A Reflection on Teaching Design Thinking to First-Year Engineering Students

• Published in: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Education (TALE) pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Maneeratana, Kuntinee, Chancharoen, Ratchatin, Thongnuek, Peerapat, Sukmuen, Potcharawan, Inkaew, Chamaiporn, Suwannatthachote, Praweenya
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.12.2019
• Subjects: CDIO Framework; Conferences; d-school; empathy; Engineering students; Interviews; introduction to engineering; Manufacturing; Product design; Prototypes; short workshop
• ISSN: 2470-6698
• DOI: 10.1109/TALE48000.2019.9225890

A short d.school-style design thinking project was offered to first-year engineering students as an option in an introduction to engineering course. Using the Stanford d.school bootcamp bootleg as the guideline, students went through the process - empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test - very fast with different levels of depth. The works were evaluated using the d.school rubric and found to gain limited success. In order to improve the instructional design, the formal developmental study was initiated. Using class observation, focus-group interview and comparison with similar classes, the instructional design was analyzed and weakness identified. The major problems included the student preparation, engagement, participation, core concept understanding as well as active learning activities, technology utilization, feedback and reflection, in short, the class control and facilitation. The instruction design was adjusted with detailed activities such that it would be implemented in the next iteration.