![]() One of the world’s earlier nationwide governmental initiatives is The Design Council which was established by Winston Churchill following World-War II to “support Britain’s economic recovery” (Design Council, n.d.). To what extent is technology-enabled DT effective as a substitute for the earlier shadowing of medical professionals by premedical students? 2. What are students’ perceptions on what they learned from completing a DT project? 2. This study aimed to investigate two research questions: 1. The course director, a teaching specialist, and a librarian collaborated to brainstorm and implement this project as a new teaching method that encourages students’ engagement, fosters their creative skills, and most of all, establishes a sense of community through teamwork. Twenty-two students who were enrolled in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course participated in a three-week Design Thinking (DT) project. ![]() However, due to the pandemic, in the spring of 2021, students embarked on a new project. Prior to the pandemic, every spring semester students would enrol in an experiential learning project where they shadow healthcare practitioners in a hospital setting and gain hands-on knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be future doctors. The current study takes place in a foundation year of a premedical curriculum in a medical college in Qatar and aims at improving the programme curriculum through the introduction of a DT project mediated by technology. The sudden shift to online teaching that higher education institutions experienced during the pandemic prompted faculty and teaching staff to revisit their curriculum, evaluate their deliverables, and consequently revamp their courses in favour of a more engaging and creative student experience. ![]() ![]() Keywords: design thinking premedical education English for Academic Purposes social constructivism blended learning human-centred solution teamwork Part of the Special Issue Technology and educational ‘pivoting’ in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic 1. The paper analyses the findings from students’ reflections on the DT project and provides a clear description of the developed DT unit and its integration in an undergraduate curriculum to promote students’ creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. This paper presents the findings of a programme improvement project that investigates two questions in relation to the effectiveness of technology-enabled DT for foundation students’ learning and their perceptions of their learning through exposure to DT. The problems tackled by the students and the range of solutions they presented show the highly creative potential of first-year college students, their awareness of current issues in various organisations, particularly in healthcare, and their ability to leverage technology to design solutions for everyday problems. The college’s learning management system Canvas was used to facilitate online group work and create a series of mini assignments to assess students’ deliverables. The teaching team provided the students with guiding instructions throughout the DT project by delivering mini presentations for each of the four phases. As students were getting acquainted with the literature, they were also working in groups of three to identify a problem in their everyday lives, investigate the problem, and brainstorm a human-centred solution. The teaching team consisting of the course director, a teaching specialist, and a librarian curated a series of reading materials to introduce students to DT and its applications in different interdisciplinary areas including healthcare and medicine. In the Spring of 2021, a design thinking (DT) unit was designed and integrated into the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course for foundation students enrolled in a premedical programme at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. The shift in teaching and learning following the pandemic encouraged faculty and teaching staff to seek creative teaching methods, find different means to engage students online, and provide students with the opportunity to be creative themselves and enjoy their learning journey.
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