Design Thinking and Improvisation in the Professional Development of Interdisciplinary Teachers

Abstract

<p>Our paper details an innovative professional development pilot for small classroom teachers at the University of Hong Kong to enhance the teaching of undergraduate interdisciplinary courses. The programme was delivered in 2021 - 2022 and encapsulated short modules with experiential and reflective exercises that drew on design thinking principles and improvisational theatre. Our data comprised workshop feedback, reflections, ethnographic observations of the participating teachers, qualitative survey responses from 56 interdisciplinary course tutors, and a follow-up interview with ten teachers. Through the theoretical lens of Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the nomadology and nomadic pedagogies, we elucidate how training underscored by design thinking and improvisational skills augments the adaptive capacities of teachers that bolster critical thinking and imaginative muscle of students. We specifically discuss how these exercises encapsulate and evolve around movements between striated and smooth spaces, repetitive synthesis, and rhizomatic thinking. The paper contributes to developing responsive and imaginative professional development programmes and teaching methodologies for contemporary higher education’s uncertain, complex and ambiguous contexts.</p>