Developing design thinking expertise in higher education

The term design thinking is increasingly used to mean the human-centred ‘open’ problem solving process decision makers use to solve real world ‘wicked’ problems. Claims have been made that design thinking in this sense can radically improve not only product innovation but also decision making in other fields, such as management, public health, and organizations in general. Many design and management schools in North America and elsewhere now include course offerings in design thinking though little is known about how successful these are with students. The lack of such courses in Australia presents an opportunity to design a curriculum for design thinking, employing design thinking’s own practices. This paper describes the development of a design thinking course at Swinburne University taught simultaneously in Melbourne and Hong Kong. Following a pilot of the course in Semester 1, 2011 with 90 enrolled students across the two countries, we describe lessons learned to date and future course considerations as it is being taught in its second iteration.

De Gruyter Open Education Studies, 2019

This paper explores the educator experience and sense-making of design thinking pedagogy in the higher education context. Design thinking has become a pedagogical phenomenon in higher education due to its widespread relevance across many disciplines. Some studies discuss design thinking as a pedagogy in the educational context; however, there is a lack of empirical research to understand the educator perspective on design thinking pedagogy. Three design thinking educators who have had more than fifteen years of teaching experience were interviewed to explore their experiences. The data from these individual in-depth, semi-structured interviews were analysed employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). One super-ordinate theme; capability building for everyone, and four subordinate themes; developing a participatory approach towards world issues; developing an open, explorative attitude; developing creative ability; and developing an ethical mindset were identified. From these findings, the paper argues that design thinking educators have the basis for a pedagogical rationale that transcends disciplinary boundaries and provides common ground for collaboration and ongoing development of design thinking pedagogy as an emerging field in education.

Journal of Learning Design, 2017

Design and design thinking have been identified as making valuable contributions to business and management, and the numbers of higher education programs that teach design thinking to business students, managers and executives are growing. However multiple definitions of design thinking and the range of perspectives have created some confusion about potential pathways. This paper examines notions of design and design thinking and uses these definitions to identify themes in higher educational programs. We present the findings from an initial exploratory investigation of design and design thinking in higher education business programs and define four distinct educational approaches around human centred innovation, integrative thinking, design management and design as strategy. Potential directions for management education programs are presented.

SOCIETY. INTEGRATION. EDUCATION. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, 2016

Design thinking has become a paradigm that is considered to be useful in solving many problems in different areas: both in development of design projects and outside of traditional design practice. It raises the question - is design thinking understood as a universal methodology in all cases? How it is interpreted in design education? The analysis of theoretical and design related literature indicates different basic and contextual challenges facing design today: increasing scale of social, economic and industrial borders; complexity of environment and systems; requirements in all levels. As specialists and researchers in the field of design have concluded, here are multiple disconnects betweenwhat the graduate design schools are teaching at the level of methods and what skills is already needed. The problems have been found also in interdisciplinary cooperation and research. In the context of design thinking models and problem solving methods, the analysis shows that design educa...

The Design Journal, 2017

Design thinking is not only a tool applied to fostering innovation in business, but it is also a novel and prominent approach in education. Being a creative process that enables academics to meet students' needs and to raise innovative individuals, it emerges as a contemporary pedagogic tool, which can be used in all levels of education. Despite its growing importance, the implementation of design thinking into business education is slow and partial, although business education today is in a crisis as traditional pedagogic tools fall short of raising individuals who can meet the challenges of the 21 st century. This study explores current trends in applying design thinking into higher education, with a particular focus on the strategies of leading schools. Using a case study approach, we provide an initial road map for educational organizations, and in particular for business schools, which strive for integrating this new tool into their curricula.

proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED’09): Design Society, 2009

Product development processes are commonly represented in sequential models covering the necessary stages from planning to product rollout, while processes to take needs into the development activities show other aspects, namely that understanding needs requires, for a product developer, additional skills. In our curricula for engineering design education we apply some aspects of design thinking to bring together (a) business savvy, in terms of understanding people's needs as market opportunities, and (b) product ...

Many academic organisations are calling attention to the need for urgent changes in curricula and learning methods demanded by the continual social transformation of an increasingly technological world. Transversal skills such as the ability to think creatively and critically, take initiative, and work collaboratively for common goals, are essential to guarantee a qualified and entrepreneurial workforce in Europe. The D-Think research project emerged in this educational context during September 2014. It is an initiative of 7 partners from 6 different European countries, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. The project aims to promote a wider use of Design Thinking as a transversal learning tool by developing and making available a toolkit and an innovative digital course for educators and professional trainers. The result of the first year of the D-Think project is a Research Report about Design Thinking and its application in Education and Training, providing a spring board for the next stages of the project: the creation of the D-Think toolkit and the D-Think m-learning course, both in development and testing until August 2017. The main objective of the Research Report is the clarification of the role of Design Thinking in HEI (Higher Education Institutions) and VET (Vocational Training) Education, and the identification of new approaches to teaching/learning. The target group of the D-Think project are educators/trainers who want to rethink the education system and the current teaching/learning methodologies. As a result, the partnership expects HEI´s and VET providers to prepare people to respond better to the challenges of the labour market, and so be able to stimulate the growth of flexible and innovative businesses in the future.

IEEE\/OSA Journal of Display Technology, 2020

Since about a decade ago, design thinking has become a prominent topic in the scientific and business world. In order to keep up with global competition, design thinking has proven to be a valuable concept for assisting companies to innovate their products, services and processes. Therefore, business schools worldwide have introduced design thinking courses with the aim of preparing the future workforce. Scholars debate about the appropriate approach to teach design, with this paper trying to identify how a design thinking course should be arranged to teach non-designers the processes, methods and mindset of design thinking. It deals with the question of which form of knowledge conversion is more effective for bringing non-design students closer to the design thinking mindset. To answer this, it reviews current studies on design thinking in education. In particular, the research refers to Simon’s and Schon’s concepts of science of design and reflection-in-action, along with Nonaka a...

2014

This seed project 'Design thinking frameworks as transformative cross-disciplinary pedagogy' aimed to examine the way design thinking strategies are used across disciplines to scaffold the development of student attributes in the domain of problem solving and creativity in order to enhance the nation's capacity for innovation. Generic graduate attributes associated with innovation, creativity and problem solving are considered to be amongst the most important of all targeted attributes (Bradley Review of Higher Education, 2009). The project also aimed to gather data on how academics across disciplines conceptualised design thinking methodologies and strategies. Insights into how design thinking strategies could be embedded at the subject level to improve student outcomes were of particular interest in this regard. A related aim was the investigation of how design thinking strategies could be used by academics when designing new and innovative subjects and courses. This a...

2011

It is essential that design education extends beyond the classroom to ensure that students are fully prepared to engage with other disciplines, such as business. Design Thinking has emerged as a key mechanism to engage design with business, and vice versa. This paper describes how the Product Design department at AUT University has identified an opportunity to educate businesses and organisations about the principles, processes and methods of Design Thinking, and maximising the learning educational benefits of this situation, to engage postgraduate students with business perspectives and contexts. Consequently, Design Thinking Participatory Workshops for business were proposed and tested. This paper specifically outlines the background and the theoretical perspectives behind the workshops, as well as describing the current business context of New Zealand. In particular the paper describes how the application of Design Thinking is assisting in the transformation of a number of leading New Zealand businesses and organisations. It then discusses the design and development of the prototype Design Thinking workshops, including the approach used, the two day structure, the role of postgraduate students, and materials presented. The paper then presents the results of one the workshops run to date, including an evaluation from student and industry perspectives.