From Design Thinking to Design Doing: Experiences from an Academic Staff Development Programme for Blended Course Design

The uptake of design thinking in higher education is on the rise. Yet, it has not been strongly established in academic staff development. This chapter reflects on a blended learning course design intervention, aimed at promoting a ‘design thinking mindset’ among university lecturers. By analysing empirical data gathered through participant interactions, we discuss the implications and potential of design thinking for academic staff development. Analysis of the data shows an increased awareness of a complex and diverse student body, a recognition of interdisciplinary collaboration, mentoring and reflection. Additionally, we highlight that adopting design thinking poses significant challenges, which include the need for continued practice, securing departmental buy-in and upscaling initiatives. The findings emphasise the importance of creating a ‘safe’ space to experiment, modelling a designing-on-the-go approach, focusing on the iterative processes of (re)design, providing scaffolding for learning, making the design thinking processes explicit, building a community of practice, giving regular feedback and maintaining the balance between playfulness and reflection. We conclude that this approach to academic staff development promotes an active practice of design thinking as ‘design doing’, to recognise and demonstrate the importance of empathy, which places the learner at the centre of the learning experience design.