Design Thinking in a Professional Nursing Course – Its Effectiveness and Unearthed Lessons

Historically, learning was strictly confined in a typical brick-and-stone classroom with the sole purpose to enable knowledge transmission from the teacher to the learners. The traditional classroom has been but highly teacher-centric where students act as obedient receptors of knowledge until massive technology disruptions emerged during the fourth industrial revolution. One strategy that has been used exponentially in education is design thinking (DT), a human-centered approach in problem solving. In this pre-test and post-test experimental research, DT enabled randomly paired nursing informatics (NI) students to construct their conceptual papers or frameworks addressing significant challenges that affect healthcare. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted after the completion and oral presentations of their conceptual papers. Key informant interviews were also conducted to generate qualitative data, which were believed to expand understanding about the perceptions and expectations of the students in NI through DT. The findings revealed that design thinking was an effective strategy in developing students’ conceptual papers or frameworks. The nursing students valued design thinking as a tool that enhances team diversity, collaboration, patience to listen, openness to honest feedback mechanisms, openness to learning new things, social awareness and sensitivity, inquisitiveness, and keenness to details. Furthermore, it was found out that the students used mistakes as opportunities to learn. Certain areas for improvement, however, were discovered which include data analysis, time management, technical writing, problem-solving, conducting literature review using online platforms, reading comprehension, concentration, critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, innovations, adaptability, following prescribed formats, and creativity.