do you apply and integrate critical thinking in your LMSs, SharePoint, MS Teams, Slack, ZOOM, and other webinar tools, and special collaboration tools like Miro, Drawing, Mapping, and others? 
• What are low-tech and paper-based methods in teaching learners critical thinking skills? 
• How do you assess the impacts and prepare reports on critical thinking contributions?
• How do you design critical architecture that becomes embedded in the day-to-day work operations?
• How do you add critical thinking in workflow learning, performance support, and social learning?
• How do you use critical thinking processes in advance for issues relating to troubleshooting, problem-solving, risk analysis, workarounds, testing and trial and error, data analytics, and complex problems? 
• How do you implement critical thinking initiatives that meet the expectations of stakeholders?
• How to learn from case studies and best practices in designing critical thinking learning initiatives?  

You will receive a FREE copy of Ray's e-book on the 50 Thinking Tools for the Modern Workers and Leaders. You'll also receive the 10 Models for Critical Thinking Tools for Your eLearning. These are 10 ready-to-use Storyline and Captivate source files. You can use these files in your eLearning, webinars, and in-person presentations and exercises.

50 Thinking Tools and Models

• Pros and Cons
• Consequence Thinking
• Trial and Error
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing Solutions
• And many more

Click this image to preview the 50 Thinking Tools

10 Ready-to-Use Storyline and Captivate eLearning Source Files for Critical Thinking Exercises

• Scaling capacities
• My Contributions
• Improving work

Click this image to preview the Fishbone Tool

About Ray Jimenez, PhD - Lead Facilitator, Mentor and Coach

Ray Jimenez PhD, a pioneering figure in the field of Learning and Development, left behind an enduring legacy that continues to inspire the industry. His contributions to the world of training are immeasurable, and his innovative spirit lives on through his work and the countless lives he’s touched. As the Chief Learning Architect and Founder of Vignettes Learning and Training Magazine Network, Ray was also the creative force behind Situation Expert, an A.I. ChatGPT Workflow Learning Platform. His dedication to innovation was recognized with the prestigious Innovation Technology Award from Training Magazine. Ray began his career as a management consultant at Coopers and Lybrand, specializing in learning technology innovations, information management systems, and management development. Throughout his career, he led teams in implementing A.I., assisted performance metrics, talent management strategies, and effective learning designs. Ray’s passion was focused on helping organizations, learning leaders, and learners embrace context-driven and workflow-based learning systems. His groundbreaking work in micro-content learning design and delivery resulted in innovative methodologies and software applications. The core of his expertise was on Workflow Learning Systems, Microlearning Expertise Systems, Story-Based Learning Designs (SBLD), and Contextual Learning Platforms (CLP).  He invented the kernel learning design called "SRIA" (Set up, Relate, Interpret, and Apply). The SRIA applies to all modalities including Microlearning and mobile learning. Ray's influence extended beyond his innovative work. He championed the Microlearning Implementation Process and authored influential books, including "Workflow Learning," "3-Minute e-Learning," "Scenario-Based e-Learning," "Story-Based eLearning Design," and "Do-It-Yourself eLearning." Soon, his last book on “Transforming Learning Design Using A.I. ChatGPT” will also be available. He was a sought-after speaker and thought leader, gracing conferences for organizations such as ATD, Training Magazine, eLearning Guild, ISPI, DevCon mLearning, and so on. As the principal architect of the Training Magazine Network, which has over 185,000 L&D professional members, Ray played a pivotal role in shaping the Learning and Development community. His recent venture, Situation Expert, an A.I. ChatGPT learning system for continuous self-improvement and expertise development, exemplified his commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation. Ray generously shared his knowledge and expertise as an advisor and presenter of eLearning programs for prestigious institutions. He earned his Ph.D. from St. Peter's College and pursued Studies in Interactive Media at the University of California, Los Angeles. Ray's impact extended to a diverse array of clients, including renowned organizations like FedEx, KPMG, Boeing, Lyondellbasell, Pearson, Cisco, Pixar, Dendreon, Netafim, Oracle, and NASA. Colleagues and workshop participants described him as "fun," "engaging," "technically savvy," and "inspiring." Ray's award-winning software solutions have been celebrated for their innovation. Over 45,000 individuals have attended Ray's webinars, keynote presentations, and workshops, experiencing firsthand the transformative power of his insights and ideas.  Ray Jimenez's dedication to advancing the field of Learning and Development remains an enduring source of inspiration. His contributions will be remembered and celebrated for generations to come.

