Abstract:

Rapid technological advances, the pandemic, and the effects of climate change mean we teach and learn in an uncertain world while needing to remain empathetic, open, and human. Graduates with creative and critical thinking skills are needed to navigate and lead in ambiguous times.

Design thinking is a creative methodology that has long been used in design disciplines to tackle such wicked problems and challenges and to create social impact. Design thinking also has the potential to change how we think about teaching and learning. With the drastic pivot to remote and online teaching in the pandemic, more creative approaches are needed for education, especially in large cohorts. Educators need better ways to structure collaboration and engage students in online classes.

This paper explores how the educational design for design thinking with educational technologies has been approached across two different studies within an Australian university context. In the first study, students from diverse business disciplines were introduced to and practised design thinking in lockdown across different countries, synchronously and asynchronously. Students and educators’ online experiences were evaluated for common enablers or inhibitors of such practice. Findings indicated that students and educators overcame the constraints of remote classrooms and developed basic design thinking skills, processes, and attitudes, despite often limited prior experience with both design thinking and online learning. Further insights from a second study challenge assumptions about design thinking online. Through a collaborative and iterative process, educators reflected on their professional design thinking practice in a business school, education faculty, and in a university library. 

An overview and synthesis of both studies suggest that design thinking online and remotely requires educators to creatively adapt their professional practice, adopting a design thinking mindset. Finally, educational approaches are suggested to support higher educators to include design thinking online for everybody, everywhere. 

Keywords:

Design thinking, design thinking online, creativity, critical thinking, collaborative learning.