Figma for Collaboration and Design Thinking

Digital Adventure 4.

Tool Type: Web-Based Collaborative Design and Prototyping Platform

Watch the Screencast here

1. User Experience and Challenge

For this Digital Adventure, I explored Figma, a real-time collaborative design platform, to highlight how teamwork and creativity merge in digital learning. I built a Prezi Video presentation that included a three-minute live tutorial recorded with my senior student and teaching assistant, Drishti, through Microsoft Teams. In that embedded segment, we appeared on camera while co-creating a simple interface prototype and demonstrating Figma’s shared editing, commenting, and presentation features.

The experience was fluid and enjoyable because Figma’s interface feels intuitive—everything happens in the browser, and edits appear instantly across participants’ screens. The main challenge came from balancing narration, screen sharing, and camera feeds while capturing the live collaboration without technical lag. Coordinating voiceover timing inside Prezi after embedding the Teams recording required careful alignment.

2. Starting Skill Level

My starting level with Figma was advanced. I teach this tool every semester in MIS 2200 Systems Analysis and Design, guiding more than forty student teams each year as they prototype apps for the Marketplace Simulation project. However, this digital adventure shifted my focus from teaching functionality to reflecting on how collaboration feels and evolves when learners share a live digital workspace. Preparing the screencast helped me see familiar workflows from the learner’s point of view.

3. What I Learned

This project deepened my appreciation of digital co-creation and design-thinking pedagogy:

• Collaboration in motion: Watching cursors move simultaneously reinforced how shared visual spaces spark instant feedback and collective decision-making.
• Design-based reflection: I realized that visual prototypes serve as discussion tools, not just deliverables—students learn by iterating together.
• Tool integration: Combining Teams, Prezi, and Figma demonstrated the value of connecting synchronous and asynchronous technologies for richer interaction.
• Instructional insight: Recording a real collaboration reminded me that authenticity engages learners more than polished demonstrations ever could.

4. Classroom Application

I plan to expand Figma’s role beyond design assignments into reflective collaboration exercises. Students can storyboard business processes, diagram systems, or co-create interface mock-ups in real time while discussing choices over Teams. In Capstone seminars, groups can present directly from Figma’s Presentation Mode, showcasing both product and process. As an instructor, I’ll continue using live collaborative sessions to model teamwork, version control, and iterative improvement—skills central to modern project environments.

Reflection

This digital adventure reaffirmed that collaboration is the heartbeat of creativity. Figma transforms static design into a shared learning journey where structure, dialogue, and imagination coexist. Pairing it with Prezi and Teams showed me how easily a digital ecosystem can support communication, feedback, and visual storytelling. By mastering this combination, I strengthened my own teaching practice and illustrated to students that innovation thrives where people design—and learn—together.

October 16th, 2025