Engaging Design Thinking and Making in Technical and Professional Communication Pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This study explores the viability of making in technical and professional communication (TPC) pedagogy. This article reports a pedagogical case study of making as a way to enact design thinking in the TPC classroom. By aligning the values in making and design thinking with TPC learning goals, this study discusses the opportunities in maker-based learning and proposes a set of heuristics for integrating making with TPC pedagogy.

KEYWORDS:

• Pedagogical theory
• classroom research
• collaboration
• design thinking
• making

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jason Chew Kit Tham

Jason Chew Kit Tham is an assistant professor of technical communication and rhetoric in the Department of English at Texas Tech University. His pedagogical research examines the intersections of emerging technologies and project-based pedagogy through the lens of design thinking, multimodality, and maker culture.