Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges

Universities face a critical crossroads, in need of swift, targeted, and efficient actions to address future challenges. This necessities a strategic approach to updating and assessing engineering design education. Efforts to improve teaching and learning require systematic change in many universiti...

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Main Author: Anders Berglund
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2024-01-01
Series:Design Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470124000398/type/journal_article
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author Anders Berglund
author_facet Anders Berglund
author_sort Anders Berglund
collection DOAJ
description Universities face a critical crossroads, in need of swift, targeted, and efficient actions to address future challenges. This necessities a strategic approach to updating and assessing engineering design education. Efforts to improve teaching and learning require systematic change in many universities, yet research on structuring such change is scarce. Few studies have combined a systems perspective with a functional operational level. This research embeds design thinking to structure to isolated actions. Drawing from an extensive literature review of educational change frameworks and several illustrative cases, this article demonstrates the potential of design-driven change. It highlights how dynamic interrelations can facilitate educational transformations across diverse academic levels. By presenting an educational ecosystem as a framework for systematic educational change, design thinking functions as a catalyst for educational transformation. The article also presents case findings that strengthen supportive actions ingrained in existing change research frameworks connecting, them to a transparent approach for sustainable and careful decision-making.
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spelling doaj-art-b714c9f56a8c4c00a215c4f6bb27cf7b2025-08-20T02:32:41ZengCambridge University PressDesign Science2053-47012024-01-011010.1017/dsj.2024.39Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challengesAnders Berglund0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2304-3148School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, SwedenUniversities face a critical crossroads, in need of swift, targeted, and efficient actions to address future challenges. This necessities a strategic approach to updating and assessing engineering design education. Efforts to improve teaching and learning require systematic change in many universities, yet research on structuring such change is scarce. Few studies have combined a systems perspective with a functional operational level. This research embeds design thinking to structure to isolated actions. Drawing from an extensive literature review of educational change frameworks and several illustrative cases, this article demonstrates the potential of design-driven change. It highlights how dynamic interrelations can facilitate educational transformations across diverse academic levels. By presenting an educational ecosystem as a framework for systematic educational change, design thinking functions as a catalyst for educational transformation. The article also presents case findings that strengthen supportive actions ingrained in existing change research frameworks connecting, them to a transparent approach for sustainable and careful decision-making.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470124000398/type/journal_articleDesign thinkingEducational ecosystemChange agentsChampionsChange model
spellingShingle Anders Berglund
Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges
Design Science
Design thinking
Educational ecosystem
Change agents
Champions
Change model
title Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges
title_full Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges
title_fullStr Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges
title_full_unstemmed Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges
title_short Design thinking: catalysing change in the educational ecosystem – a framework for future challenges
title_sort design thinking catalysing change in the educational ecosystem a framework for future challenges
topic Design thinking
Educational ecosystem
Change agents
Champions
Change model
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2053470124000398/type/journal_article
work_keys_str_mv AT andersberglund designthinkingcatalysingchangeintheeducationalecosystemaframeworkforfuturechallenges