LIM College Dean of Graduate Studies Eda Sanchez-Persampieri recently collaborated with Katja Schroeder, a Senior Lecturer in the Technology Management Program at Columbia University, to explore if combining design thinking—a creative problem-solving approach used in innovation—with AI tools can enhance student learning, especially in project-based classrooms.
Their work, Combining Design Thinking and Generative AI Technologies in the Classroom: A Project-Based Learning Approach, is published in the June issue of the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy (JITP), a City University of New York (CUNY) peer-reviewed publication focused on the intersection of technology and teaching.
While the use of AI in education remains a controversial topic, Sanchez-Persampieri and Schroeder tested an educational approach combining AI tools and design thinking with students in a graduate capstone course at Columbia, challenging them to solve real-world problems using both human creativity and AI assistance.
Their findings showed that students were able to push their ideas further and iterate more confidently when they had AI tools at their fingertips. Rather than replacing the students’ work, AI supported brainstorming, prototyping, and writing, enhancing the learning experience and proving that AI can act as a partner in education, helping students think more critically and act more decisively. A second study is planned with students in the MBA in Luxury Brand Management program at LIM to continue to assess and refine the hybrid learning model.
