Abstract
This paper demonstrates how the purposeful application of design thinking, as a participatory research method for envisioning and developing education, can shape important educational outcomes. A diverse team of scholars and practitioners used the design process to research, create, present, and re-research Professional Military Education (PME) with the newly-formed U.S. Space Force (USSF) as the community partner. As an emerging skillset in military affairs, design thinking was used to meet the USSF’s current environmental and organizational challenges, to develop and support innovators, and to emphasize key mechanisms for maintaining continuous advantage. Over ten weeks, the interdisciplinary team used a design research approach to form, develop, and refine space education concepts and systems with rapid iterations of search and research, sketching and discarding, redistributing, and incorporating community feedback. This paper presents the theoretical advantages to a design approach, challenges identified in existing PME, and how a design research process is well suited to meet the specific challenges of complex, interdisciplinary, and rapidly evolving research areas. The bulk of the paper outlines how the Research Lead assembled the Design Research Team, the rinse and repeat of the furiously-paced research process, the “undisciplined” approach to ideas, and how the Team engaged with stakeholders and the Community Partner. The case study provides a “nuts-and-bolts” account of how to successfully build a team-of-teams from networks of scholars and practitioners and, in a short amount of time, provide community partners with well-researched, stakeholder-informed, viable options for innovative education. Insights from the design research process include the lesson that strategic innovation is possible and an inherently human-centered endeavor. Furthermore, partnering with academic and practitioner networks allows community partners to focus their scarce resources on their most pressing needs. Finally, the design process is ideal for community-engaged research; however, the design process can be uncomfortable for participants accustomed to working alone, with longer timelines, or with more institutional direction.
Highlights
He previously facilitated a short “design thinking” workshop for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and was recruited as the Research Lead to bring this approach to the larger task of envisioning and developing space education
This paper focuses on the community-academic partnership and design research project that grew out of the USSF’s needs
The sections below provide a detailed account of key elements of the design research process, the relationship with the Space Force as a community partner, and lessons the Team drew along the way about how to make this type of collaborative practice a reality
Summary
The person selected as Research Lead, Col Jason Trew (PhD), is a USAF officer with experience leading, teaching, and practicing design for organizational innovation He previously facilitated a short “design thinking” workshop for the USSF and was recruited as the Research Lead to bring this approach to the larger task of envisioning and developing space education.. Col Trew assessed that a design approach might best satisfy the USSF requirements and challenges He started a participatory effort that emphasized and prioritized co-creating the research and conceptual development. The concluding section highlights lessons that the Research Lead and the Design Team drew from this experience It places the findings from the case study in a larger research context and underscores that ongoing dialogue between research and practice pushes organizational innovation forward and strengthens evidencebased academic research
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