Online Design Thinking with Multicultural Diversity: Advantages and Challenges

Collaborative online learning has become the new norm during this pandemic era. There are many challenges when moving from an offline, face-to-face program to an online program, especially in terms of tools that can be used for learning. Design thinking is a method of innovation widely used during the design process. However, the question is, how effective the design thinking process is when conducted online? What are the opportunities that we can take advantage of when conducting online? What are the tools suitable for conducting an online Design Thinking session? These are the questions that this project is trying to address. Between 2016 and 2022, the researchers conducted more than six courses utilizing design thinking in a multicultural environment where students from Japan, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia gathered to solve real community problems. In the initial years, this program was conducted offline between those countries, but since 2020, this program has been conducted online. The online session comes with its own opportunities and challenges. A total of 7 programs with more than 230 students have gone through the design thinking courses, both online and offline. Our research concluded that both sessions improved the 21st-century skills among the students involved. However, more interestingly, this program has shown that online design thinking courses among multicultural backgrounds can be conducted successfully with some challenges.