Design Thinking for Higher Education Programs: The Case of an Online MBA Program

Design thinking combines contextualized knowledge and empirical evidence through reflection and experimentation to generate feasible solutions to the so-called “wicked problems”. Therefore, design thinking has been repeatedly called to inform the development of educational programs in higher education and organizations. This chapter describes the experiences related to the development of an online MBA program that has implemented design thinking as a teaching method. We review the literature on design thinking in management, particularly how scholars have advocated the use of design thinking in higher education. We derive three principles that guided the selection of courses and the organization of curricular activities in the online MBA. These principles provide directions for future educators and practitioners that aim to educate their staff and students on design thinking. We use insights from interviews with lecturers and students to reflect on the experiences with design thinking in the development of the online MBA and we report these findings in a case study format. We conclude by summarizing several suggestions derived from the case analysis that can guide future educational programs to integrate design thinking as a teaching method.