Developing Socially Responsible Students of Engineering at the First-year level through Design Thinking Approach- A New Understanding

Abstract

Engineers, as problem solvers, need to stay connected with society. Delivering the expected service to the community and making it worth living requires a strong social connectedness because the engineering profession is not only about Technology but, more importantly, about creating social values by providing solutions to societal challenges. This is possible by placing the students in an ecosystem that provides the scope to develop socially responsible students with the designer’s mindset, to establish a positive social connection. Such an ecosystem is possible to build using the Design thinking approach. Design thinking, as the name implies, comprises two elements, a designer mindset, and a well-defined process. For engineers, it is mandatory to have a designer mindset to sharpen their problem-solving skills, which is the basic quality expected. The Design Thinking approach helps students in building an empathetic mindset which establishes a strong positive connection with society and makes them socially responsible. The core strength of the design thinking approach is the concept of empathy. The whole approach revolves around empathy and the user for whom the solution is developed. It believes that the people who face problems are the one who holds the key to the solution. At every stage of design thinking, a strong connection with society in the form of the user is experienced. This paper derives a new conceptual understanding of how the design thinking approach will help students to become socially responsible engineers. The study was conducted on a student group of 500 from a first- year engineering Program. Phase-wise presentation made by individual teams of 5-6 students on the societal problems was assessed using rubrics. In conclusion, the design thinking approach has been an effective tool for developing socially responsible students in their first year of engineering.