Abstract:

This paper reports learning situations where Erasmus+ European projects motivate design thinking methodology approaches in higher education curricular units, within the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of Leiria Polytechnic’s, in Portugal.

The CIM project, a Knowledge Alliance entitled “Promoting Creativity and Innovation Management in an innovative blended learning and validation program at the interface between higher education and business” and the PITCH project, a Strategic Partnership for higher education entitled “Promoting and Implementing Training on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity in Higher Education” motivated the use of design thinking inspired methodology in curricular units related to creativity and innovation, but also as a tool for ideation and problem solving in other curricular units.

CIM project European wide survey showed a strong demand for new learning approaches on creativity and innovation, both from higher education and business institutions. Design thinking methodologies emerged from the project desk research, questionnaires and focus groups interviews as an interesting tool to further develop and disseminate within higher education.

A four teachers’ team from the Leiria Polytechnic’s School of Tourism and Maritime Technology participated in the design thinking workshop held in September 2019 in Thessaloniki, Greece, within the REVEAL conference and experienced an international approach to this methodology, deepening their knowledge. The theme was further developed in the five days pilot training held in December 2019, in Palermo, Italy, with representatives from the Higher education and Business European partners.

Meanwhile some students from the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology experience this design thinking approach. In the first semester of 2019-2020, a curricular unit about Creativity in the “Event Management” graduation generated ideas and projects using a design thinking inspired methodology, with good success. Six students further developed their projects and competed in the “Poliempreende entrepreneurship award”, managed by the Portuguese Polytechnic Institutes. In the second semester, the “Entrepreneurship and environmental responsibility” curricular unit from the Master in “Tourism and Environment” also used the design thinking approach to develop project ideas. Part of this semester was lectured in distance mode, due to the pandemic confinement, and students had to make the final presentation by video conference with presence of elements from CIM and PITCH projects. In this second semester, Biomaterials and Biosensors, a curricular unit from the master in “Biotechnology of Marine Resources”, also used a design thinking approach to generate ideas for scientific communication with short films. A special challenge made to improve student’s creativity, innovation, and communication competences. In 2020-2021, design thinking approaches keep being developed in several curricular units, even in distance mode, using ZOOM and MIRO platforms, and in some cases with students from other European Universities, developing even further international communication competences along with creativity and innovation.

Other programs using design thinking and involving our teachers and/or students can be mentioned, like the DEMOLA, co-creation projects, with companies and multidisciplinary teams, and the “Short Advanced Program (SAP) Design Expedition within the RUN European University.

Keywords:

Design thinking, Creativity, Innovation, Erasmus+ projects, higher education.