Towards Design Thinking in Academic Staff Development

Towards Design Thinking in Academic Staff Development

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  Towards design thinkingin academic staff development
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  P Problem Statement Wicked problemsare everyday problems which are nevertheless difficult to solve as they are ill-defined, associated with confusing information, many decision makers and stakeholders with competing interests, and involving whole systems (Buchanan, 1992). Wicked problems around uptake of technology in T&L due to cost and maintenance, poor infrastructure, low technical literacy, top-down and deterministic implementation, as well as prevailing social attitudes toward technology (see Cloete & Gillwald, 2014). Technology potential innovation driver in HE, but slow uptake
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  Champions.. .“Individuals who emergeto take creative ideas (which they may or may not have generated) and bring them to life. They make a decisive contribution to the innovation process by actively and enthusiastically promoting the innovation, building support, overcoming resistance, and ensuring that the innovation is implemented”. (Beath 1991, p. 355)
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  Context of Study ●Evaluation of academic staff development activities to support integration of technology into teaching and learning at a large University of Technology in the Western Cape ● Interview of eLearning champions ● Commonalities / themes emerging that mirror ‘design thinking mindset’
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  ● Methodology fordeveloping novel solutions to complex, real-world problems gaining popularity in various domains ● Human-centred design centres the person we design for and the ethics of design (Brown, 2009) ● Establishment of Hasso-Plattner-Institute Schools of Design Thinking (HPI d.schools) at Universities of Potsdam, Stanford and Cape Town ● Little application in staff development Design Thinking in Education
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  d.mindsets Stanford d.school (2011,p.3)
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  Research design ● Interviewswith 13 eLearning champions across all Faculties ● Two rounds of coding: to explore emerging themes then framed by design thinking dimensions
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  Findings eLearning champions mindset
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  Can design thinkingbe learnt? Implications for staff development practice ‘it is learned best through the active process of creating and doing’ (Koehler 2003, p. 20) ‘With sufficient practice within meaningful environments, along with scaffolded support and formative feedback, we believe that students can learn design thinking skills’ (Razzou and Shute 2012, p. 343) ‘best developed through the iterative refinement of artifacts that are being developed to represent design ideas throughout design episodes’ (Koh et al. 2015, p. 40)
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  Persona activity User Journey LearningExperience Metaphors Mind/hands/heart metaphor Examples
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  Persona activities ...user archetypesthat help define the intended design activity. The persona is an informed and experienced description of a hypothetical (end) user (in our case the learner), their contexts, challenges and goals
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  Focus on minds, heartsand hands ‘Neglecting the skill-based outcomes may lead to educating individuals with creative over- confidence, who lack the skills and knowledge to apply their creativity.’ (Taheri et al 2016, p.9)
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  Learning experience metaphors ...guide thedevelopment of an activity or a course by framing all elements of the activity within a certain learning scenario.
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  Open questions Can/should weall become champions? What in a champions mindset is problematic when it comes to mainstreaming use of technology in teaching and learning? Role of design thinking in the context of a decolonising project?
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  References Buchanan, R. (1992).Wicked problems in design thinking. Design Issues, 8(2), 5–21. Carr, T., (2013). e/merging Across Africa: Five Papers on the Use of Educational Technology in African Higher Education. African Journal of Information Systems, 5(3): 65-70. Cloete, N. & Gillwald, A. (2014). South Africa: Informational development and human development–Rights vs capabilities. In Castells, M., & Himanen, P. (Eds.), Reconceptualizing Development in the Global Information Age. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 140-174. Beath, C. M. (1991). Supporting the information technology champion. MIS Quarterly, 15, 355–372. 10.2307/249647. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/12460125.2016.1187405 Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. New York, NY: HarperCollins. d.school (2011). Bootcamp Bootleg. Institute of Design at Stanford. Retrieved from https://dschool.stanford.edu/wp- content/uploads/2011/03/BootcampBootleg2010v2SLIM Koh, J. H. L., Chai, C. S., Wong, B., & Hong, H. Y. (2015). Design thinking for education: Conceptions and applications in teaching and learning. Singapore: Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-444-3 Rauth, I., Köppen, E., Jobst, B., & Meinel, C. (2010). Design Thinking: An Educational Model towards Creative Confidence. 1st International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2010), (December), 1–8. Razzouk, R., & Shute, V. (2012). What Is Design Thinking and Why Is It Important? Review of Educational Research, 82(3), 330–348. http://doi.org/10.3102/0034654312457429 Taheri, M. et al., (2016). An educational perspective on design thinking learning outcomes. In The ISPIM Innovation Forum. Boston, USA: ISPIM. Iconography www.flaticon.com