Manufacturing Design Thinkers in Higher Education Institutions: The Use of Design Thinking Curriculum in the Education Landscape

Design Thinking is commonly used by businesses as a mindset and approach for problem-solving, learning, and collaboration. Such methodology is a beneficial addition to the pedagogy selections used in the education landscape especially to fields that build products (e.g., computer systems) requiring significant considerations to its functional designs. In this study, the use of Design Thinking Curriculum was explored in Higher Education Institutions particularly on Information Technology and Computer Science programs to determine its impact to the skills and abilities of future computing professionals. To do this, a self-assessment scale that comprises of 31 measurement items divided into seven dimensions was given to computing students. Findings establish that computing students enrolled in a Design Thinking Curriculum have significantly improved in all scales compared to those who are not. Therefore, this study validates the application of Design Thinking Curriculum in education as an approach to encourage innovation in the computing field.