DESIGN THINKING IN LEARNING PROCESSES AT HIGHER EDUCATION IN COLOMBIA

Project Based Learning (PBL) methods need collaborative, multidisciplinary and open surrounds, which enable graduate students to develop competencies related with engineering process and service design in the context of real world enterprises. Design thinking has evolved in the last years as a work methodology that allows applying design and innovation in the classroom with an integral and pedagogical focus. In a collaborative project between Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain) and the EAN University (Colombia), the impact of the project based learning method has been evaluated through a design consultancy project deployed in 20 SMEs in Colombia. This consultancy project used design methodologies and processes to diagnose and propose a roadmap to transform companies into innovative companies. The consultancy process based on workshops, courses, talks and tutoring, allows validating the model in real cases, where the student experiments its efficacy and potential through a learning itinerary oriented towards entrepreneurship projects, which trigger the creation of its own company.