Adopt design thinking approach to transform edu

Globalisation and rapid development are rampant in all walks of life. For India, this presents us with a great opportunity with a large pool of the young population that has an average age of 25 years. So as a nation, we aspire to achieve the goal of imparting universal education for our people in the years to come. India has a diverse cultural heritage, and we have witnessed an acute amalgamation across multiple disciplines, ideologies, practices and knowledge patterns. By considering tomorrow’s need for skilled knowledge professionals, we need more and more quality institutions to narrow this gap.

In the view of current and future challenges that face our world, there is a need to raise a generation of empowered individuals who have an acute ability to solve problems and innovate solutions. It is possible only by creating newer synergies across our great education ecosystem. Our education pedagogy requires a new way of thinking paradigm.

Ancient India housed some of the world’s greatest learning centers — Nalanda, Takshashila, and Ujjain to name a few. The education system here focused on developing the individuals with the right set of skills that could help them become exceptional human beings.

A design-thinking approach in the teaching methodology will help students to develop an empathetic, collaborative and an open-minded method of learning. We need to combine the right set of tools and activities that assist educators in implementing a creative thinking model in modern-day classroom sessions. Design thinking methodology inculcates problem-solving skills through creativity and by adopting a user-centered approach. It will eventually create a generation of problem solvers for the world.

Across the world, successful institutions, like IDEO (international design and consulting firm based in California, US), Stanford D School, and a few others have been able to successfully impart educational methodologies that revolve around design thinking. For India, this model if implemented will effectively help schools and teachers with a practical learning experience that can be seamlessly applied in a classroom environment.

Broad-minded approach: This the most crucial aspect about postulating an environment that promotes freedom to develop ideas, and seek criticism helps unleash creativity. The freedom of thought not restricted by any boundaries especially in the ideation and brainstorming phase helps empower children.

Right problem identification and stimulating curiosity: The design process starts with questioning by keeping an open-minded approach that is fueled by curiosity to address problems in ways it might not have been helping to solve it before. The idea is to examine the imparted education, and whether it makes sense to learn what you are learning. Identify whether and how it will help you in the near future.

Empathy: Aims to put the educators in the shoes of the learners. The objective is to understand the psychic of the students, their aspirations, and the need for education that will help them in their future life.

Collaborative approach: An essential component of operating process — a collaborative, constructive and holistic approach helps achieve innovation in education. It contributes to reinvent old ideas through brainstorming sessions and discussions to arrive at a new course of action. Collaborative learning helps understand the concepts and principles of practical education.

Making it iterative: Constant review to identify improvement areas helps concocting the created solution to make it better. As educators, many interventions into education methodology with certain quality checks at various levels are essential to map the progress and success of the academic development.

To face the current and future challenges of our world, we need to raise a generation that has a high ability to solve problems and innovate through practical solutions. By adopting ways to inculcate problem-solving skills through creativity, our educational institutions can create a generation that is empowered to solve problems rather than just dealing with them.

(The writer is Chief Mentor, Avantika University & Former Director, IIT Kanpur)