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Digital Literacy Modules

Pilot Modules to Assist with Digital Literacy Development

Creativity & Innovation: Explanation

Creativity, Innovation, and Technology Use 

  • Creativity and Innovation involve actively developing or producing something--a video, a podcast, a 3-D model. The skills required to make or create a product are different than what you use to receive content passively (e.g., watching a video, listening to a podcast, viewing a model, etc.).
  • Technology can be useful in conveying a message creatively or in building a model or tool to address a problem. 
  • Developers can test their model creations in lower stakes environments and make adjustments before producing the final version that will be implemented in a more public or permanent way. 
  • Design thinking and prototyping are processes that can support creativity and innovation.

What is Creativity?

Everyone Can Be Creative - Video by LearnFree

Design Thinking

Design Thinking as a Problem Solving Method

  • Design thinking is a well-known method for thinking about and solving problems that involves creative thinking and human-centered approaches.
  • Because it involves building testable solutions, technology is often integrated into the design thinking process.
  • Design thinking can be used along with computational thinking to create workable and testable solutions.
  • While computational thinking emphasizes the problem to be solved, design thinking focuses more on the people who will benefit from a solution that meets their needs.

Design Thinking Models

Design Thinking as a 3-Step Process (FSU Innovation Hub)

  1. Empathize: Study the problem from the perspective of the people experiencing it
  2. Ideate: Work with a team to brainstorm unique, creative solutions
  3. Prototype: Create simple models of possible solutions that can be tested and refinedFSU Innovation Hub's 3-Phase Cycle for Design Thinking - Empathize, Reframe - Ideate, Select - Prototype

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The FSU Design Thinking cycle emphasizes asking the right question based on people's needs, collaborating with people representing a wide range of perspectives, and iterating (repeating) steps in the process to achieve the best solution.

Harvard Business School Online Presents Design Thinking in Four Stages

  1. Clarify: Identifying a suitable problem statement or question
  2. Ideate: Work toward the development of creative solutions that avoid assumptions
  3. Develop: Select and critique multiple possible solutions. Create and test prototypes to determine the best solution or product.
  4. Implement: Putting the proposed solution into practice and doing more testing and refining.
     

Diagram of 4 stages of design thinking by Harvard Business School Online: Clarify, Ideate, Develop, and Implement with accompanying icons

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4 Stages of the Design Thinking Process Video - Harvard Business School (HBS) Online

The Five Stages in the Design Thinking Process by Rikke Friis Dam from the Interaction Design Foundation

This model includes the following 5 steps

  1. Empathize - Research [and understand] your user's needs
  2. Define - State your users' needs and problems [This may be from your perspective initially but you will want to get the perspectives of the people you are designing for.]
  3. Ideate - Challenge assumptions and create ideas
  4. Prototype - Start to create solutions 
  5. Test - Try out possible solutions 

Steps will be repeated and will not always go in order from 1-5. In this way, Design Thinking is not a linear process.

Design Thinking Diagram by the Interaction Design Foundation illustrating the five steps with icons and forward and backward arrows demonstrating possible flow of activities

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Prototypes

What is a Prototype? Why Use Prototyping?

  • A prototype is a physical representation or working model of an idea.
  • Before the final version of a smart phone app is released or a product is manufactured, companies often create and test working models.
  • Depending on the proposed final product and the stage in the development process, a prototype can vary in format and complexity. 
  • In designing products and solutions, multiple prototypes are often developed before the final design is chosen. 
  • Prototyping as a design process often requires the creator to think about constraints.
  • Prototypes are valuable for demonstrating what will work but also in revealing what fails. Successes and failures in prototyping help move a design forward.

Examples of Prototypes and Prototyping

Students Practice Prototyping at the Stanford d.School video by Stanford University 

How Rapid Prototyping Can Take Your Business to the Next Level | Meet Your Expert" Tom Chi video by Singularity University

More on Prototypes

The following are some examples of prototypes and approaches:

  • Hand-drawn sketches
  • Outlines
  • Storyboards
  • Wireframes
  • Physical models (hand-shaped clay, 3D printed objects, cardboard constructions, etc.)
  • Flowcharts
  • Dialogue scripts with action descriptions
  • Game user interface mock-ups made with Figma or Adobe XD platforms

Quiz - Creativity and Innovation

Module Quiz for Completion Credit
After reviewing the content in this module, complete and submit the quiz to document your completion and receive credit. 

Digital Literacy Modules: Creativity and Innovation Quiz

AI Use Disclosure

AI Use Disclosure

Content development for the learning outcomes, explanations, examples, and quiz questions in these modules was assisted by Claude.ai (paid subscription) Gemini, and Elicit models. 

Model Citations

Anthropic. (2025). Claude Opus 4 (May 22 edition with web search and extended thinking enabled) [generative AI model/system]. https://www.anthropic.com/claude/opus

Anthropic. (2025). Claude Sonnet 4 (May 22 edition) [generative AI model/ system]. https://www.anthropic.com/claude/sonnet

Elicit. (2025). Elicit Basic (July 23 edition, used Research report) [generative AI model/system]. https://elicit.com/

Google. (2025). Gemini 2.5 Flash (May 20 edition) [generative AI model/system]. https://gemini.google.com/app