Mentors and Co-Presenters

For More Information

For interested participants outside of the US with inquiry regarding time differences, please click on this link to see time conversion example and find your related time. Thank you.

Coming soon. Please contact us for more information.

10% Early Bird Discount (Valid for registrations beyond the special early bird period up to 30 days before the workshop)

Other Discounts: 10% for the second participant from the same company attending the same workshop sessions 5% Government/Non-profit Discount Please contact us for assistance.

Group Attendance

Group discount for several participants, or attending both workshops. Special format and design and discounts if you have a small group of 6 or more Please contact us for assistance.

Attend the workshop and you will see 30 micro-videos and snippets from Ray’s applications of critical thinking to impact work. The videos show Ray in action. This is a great resource for modeling and reference.

For a small group of participants, please contact us for special pricing and benefits. Contact us!

Ray Jimenez, Ph.D., spent 15 years with Coopers & Lybrand in the areas of management consulting and implementation of learning technology solutions. As a management consultant, Ray has worked with various experts from different domains and industries. Ray is the author of Workflow Learning , Microlearning Impacts Report, 3-Minutes eLearning, Scenario-Based Learning, Do-It-Yourself eLearning, Story Impacts Learning and Performance eBook and Story-Based eLearning Design.

Ray has worked with American Bankers Association, Neiman Marcus, the U.S. Air Force, NASA, Blue Cross, Goodwill Industries, Pixar Studios, Edison Mission Group, Dendreon, Netafim, Progressive Insurance, Bridgepoint Education and California Institute of Technology, to name a few. He is the Chief Learning Architect for www.VignettesLearning.com and www.SituationExpert.com . He has taught at the University of California, Irvine; University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Dallas; Assumption University, Bangkok and Open Learning University, Hong Kong. He is a sought-after expert and workshop facilitator for Training Magazine, eLearning Guild and ATD Conferences.

Workshop participants describe Ray as “fun,” “engaging,” “technically savvy,” “provocative,” “inspiring,” and “has depth and experience in Story-based eLearning Design.”

Jonathan Workman

Jonathan Workman has been in the learning industry for more than 20 years designing and delivering solutions for instruction-led, web-based, video- or computer-based training, and elearning for national and international companies. In all his work, Jonathan incorporates elements of micro-lesson design, collaborative learning, social learning and storytelling, a skill he learned first during his stint in improvisational comedy and later on honed in story-based design learned through his association with Dr. Ray Jimenez. Jonathan has experience in areas of manufacturing, financial and operations safety, processes and equipment training and learning design.

William J. Ryan, PhD

William J. Ryan, PhD provides strategic and technical guidance to organizations focused on developing and impacting talent through learning and performance solutions. Bill has a demonstrated record of corporate and industrial management experience leading performance support and instructional design teams globally including government contracts (Department of Energy), high technology (IBM & Westinghouse), and health-related industries including home health care and insurance (Humana). As the Principal Consultant of Ryan Consulting, LLC he works with clients looking for key opportunities for change, identifies the best approach, and makes that change happen. Recent clients include Delta Faucet with a comprehensive talent staffing and development plan and Blue Circle Leadership developing a blended online program in leadership development, consulting with institutions expanding or developing CBE degree programs, providing an implementation strategy for a Hiring for Competency model for the National Retail Services, a Tennessee state initiative focused on workforce development and helping businesses retain and develop their workforce. He is also actively working with a clinical start-up focused on improved clinical techniques for infants born with Neonatal Addiction Syndrome (NAS) and a blended leadership and coaching program for a multi-state manufacturing corporation, as well as developing alternative talent development strategies aligning newly defined career pathing with learning ladders. Dr. Ryan holds a M.S. from Ithaca College focused on Instructional Design and a Ph.D. in Computing Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University.

