Erasmus+ project “Design thinking in Higher Education – DesignIT” has started

The Center for Educational Technology of the School of Digital Technologies, Tallinn University is coordinating the Erasmus+ project DesignIT – Design thinking in Higher education (1.09.2017 – 31.08.2019)

The project aims at developing entrepreneurship competences in Higher Education by creating the gamified technology enhanced approaches for using design thinking in the student projects, thereby enhancing students’ creativity in thinking outside of the box while solving everyday challenges and problems. The project outcomes are better competences of students to fulfil their ideas in social enterprises and business. Project develops in learners the ability to be active citizens through the active creative work. The staff of higher education institutions will be provided with design thinking based learning and teaching materials and scenarios, that use the gamification principles with technology. The project intellectual outputs will be tested in four higher education and applied higher education institutions in Estonia, Greece, Finland and Portugal.

Project partners are Tallinn University, Porto Polytechnic University from Portugal, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences from Finland, Center for Research and Technology Hellas and Thessaloniki University from Greece. Project is coordinated by senior researcher Kai Pata from Tallinn University, DTI, CET.

At the project kick-off meeting in Volos, Thessaloniki University (26-27.10.2017) the team discussed how to investigate the state of art of teaching design thinking in the partner countries. In Tallinn University the largest application field of design thinking is in interdisciplinary ELU projects, as well as in all project based courses. The team was planning how to gamify the empathization and ideation phase of design thinking. The first gamified design thinking practices will be developed by and tested in Fall 2018.

Senior researcher Kai Pata, coordinator of DesignIt project