Postsecondary faculty experiences with design thinking as a framework for instructional development

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20316534

This descriptive phenomenological study examined how postsecondary faculty experienced instructional development workshops framed around the tenets of design-thinking. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven participants of varying disciplines from a private, R1 institution in New England. Transcripts were analyzed inductively using values and in vivo coding and pattern and axial coding were engaged during second cycle coding to examine emergent themes. From the analysis, four predominant findings were identified: the relationship between quickly-paced activities and their alignment to practice is an important consideration for promoting innovative thinking through instructional development; collaboration and communication across disciplines helps facilitate one's thinking around instructional practice; the importance of incorporating ways for participants to obtain authentic student feedback when planning learner-centered instructional development; the importance of allotting for multiple opportunities for review and reflection on identified problem(s) and solution(s) when implementing problem-based instructional development. This study suggests opportunities to implement design thinking instructional development in broad academic areas and recommends future areas of research around the effectiveness of this model of instructional development.