Melissa Erceg Dougherty

Melissa is an Instructional Designer for a company in the financial services industry. She also mentors for Vignettes Learning, helping others learn how to hone their scenario-based instructional design skills. She has been in the Training world delivering and creating training for a little over 11 years. Melissa has written several articles for the eLearning Industry website and enjoys sharing her knowledge of instructional design with others.

Delia Smola

Strategic‐thinking Training Consultant with more than 18 years experience in training and course development: delivering training, designing and managing training projects internationally. In addition, served as an organizational development lead supporting initiatives in 7 languages and in 14 countries. Adept at assessing needs, generating options and implementing learning solutions in collaboration with clients and stakeholders. Expertise in designing and implementing strategic plans and develop high performing teams. A genuine passion for elevating organizational perfromance and employee satisfaction.

Aimee Lantzy

Aimee Lantzy is currently the Creative Studio Director at Alchemy Systems. She has over ten years of experience in content creation, instructional design and learning strategy and has worked with some of the top performing eLearning companies in the country. She holds the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) certification from ATD as well as additional certifications in content rights management, intellectual property rights management, story-based learning design, scenario-based learning design and mobile learning development. Aimee is currently a doctoral student in education at Johns Hopkins University.

Brenda LaRose

Brenda LaRose has been involved in training for most of her career, beginning with the design and delivery of art courses for adults. She has designed and delivered solutions for instructor-led, web-based and computer-based training such as eLearning for her own training organization and for national organizations, incorporating creative elements whenever possible. She now incorporates micro-lesson and story-based design elements that she learned through association with Dr. Ray Jimenez to engage learners and ensure that lessons have an impact. Brenda has experience in areas of retail, leadership, mentoring, processes, health & safety, facilitation and learning design.

Crystal L. Fernandes-Harris

Crystal L. Fernandes-Harris has more than 10 years of experience in instructional design, training and e-learning video creation, and editing and developing documentation. Crystal is passionate about the Flipped Learning Model and continuously supports the implementation of engaging and creative blended learning methods, especially micro-learning and story-based design. In 2016, Crystal was a recipient of the 2016 Emerging Training Leader from Training Magazine and in 2017 she received the Academy of Human Resources Development’s (AHRD) Excellence in Scholarly Practice Award for the submission - Flipping the Corporate Classroom: Challenging the Norm in Legal Technology Training.

Crystal has experience in the areas of electronic medical records, new employee orientation, various legal technologies, processes and software training and design.

Jeffrey Riley

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He earned certification as an instructional designer using Dr. Robert Mager’s system. Some organizations he has worked for are Palmer & Cay Insurance, Wachovia, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Sunoco.

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I have been working in the L&D field for 14 years, mostly in a contact centre. I joined our Change Team. Change is all about behaviour changes - exactly as learning is. An ideal fit. I am a very proud mother and grandmother. Another important area of life for me is crafting. I love making, sharing and giving cards and other paper creations I have made. A few months ago I discovered Brene Brown. This has opened a new world of learning, thinking and growing for me. I so appreciate the stories Brene uses to highlight her messages.

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Critical thinking course, critical considerations: three hours to better thinking, available formats: half-day training course, course highlights.

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Despite the plethora of data employees are asked to consider and problems they are required to solve, few people have received any formal training in critical thinking in the workplace. This fast-paced workshop introduces the critical thinking skills necessary for considering workplace problems and striking a balance between open-mindedness and skepticism. During this program, we will define critical thinking and consider its value, look at the types of decisions that require critical thinking, explore the steps critical thinkers usually follow, craft a list of questions to improve critical thinking, consider language and its role in argument, and explore a range of fallacies and how to spot and avoid falling prey to their use.

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Decisions decisions: business judgement, let’s think: working through a model, stay within the lines: steps to improve critical thinking, advertising and influence: how the pros do it, fallacy: recognizing failures in reasoning, words words words: language and the critical thinker, related directories:.

