Our Latest Research on Older Adults’ Experiences With Design Thinking
We are pleased to share that our new paper, Older adults embrace design thinking: A feasibility study on blended learning formats, has been published in Educational Gerontology. This study describes one of the foundational elements in developing our new Innovation and Entrepreneurship program: a pilot course exploring how older adults experience learning and applying design thinking to real-life projects.
Key insights from the study:
- Applying design thinking to personally relevant projects increased participants’ motivation and resulted in tangible outputs with potential social impact.
- Participants appreciated combining self-paced e-learning for theory with on-site meetings for practical application.
- Individualized feedback and support were identified as areas to strengthen in future iterations.
We thank all study participants for their openness and commitment, as well as our cooperation partners Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and Sparkademy AG for their collaboration. Special thanks go to the Digitalization Initiative of the Zurich Higher Education Institutions (DIZH) for funding the project.
📅 Invitation: The Innovation and Entrepreneurship program will start in October 2025. Interested older adults can join to develop innovative projects and entrepreneurial skills.
📄 Download the English full paper (open access) here: https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2025.2543921
📄 Read the German summary here
📄 Read the English summary here
Picture credits: Image by freepik
