Exploring the role of Design Thinking in Pedagogical Innovation rethinking teaching methods and learning spaces

Innovation adoption in higher education has historically been slow. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated innovation challenges by forcing the introduction of change as an emergency response rather than a result of a transformative strategic plan. It is critical to avoid the temptation to revert to the familiarity of pre-pandemic norms and find an equilibrium between keeping important on-campus face-to-face interaction while allowing for more flexibility for remote learning. Therefore, new strategies for innovation in education are needed, including new avenues for research and practice, reinforcing confidence in the innovation process, and measuring the explicit value of innovation. This dissertation aims to advance the theory and practice of design thinking (DT) as an innovation capability in education. By identifying, encouraging, and developing new institutional capacities to better meet students' needs as they navigate complex career challenges, design thinking can help to inform a new future-proof strategy. The present research offers an opportunity to apply design thinking to prepare universities for a world that has shifted significantly towards flexible work and to promote diversity and a sense of belonging to the topics covered. The motivation of this study is to investigate the use of design thinking in education and how it affects student outcomes, learning spaces and experiences. The goal is to gain a better understanding of design thinking principles, processes, and practices, and how they can be effectively integrated into educational settings. The research started right before the pandemic context, where a new design thinking framework was developed to design a new university campus experience: “Rethinking the Campus Experience in a Post-COVID World: A Multi-Stakeholder Design Thinking Experiment”. After the initial study, and during the pandemic times, three empirical studies were conducted in two different contexts: in a university context, and in a healthcare context. One empirical study “Teaching Design Thinking in times of COVID-19” focused on the lessons learned from the emergency remote teaching of Design Thinking. The second study, “Design of learning environments: a room affecting what we do and how we feel” describes a multi-stakeholder design thinking experiment to develop a university innovation center and classroom. The third study aimed to transfer knowledge from the remote emergency teaching of Design Thinking to healthcare teams during pandemic times: “Empowering healthcare professionals through remote design thinking: sharing experiences from the university emergency remote teaching to rethink efficiency in operating rooms in times of COVID-19”. Finally, to evaluate the impact of design thinking on PhD candidates, a longitudinal study was conducted, which aimed to report the influence of a transferable skills course. The study was designed to investigate the effects of design thinking on students' skill development. The findings of this dissertation contribute to the understanding of the role of design thinking in education and provide insights for educators and educational institutions looking to incorporate this approach into their teaching methods and learning spaces. The thesis offers three major theoretical contributions: first, it proposes a DT framework for collaborative co-creation of a university campus; second, it offers a conceptual framework for understanding DT as a transferable skill for PhD students; and third, it demonstrates how DT can contribute to the creation of innovative learning environments by applying principles from behavioural sciences. The results of this study show that the use of DT can promote long-term innovation by supplying new resources, processes, and mindsets when there is a strategic intent to become more innovative. However, cooperative, active, multicultural, diverse, and multidisciplinary learning as well as critical thinking are qualities of an innovative and sustainable educational future. The future is closer than we think, and universities need to reimagine themselves if they want to stay relevant. It is imperative to promote innovation and initiate change immediately, before it becomes too late. Our goals and findings are meant to help this reinvention movement by promoting creative thinking that is based on successful experiments and practical interventions.