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Home - Learn UX - The ultimate guide to running a design thinking workshop

The ultimate guide to running a design thinking workshop

Running or facilitating a design thinking workshop is an important skill in today’s UX designer’s toolkit. But how do you run a design thinking workshop? It is not as easy as it looks.

• Updated on November 26, 2023

Table of Contents 💡

In this article, I’m going to share how I’ve facilitated and organized many design thinking workshops throughout my UX career. We’ll discuss how to prepare for the workshop, how to conduct one, and what to expect as the next steps once you’ve completed your design thinking workshop.

I’ll also share what, in my experience, is the difference between an online design thinking workshop and an in-person design thinking workshop.

Preparing for the workshop

Preparation is key to a successful design thinking workshop. That preparation includes several subtasks that you need to complete before you start.

• Talk to your stakeholders to discover why you’re doing a design thinking workshop.
• Finding participants.
• Picking the right structure for the workshop.

The order of these subtasks is important. Let’s go through each of them to help you prepare.

Discuss the workshop goal with your stakeholders

You usually don’t do a workshop just because you want to. And even though it’s a part of design thinking in general, you still have to convince your stakeholders about the value of a workshop.

During my projects, I noticed that most stakeholders want to do a long and boring meeting that doesn’t move the needle forward in any way.

Do a workshop instead of those boring meetings. It is more fun and very interactive and will likely take less time than that boring meeting your stakeholders came up with in the first place.

Discussing the goals of the workshop

So, let’s assume that you’ve convinced your stakeholders. What’s still important to know is the goal of your stakeholders.

The design thinking workshop is only one step within your project and should take you from the current step to the next.

What should that next step be? What is the desired result?

These are all very important questions you should ask your stakeholders before starting a project or, in this case, your design thinking workshop.

Some of the expected outcomes could be that the stakeholders want to learn why their current product doesn’t achieve the set business goals.

In that case, you want to facilitate a workshop with actual users to find out why that is.

This brings me to the next step in your workshop preparation: finding the right participants.

Find participants

Finding participants for your design thinking workshop can be quite a challenge.

How challenging this will be depends on your (target) user group and company policies.

Some companies don’t want you to talk to users because they think users don’t have time or because they think involving users in a workshop might scare them away.

If you have a B2C product, for example, finding participants is also very challenging. They’re hard to reach and don’t want to spend much time as a research participant.

In most cases, you have stakeholders or a product owner responsible for finding participants. All you have to do is create a profile of what you’re looking for in a participant.

For example, you are looking for participants with experience using a certain software tool, a part of your application, or a particular age group.

Make sure that you’re very specific about your requirements. Otherwise, finding suitable participants will take a long time, hurting your credibility in facilitating a design thinking workshop in the company.

Understanding the workshop structure

Solid design thinking workshops have a clear structure. It helps you guide your participants from the design challenge to a solution. Here’s a high-level overview of what a workshop structure usually looks like.

Start with formalities, like introducing yourself, sharing the workshop’s agenda, and mentioning what you expect of the participant.

Once the formalities are out of the way, you go very wide before narrowing the workshop down again. In Design Thinking, this is called diverging and converging.

You want to start generating as many high-level ideas as you can first.

Once you have a lot of high-level, low-detail ideas, you can start to bring down that number while increasing the fidelity of the different ideas that your participants create.

As a result of the workshop, you’ll usually end up with one or several ideas to take with you to your next steps after the workshop.

And finally, you have to decide the length and location of your workshop.

Usually, a workshop could take anywhere from 2 hours as a remote workshop to several days when it’s in-person.

So again, that depends on the company culture and policies. Are you an office-bound company, or do you usually work from home?

How to run a design thinking workshop

Now that we’ve discussed the workshop preparation, it is time to go through the workshop steps. For each, I’ll mention what to do as a facilitator and some examples of how to do that.

You have to get every participant on the same page first, so start with an introduction. Include the following topics.

• Who you are.
• The agenda of the workshop.
• The goal of the workshop.
• What you expect from your participants.
• Any rules that you might have.

As for rules, I’m talking about venue policy when you’re doing an in-person workshop.

