Design Thinking in Engineering Course Design

Design thinking is a robust framework for creatively and effectively identifying and solving important human problems. While design thinking is commonly associated with fields like industrial design, it can be applied to many problem types. For example, several recent examples demonstrate the applicability of design thinking to the design and development of educational materials, courses, and systems. These results suggest that design thinking could be used as a framework to (re)design and develop effective engineering courses. The goal of this project is to understand how nine educators from different backgrounds did or did not use design thinking to redesign a sophomore-level electrical and computer engineering course. The primary source of data was 21 transcribed audio recordings of design meetings and is supplemented with interviews, reflections, and course artifacts. Thematic analysis revealed 10 themes that represent connections and disconnections between the process used and a common five-stage design thinking process (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test). These themes demonstrate some of the opportunities and challenges related to design thinking within an engineering course design setting. In particular, they suggest that engineering course design is a relevant context for design thinking, but one to which design thinking methods do not always naturally translated. Future work should focus on better understanding unique applications of design thinking within engineering course design and methods that might to support more designerly behaviors among engineering educators.

[1]  Elizabeth Boling,et al.  What Do We Make of Design? Design as A Concept in Educational Technology , 2009 .

[2]  Monica E. Cardella,et al.  Learning to Integrate Mathematical and Design Thinking in Engineering , 2015 .

[3]  Ashfaq A. Khokhar,et al.  Riding the Wave of Change in Electrical and Computer Engineering , 2017 .

[4]  Kurt Rowley.  Inquiry into the Practices of Expert Courseware Designers: A Pragmatic Method for the Design of Effective Instructional Systems , 2005 .

[5]  Nigel Cross,et al.  Creativity in the design process: co-evolution of problem–solution , 2001 .

[6]  Roger Martin.  The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage , 2009 .

[7]  Jonathan Cagan,et al.  A Study of Design Fixation, Its Mitigation and Perception in Engineering Design Faculty , 2010 .

[8]  Margaret A. Roytek,et al.  Enhancing instructional design efficiency: Methodologies employed by instructional designers , 2010, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[9]  Jeanne Liedtka,et al.  EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF DESIGN THINKING IN ACTION , 2018 .

[10]  William Sugar.  Studies of ID Practices: A Review and Synthesis of Research on ID Current Practices , 2014 .

[11]  Rikke Friis Dam,et al.  Design thinking: a quick overview , 2020 .

[12]  Ang Liu,et al.  Reinforcinga"DesignThinking"CoursebyRestructuringStudent-Instructor Interactions , 2014 .

[13]  Gavin Melles,et al.  Exploring the role of mindset in design thinking: Implications for capability development and practice , 2015 .

[14]  Ray S. Perez,et al.  Instructional design expertise: A cognitive model of design , 1995 .

[15]  Lisa D. McNair,et al.  Faculty Motivation: A Gateway to Transforming Engineering Education , 2014 .

[16]  Daniel D. Frey,et al.  Engineering design thinking, teaching, and learning , 2006 .

[17]  Rachel Cooper,et al.  Design Thinking and Design Management: A Research and Practice Perspective , 2009 .

[18]  Mani Mina,et al.  Design thinking as a catalyst for changing teaching and learning practices in engineering , 2017, 2017 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE).

[19]  Robin Adams,et al.  The Informed Design Teaching and Learning Matrix , 2012 .

[20]  Andrew S. Gibbons,et al.  An Alternative View of the Instructional Design Process: A Response to Smith and Boling. , 2010 .

[21]  Cindy S. York,et al.  Towards an understanding of instructional design heuristics: an exploratory Delphi study , 2011 .

[22]  Daniel L. Schwartz,et al.  Guardian Angels of Our Better Nature: Finding Evidence of the Benefits of Design Thinking , 2015 .

[23]  Nigel Cross,et al.  Research in design Thinking , 1992 .

[24]  Kent L. Gustafson,et al.  Paradigms in the theory and practice of education and training design , 2004 .

[25]  Shaobo Huang,et al.  High School Student Engineering Design Thinking and Performance , 2012 .

[26]  Sara L. Beckman,et al.  Innovation as a Learning Process: Embedding Design Thinking , 2007 .

[27]  Lars Groeger,et al.  The Design Thinking Mindset: An Assessment of What We Know and What We See in Practice , 2016 .

[28]  M. Elmquist,et al.  Framing Design Thinking: The Concept in Idea and Enactment , 2016 .

[29]  Bernard Roth,et al.  Assessing d.learning: Capturing the Journey of Becoming a Design Thinker , 2012 .

[30]  V. Braun,et al.  Using thematic analysis in psychology , 2006 .

[31]  Sebastian K. Fixson,et al.  Adopting Design Thinking in Novice Multidisciplinary Teams: The Application and Limits of Design Methods and Reflexive Practices , 2013 .

[32]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The Sciences of the Artificial , 1970 .

[33]  Andrew Peter Wallace McCarthy.  E DITOR ’ S C OMMENTS Diversity of Design Science Research , 2022 .