Design Thinking and the Wicked Problem of Teaching Writing

In this article I explore how the tenets of design thinking as described by Richard Buchanan, Nigel Cross, Lucy Kimbell, Tim Brown and others might be applied to writing instruction. I argue that design thinking, a human-centered approach to designing innovative solutions in response to wicked problems, can help close the gap between writing inside and outside of school and prepare students to participate in a future of writing. More specifically, I recommend that we apply design thinking to writing classes by 1) teaching writing as a design process, 2) creating wicked writing assignments, 3) encouraging writing in teams, and 4) fostering experimentation through prototyping.