Three years of intensive work, over 20 trainings, workshops, dozens of consortium meetings, hundreds of participants attending project activities - this is the project "DT.Uni. - Design Thinking Approach for an Interdisciplinary University" in a nutshell. In the following article we would like to summarize this unique initiative.
The project was implemented jointly by 8 universities located across Europe: Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, University of Economics in Bratislava, Birmingham City University, Technische Universität Dresden, Sapienza Università di Roma, Háskólinn á Bifröst, Universiteit van Amsterdam and Instituto Politécnico da Guarda.
The main objective of the project was to raise the level of interdisciplinarity at universities by using a bottom-up approach, i.e. supporting students, academics and management in developing their capacity for divergent, creative thinking that is so called design thinking.
During the project life cycle:
- 5 products were created, which are available for free on the Internet,
- 20 dissemination events were carried out (for 245 participants),
- 3 intensive DT trainings were organized (for 84 participants),
- 5 multi-day partner meetings were organized in partners’ locations (in 2020 - remotely) and several dozen online meetings.
Thanks to the project a new, flexible and innovative didactic approach based on the design thinking methodology has been developed, tested, evaluated and widely disseminated. The project partners have combined their potentials to develop a range of teaching materials, databases, as well as a new model of teaching/learning which stimulates creative and divergent thinking.
All materials developed within project are available for downloading (free of charge) on the project website www.dtuni.umcs.pl, project partners' websites and thematic websites dedicated to the project: https://www.designuni.eu/ (IO4) and http://portal.ipg.pt/DtTasks (task database and IO5 model ).
Materials include an attractive and useful knowledge base on practical implementation of the design thinking approach in higher education institutions. They can be used both in teaching processes and in the daily work of managers, academic teachers, graduates and other interested groups.
We kindly invite you to read and, above all, to use the practical handbooks created by the consortium members:
1) One database of best practices to enhance interdisciplinarity in education in the form of an e-book entitled. "Best Interdisciplinary-Enhancing Practices": link to download material
2) One database of best practices for enhancing interdisciplinarity in education in the form of an e-book entitled "Best Interdisciplinary-Enhancing Practices": "Applying design thinking. A workbook for academics and researchers": link to download material
3) Materials for managers in the form of e-book "Applying design thinking: a workbook for academics and researchers": "Design Thinking: a practical guide. A handbook for managers in higher education": link to download material
4. Materials for students in the form of online resources available at www.designuni.eu: link to dwnload material
5. One new teaching model to reinforce divergent thinking based on real-life teaching tasks: link to download material
We would like to warmly thank our Partners for their effort and engagement, our Polish team for implementing design thinking methods in their professional and private lives as well as all the participants who accompanied us during the events organized by us.
We are sure that the changes in teaching methods initiated during the project will positively influence the development of the level of education at our University. Together with the consortium we are already planning further joint initiatives and projects, we invite you to follow our activities!
