By Hilary Wason NTF  h.wason@kingston.ac.uk and John Canning j.canning@kingston.ac.uk

Kingston University’s Town House Strategy, aims to create a progressive educational model that integrates subject knowledge with future skills, strengthened through partnerships with industry and wider stakeholders. As part of this ongoing strategy, we are developing a range of new and innovative undergraduate and postgraduate programmes launching in 2026 and 2027. Some of these new programmes focus on the growth of Generative AI, for example a BSc Artificial Intelligence, a BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Climate Resilience, and a MSc in AI Business and Innovation. Other new courses include a MSc in Bioinformatics, an online Global MBA and a new undergraduate programme in Architectural Technology. A number of these new courses involve collaboration between different disciplines and therefore departments.

Following a first stage approval at our Programme Management Group, preparations begin for a Design Thinking workshop (e.g. see Senivongse and Bennet 2024) Initially there is a one-hour online planning meeting involving colleagues from the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Centre (of which the authors are members), the Quality Assurance Team, the course leader and the head of department. The Design Thinking workshop itself brings together students, employers, external academics, and teaching staff and is mandatory for all new programmes.

A Design Thinking Approach

The workshop sessions focus on three early stages of design thinking:

• Empathise and Explore: Understanding the needs of students and industry.
• Define: Clarifying the course’s purpose and positioning in the market.
• Ideate: Challenging assumptions and generating new ideas.

This structure allows participants to collaboratively shape the “roots” of a programme—its philosophy, direction, and distinctiveness—before moving on to more detailed curriculum design elements such as learning outcomes and assessments.

Head, Hand, Heart: A Holistic Lens

Complementing our design thinking is the “Head, Hand, Heart” (3H) model (e.g. see Islam et al 2022), which emphasises the need to balance cognitive (head), practical (hand), and social-emotional (heart) skills. This framework encourages participants to think beyond disciplinary knowledge and consider how courses can develop graduates who are adaptable, skilled, and socially aware, aligning with our progressive model of education and Townhouse Strategy.

Reflections on the workshops to date

To date we have undertaken 25 of these workshops. One of the most striking outcomes is the value participants place on hearing diverse perspectives. Academic staff report that engaging with industry experts, students and colleagues from other disciplines enriches their thinking and leads to more holistic programme design. Students also value their inclusion in the creative process of course design and having a voice in the process.

External stakeholders and employers value the chance to influence curriculum development while also gaining insight into the challenges faced by universities.

Challenges and Reflections

While feedback has been positive there are challenges. Time constraints can limit the depth of discussion. Moreover, especially on multidisciplinary programmes not all participants arrive with a shared understanding of the programme’s focus. In response we have introduced an optional second workshop, and emphasised the importance of pre-workshop planning meetings with the course leaders to clarify or anticipate these issues.

We have also learned about the importance of maintaining the focus on programme-level design rather than getting lost in module detail.

Towards Collaborative Curriculum Design

The success of these workshops underscores the importance of collaborative design. By involving a wide range of stakeholders early on, there is decreased risk of design incoherence or academic staff misunderstanding the nature of the programme. It also ensures that the student voice is centred in the programme. By focusing on the overall programme design, participants can share in the story of the programme’s development, aims and purpose.

Next steps

Our design thinking approach to curriculum design has been recognised as successful by our Standing Validation Panels (SVP) and is continuing this academic year. We are also using the same approach with existing programmes going through our revalidation process.

References

Islam MA, Haji Mat Said SB, Umarlebbe JH, Sobhani FA and Afrin S (2022) Conceptualization of head-heart-hands model for developing an effective 21st century teacher. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968723

Senivongse, C., & Bennet, A. (2024). University-as-a-service: Designing thinking approach for Bangkok University business innovation curriculum and service development. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 61(5), 1101–1124. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2253251