Design thinking workshop icebreakers

Most participants usually are a bit nervous at the start of a workshop. They have questions about the facilitator, the workshop, and workshop expectations.

If you start your workshop right away, participants will be less active than when you’ve done an icebreaker.

That’s why icebreakers are crucial to the success of your workshop. Here are two examples of icebreakers I like to do during my workshops.

Icebreaker example one

My favorite one is where I have my participants figure out the order of birthdays within the group. Here’s how it works.

First, I mention the goal of the icebreaker and today’s date. Once that’s done, I ask the participants to speak up if they think their birthday is closest to the current date.

After a while, one or two participants will speak up and share their birthday. This triggers collaboration right away because the group has to figure out if this birthday is indeed the first one coming up.

Icebreaker example two

The second icebreaker I use a lot is all about lists. Together with my workshop participants, we create a to-do list for an upcoming holiday.

Start by asking one random participant for a holiday recommendation. It could be a city to visit, a show to watch, or anything else. Once the first participant is done, ask them to pick another participant to go next.

When participants have to pick the next one to go by themselves, it greatly increases the engagement and focus of your group.

At the end of the workshop, you can share the to-do list as a parting gift. That’s always fun.

Icebreaker example three

My final icebreak example is the drawing contest. Let one team pick a random animal and have every participant draw that animal within 30 seconds.

It will get a lot of laughs from people, which will raise their energy and make them more active for the rest of the workshop.

Understanding the design challenge

Understanding the design challenge is one of the most important steps of any workshop. This step is important for the facilitator and every participant.

There are several exercises you could use in your design thinking workshop to get an understanding of the design challenge.

When you have different user groups in your workshop, one of the exercises I like to do is to have the groups present each other’s viewpoints without preparation.

It’s often a moment of fun because the presentations usually are way off at first. Because of the laughs, it also counts as an extra icebreaker.

Then, as a second step, you divide the groups into smaller groups and have them take turns interviewing each other within the smaller group.

Make sure each small group consists of one person from each of the bigger groups.

The interviewers will get a better understanding of the other group’s needs and pain points. This is an important milestone from a UX research perspective.

As a final step of this exercise, you can let the groups present each other’s beliefs a second time and see if there’s an improvement.

Have the group do a dot-voting exercise to check if this is the case. Create a list of names and add a red and a green dot next to them. You can then let your participants vote by selecting the green (the second presentation was better) or the red dot (not an improvement).

Create a solution

Now that you know the user pain points of the group, the next step is to create a solution for those pain points.

To do this, you start big and go smaller step by step. Here’s what I mean.

‘Start big’ by creating lots of different possible solutions. These ideas are very low-fidelity at first, with little detail. The goal here isn’t to solve the problem yet. We just want to have a long list of ideas.

We’ll ‘go smaller’ by picking the best ideas from the initial list and going into more and more detail with each exercise.

Structure and exercises

Start with an individual exercise called ‘crazy eights.’ Give each participant a piece of paper and have them divide that paper into eight spaces. You can do that by folding your paper three times down the middle.

As a facilitator, you’re going to give each participant one minute for each space to come up with an idea.

These ideas can be very simple. A few words or a quick sketch is enough. Remember, we’re still in the ‘start big’ phase. It’s all about creating multiple ideas very quickly.

Let’s say you are with ten people in your workshop. If you do the ‘crazy eight’ exercise, you’ll have 80 ideas within 10 minutes. That’s a lot.

Your next step is to bring the number of ideas down while increasing the level of detail per idea.

One way of doing this is to have the participants return to their original groups, give them some time to present their ideas to each other, and decide a top 3 for each group.

If you’re with two groups, this exercise brings the number of ideas from 80 down to 6.

You can have the groups present these top 3 ideas to each other during a plenary meeting and use this moment to gather a lot of feedback.

Repeating the dot-voting exercise from earlier is possible, too, but instead of using green and red dots, give each group member three dots to divide amongst the ideas.

This list of ideas and the votes each idea received is a good workshop deliverable already.

But we want more. As a final exercise, let the groups take the feedback and use it to update their ideas. You can let them work on this for 30-60 minutes and have them create their primary solution for the design challenges from the first part of the workshop.

