Design thinking as digital transformative pedagogy in higher sustainability education: Cases from Japan and Germany

Abstract

There is an increasing emphasis on using transformative learning approach through pedagogies to make Higher Sustainability Education (HSE) more effective. The study explores how Design Thinking (DT) as a pedagogy can be conducive to transformative learning in the digital settings, in HSE, by incorporating the critical components of the Digital Transformative Pedagogy (DTP) framework. The study describes the design and implementation of two courses from universities in Japan and Germany and captures the participants' perspectives on their experiences. The research findings emphasize that DT pedagogy successfully incorporates all the components of the DTP framework in both cases (hybrid and digital settings) to set up learning processes and environment favorable for transformative learning experiences. The research can offer concrete practice, pathways, and lessons for curriculum development to bring transformative learning into digital teaching practice in HSE.