Learning by solving as a pedagogical approach to inclusive health innovation

ABSTRACT

Universities can foster inclusive innovation by establishing a learning and innovation ecology that assists students to pioneer new ways of addressing societal challenges. The paper examines learning by solving as a means of capacitating students with skills for inclusive innovation. Using a platform of engaged scholarship along with design thinking as a problem-solving methodology in a master’s level course, a case study is presented that addresses the experience of Deaf patients at a public healthcare facility in South Africa. The course bridged the gap between theory and practice, facilitated experiential learning, enabled students to handle complex challenges and enabled productive collaboration. The approach empowers students with a skill set for addressing contemporary social challenges, and resonates with the concept of the ‘developmental university’, which has the mandate of addressing the needs of the society in which it is located.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning by solving
• design thinking
• engaged scholarship
• community engagement
• interpreter services

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Trust Saidi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9337-4268

Tinashe Mutsvangwa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1210-2832

Tania S. Douglas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2024-4179

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the SARChI programme of the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation (NRF) under [grant number 98788] and the Community Engagement programme of the NRF under [grant number 105548].