The steps that follow a design thinking workshop.

After your design thinking workshop, your next steps are to gather feedback and share the workshop outcome with your stakeholders.

Gather feedback about your role as a facilitator. Use it to see how the participants perceived the workshop and to discover ways to improve your next workshop.

As for the workshop outcome, you can look at the created ideas and the votes they received. Take those ideas to your stakeholders.

Your stakeholder wants to have a solution for a problem. That’s the reason you’re facilitating the workshop in the first place.

Create a presentation where you show the ideas and your suggested next steps for these ideas. Add a way to contact you at the end of the presentation, too.

One or two weeks after the workshop, host a workshop outcome presentation for your workshop participants. Share what you’ve done during the workshop, what the participants made of it, and your next steps.

You do this as a way to check the response to your ideas and to make sure you’ve understood your participants correctly. It is called ‘participant buy-in,’ and it is super important.

The difference between in-person and virtual design workshops.

The difference between in-person and virtual design workshops is how you manage the energy level of your participants. For virtual design workshops, this is much harder.

Back in the day, I only did in-person design thinking workshops. Because of remote and hybrid work, I currently do virtual workshops more often.

When you facilitate an in-person workshop, you have a lot of space to walk around; people are standing up, and you can arrange good food.

Because of this, in-person workshops usually have more energy than virtual design workshops.

For virtual workshops, I recommend creating enough breaks.

That’s because staring at a screen full of participants all day is much more exhausting than being in the room together.

One of the upsides of a virtual workshop is that you have more tools at your disposal.

That ‘crazy eight’ exercise I mentioned earlier is something you can do even quicker if you work online because of tools like Miro and FigJam. You also don’t need your participants to fold any papers.

In my experience, doing an online workshop is less exhausting for the facilitator. That’s because you have to walk around less and can use the breaks just as much as your participants do.

If you do an in-person workshop, you need to have a good ‘stage presence,’ too. Not every designer has that.

For example, I’m an introverted UX designer, and even though I really enjoy facilitating a workshop, it is something that costs me a lot of energy. Virtual workshops are easier in that regard.

Tips and tricks for design thinking workshops

We’ve gone through structure, exercises, and how to prepare for a design thinking workshop. All that’s left is some tips and tricks that I want to share based on my experience facilitating design thinking workshops.

Manage expectations

The first tip is to be very clear about what you expect from your participants. That means starting your workshop with some ground rules.

For example, I always mention that if people want to go for a short walk, get some more coffee, or have a toilet break, they can just do that without asking for permission.

It really helps the flow of the workshop and will also put less stress on the participants.

At the same time, it’s also important to be clear about what you expect from a particular exercise. Mention how long it will take, explain why you want people to do the exercise, and how it works.

Do more than one icebreaker

Make sure that you do another icebreaker every now and then to energize your group. It’s more than just the workshop intro. For example, I do an extra energizer after the lunch break of my workshop.

As a facilitator, you have to be aware of the energy levels within your group. If you feel the energy dropping, add an extra energizer.

It’s okay if you haven’t scheduled it. Sometimes, it just needs to happen. It’ll improve the remainder of your workshop even if you fall behind on schedule because of it.

Further reading

Let’s say you have facilitated a workshop, you’re looking to prepare your first workshop, or want to learn more about UX in general , but you still have some doubts or questions.

That’s okay! Workshops are a lot of work and quite scary if you’ve never done one before. In that case, you can reach out to me, and I’m more than happy to assist you if you want.

Do you have feedback on this article? Missing something? Or just a question? Reach out to me and I’ll get back to you!

About the author

Hi! I'm Nick Groeneveld , a senior designer from the Netherlands with experience in UX, visual design, and research. I'm a UX coach that supports other designers and have completed design projects in finance, tech, and the public sector.

Through The Designer's Toolbox, I'm an Educational Partner for Interaction Design Foundation.

☎️ Book a 1:1 mentor meeting with me or let's connect on LinkedIn , Twitter and Medium .

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Description

Several times a  year, we conduct some of the workshops in an "open enrollment format".