The workshop in 3-hour aims to share with education professionals how design thinking could develop education projects with a learning by doing pedagogy and to acquire practical skills in applying design thinking in education. Specifically, it helps participants to:
* understand the core principles of design thinking; and
* apply its methods and processes in education projects
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is an approach used for practical and creative problem-solving. It is based profoundly on the methods and processes with actions that designers employed in work practices, but it has actually processed from a range of different professions including engineering, education, and commercial industry.
Design thinking is tremendously user-centric which focuses on human-centric research to understand people’s needs and come up with effective solutions to meet those needs.
In education, it requires learners to empathise with user in context, define a problem, ideate solutions, and deliver the solution. It is a pedagogy approach of learning by doing which would enhance the learning experience of students.
Teaching and learning practices are rapidly evolving, making it critical for university lecturers to develop capacities for lesson design. Amidst these volatile circumstances, it is often wondered if there are better ways of designing ‘good’ learning experiences. Design Thinking is gaining traction in educational institutions as an approach for creative problem-solving and it is suggested that Design Thinking can provide fresh approaches for better educational design.
This session juxtaposes Design Thinking processes against traditional lesson design processes, and explores the challenges and tensions arising from a more ‘designerly’ approach to lesson design. Drawing from her research conducted in South-East Asia and New Zealand, the speaker presents plausible ways for lecturers to apply Design Thinking as part of lesson planning, and how they could develop the competencies and dispositions to be strong design thinkers.
Dr Joyce Koh is an Associate Professor at the Higher Education Development Centre of the University of Otago in New Zealand. Prior to her current appointment, she was an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and has also worked in instructional design and consulting positions in private and public sectors
She researches in the areas of design thinking in education, teacher professional development in educational technology, and higher education educational technology development. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles in SSCI-listed journals and currently serves as a Senior Associate Editor of the Asia Pacific Education Researcher.