Design Mindset Assignment - Engineering Education, Semester 1

This assignment delves into the concept of the design mindset, focusing on creativity, empathy, and rationality. The student reflects on how the course has fostered their creative thinking process, emphasizing its importance in overcoming design challenges. The assignment references key literature, including works by Cairns, Daniel, Gobble, and Khanduja et al., to support the understanding of design thinking and its application in engineering education and problem-solving. The student highlights the significance of a creative mindset in innovative design solutions and the ability to view problems from different perspectives. The assignment highlights the importance of design thinking and its application in different fields.

Design mindsetA design mindset is a solution focused
activity which is action oriented
towards the creation of a preferred
future (Lande, 2016).
In design mindset, there are three
chief elements that includes, creativity,
empathy and rationality (Khanduja,
Bihola & Dave, 2017).
Creativity is one of the chief
criteria for having design mindset
(Gobble, 2014). Through this
course I have effectively
developed my creative thinking
process which has increased my
design process.
Creativity is a quality that is highly valued in
design process. Though this learning, I have
understood the creative people are
spontaneous, less controlled and expressive.
According to Cairns (2017), creativity in the
design mindset is ability to see and
understand things from different
perspectives and expand the design
thinking.
To Daniel (2016), design process is a
problem solving process where the
creative design solves the approaching
issues in a systematic manner.
References:
• Cairns, G. (2017). Can design inform effective social innovation? The Design Journal, 20(6), 725-734. doi:10.1080/14606925.2017.1370658
• Daniel, A. D. (2016). Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset by using a design thinking approach in entrepreneurship education. Industry and Higher Education, 30(3), 215-223. doi:10.1177/0950422216653195
• Gobble, M. M. (2014). Design thinking. Research Technology Management, 57(3), 59-61. doi:10.5437/08956308X5703005
• Khanduja, G. S., Bihola, K., & Dave, J. (2017). Infusing design thinking mindset in engineering education—A pioneering step towards excellence and sustainability. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, 66, 1017-1026.
doi:10.1007/978-981-10-3521-0_86
• Lande, M. (2016). Catalysts for design thinking and engineering thinking: Fostering ambidextrous mindsets for innovation. International Journal of Engineering Education, 32(3), 1356-1363.
Through this course I have developed essential factors to develop creative
thinking process that has helped me to overcome design issues.