Work-in-Progress: Gamification and Design Thinking–A Motivational Analysis of an International, Interdisciplinary, Team-Based University Course

Design Thinking gains more and more importance as a modern method for structured innovation and already found its way into many different business contexts. Hence, it is important to teach students this method early on during their studies. An effective way to teach development processes is to simulate realistic teamwork. The IDEEA (International Design and Engineering Education Association) is a growing association of currently 23 universities worldwide, which offer this course concept every year since 2019 by building international and interdisciplinary teams with the task to develop a product by using the Design Thinking process. During the first IDEEA class in 2019 motivational problems could be observed across most of the teams. Especially decision making and constant progress of the team was increasingly problematic during the semester. While the results of the teams in the final presentation were above average, the commitment of the students to the teams and the course decreased throughout the semester.