Digital learning, digital scholarship and design thinking

This paper identifies opportunities for design thinking to be integrated into digital learning and digital scholarship initiatives. The paper traces how the rise of digital culture has led to the reconsideration of models for learning and the call for new modes of knowledge production, spearheaded by an array of fields from writing programs to computer science. Drawing upon case studies from new media education and the digital humanities, the paper argues that design thinking that is situated, interpretive, and user-oriented is well suited to these initiatives. The paper concludes with a call for design thinking research to engage with emerging models for learning and knowledge production, work whose effects could be felt at an epistemic level for generations.

► Digital technology has had an impact on learning models and scholarly production.
► Digital learning initiatives value abilities claimed by design thinking.
► The design of platforms and interfaces for scholarship has epistemic impact.
► This calls for design thinking defined by interpretive, situated ways of knowing.
► Digital educators and design thinkers can create new modes of learning and research.