Designing together: building a student-staff co-creation community using design thinking–barriers and enablers

Abstract

Design thinking and design-led innovation has increased in popularity and use among colleagues in Higher Education, with innovations from student engagement, student experience, classroom pedagogies, to community building. With this interest, the need for support, upskilling, and critical friendships is on the rise too. Building on the findings from a design thinking student-staff project and data collected from 39 educators via a project onboarding survey, this paper presents some of the key barriers and enablers colleagues are currently facing when engaging with design thinking. This paper is envisioned to support individuals and communities looking for buy-in for design thinking projects, to inspire and provide a basis for reflection on design thinking for leaders of all levels looking to implement or support design-led innovation projects. Co-written by students and staff, this paper presents an evidence-based perspective on support, opportunities and challenges for both staff and students co-creating with design thinking.