The Affordances of Design Thinking and Online Collaboration Tools in Environmental Problem Solving


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État de publication: publié

Titre des actes: 2nd GUNi International Conference on Sustainable Development Goals and Higher Education

Lieu: Barcelone, Espagne

Intervalle de pages: 173-178

ISBN: 978-84-09-23375-5

URL: http://www.guninetwork.org/files/guni_international_conference_on_sdgs._higher_education_and_science_take_action._summary_report.pdf

Résumé: Design thinking, which emphasizes user needs, abduction and rapid prototyping, is a promising avenue in sustainability. Used during design thinking, collaborative digital tools can also facilitate co-construction and resolution of a problem. Helped by facilitators, adults from four case studies worked on problems such as adapting a University campus to international students’ needs, improving a drinking water problem, adapting to floods and decontaminating groundwater. The researchers studied the affordances of design thinking and of Facebook, RealTime Board and Knowledge Forum during the resolution of these problems. Some affordances of design thinking were: a broader understanding of problems, identification of real users’ needs, mutual learning, caring towards users and proposals of appropriate solutions. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been promising tools for solvers’ support at a distance: Facebook, to share images of disasters and solutions; RealTime Board, to visualize a whole problem and to remember its details; and Knowledge Forum, to analyze a problem.

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