Leveraging Design How the Design Process and a Design Framework Strengthen Nonprofit Management Pedagogy

Design is a comprehensive methodological approach to instruction practice that is focused on problem solving and transformational outcomes. For teachers and students, developing design skills can facilitate the creation of a larger sense of purpose, vision, and the infusion of techniques that apply readily to learning that involves individuals, teams, and organizations. Design has become an important process element in e-learning, particularly in business management and engineering education for undergraduate and graduate curriculum, but also in adult learning programs. Because the emphasis of Nonprofit curricular standards such as those devised by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council is on service learning and workplace experiences, those who study the nonprofit sector may use design methodology to frame curriculum development. In this article, it is argued that design may be used in nonprofit management curriculum to promote academic and teaching innovations for the field of nonprofit studies.