Co-creation design thinking process: Learning with demola approach

Abstract

Nowadays we witness numerous partnerships and projects of national and international scope around active training, using digital tools and based on co-creation processes between different partners, to obtain more creative and appropriate processes to respond to current and future scientific, academic and professional challenges. This article presents the participation of a group of professors from Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal (IPS) in the DEMOLA® approach to be trained as facilitators. We present the objectives, the formation of the teams and the established work methodology, and the application of this methodology adapted to the curricular unit of Process Optimization of the Master of Biological and Chemical Engineering. We briefly describe the main phases that constitute the development of the project within the scope of IPS and the obtained results from the analysis of all components (student training, professors, challenges with companies/organizations and perceptions of the whole team). We emphasize the development of instrumental skills (Canva, Miro, PESTLE, Portfolio); scientific/ pedagogical skills (Teamwork, Multiprofessional Approach, Co-creation Processes, Design Thinking, Research, Facilitation, Disruptive Thinking and Co-construction, among others); and “win-win” situations, or rather “learn-learn” between facilitators and students, innovation, intergenerational, sustainability and freedom of thought.