Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching - Volume 14 - Issue 1 - Failing to Learn - Design Thinking and a Failure-Positive Mindset in the University Classroom

Oct 15, 2026

Meaningful learning experiences are often accompanied by failure, yet post-secondary students struggle to frame, tolerate, and attribute failure constructively. This paper examines whether design thinking as a pedagogical approach can help students tolerate, reframe, and attribute failure in more productive ways. Comparative findings from 600 undergraduate business students in a first-year marketing course indicate that design-thinking-based learning can support a failure-positive mindset. Survey results from nearly 400 responses suggest improved self-reported failure tolerance and altered attributions and framing.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Failure-positive mindset and design thinking-based learning

Research focus and expected impact

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching Volume 14 Issue 1 Failing to Learn: Design Thinking and the Development of a Failure-Positive Mindset in the University Classroom Dr. AnneMarie Dorland [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5000-3822](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5000-3822) Department of Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Social Innovation, Mount Royal University Recommended Citation Dorland, A. M. (2023). Failing to learn: Design thinking and the development of a failure-positive mindset in the university classroom. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 14(1). [https://doi.org/10.22329/celt.v14i1.7155](https://doi.org/10.22329/celt.v14i1.7155) Failing to Learn: Design Thinking and the Development of a Failure-Positive Mindset in the University Classroom Abstract Meaningful and impactful learning experiences are rife with failure. And yet, students struggle with framing, tolerating and attributing failure in a positive manner within the post-secondary learning context. This paper explores whether using design thinking asa pedagogical approach might help students learn to tolerate, reframe and attribute failure in a more productive way. Findings from this comparative study of 600 undergraduate business students enrolled in a common first year marketing class reveal the ways in which design thinking-based learning approaches might be used to reorient student’s conceptions of failure as a part of their creative problem-solving skill development process. Students were surveyed to learn more about how they perceived the concept of failure within their learning, to whom they attributed failures within their learning, and how well they tolerated failure as a part of their learning experience. Results from nearly 400 responses to the online survey suggest that integrating design thinking focused approaches to learning into the post-secondary classroom has a positive impact on the development of a student’s self-reported failure tolerance and may change the way that failure is attributed and framed in students’ descriptions of their individual learning. I find that design thinking-based learning might be used as an effective pedagogical approach in classes where the development of a failure-positive mindset is considered an essential competency or learning objective, and I offer practical recommendations for educators seeking to develop a failure-positive mindset within their learning communities. Les expériences d'apprentissage significatives et percutantes sont en proie à l'échec. Et pourtant, les étudiants ont du mal à encadrer, tolérer et attribuer l'échec de manière positive dans le contexte d'apprentissage postsecondaire. Cet article explore si l'utilisation du design thinking comme approche pédagogique pourrait aider les élèves à apprendre à tolérer, recadrer et attribuer l'échec d'une manière plus productive. Les résultats de cette étude comparative de 600 étudiants en commerce de premier cycle inscrits dans un cours de marketing commun de première année révèlent les façons dont les approches d'apprentissage basées sur la pensée conceptuelle pourraient être utilisées pour réorienter les conceptions de l'échec des étudiants dans le cadre de leur compétence créative en résolution de problèmes. processus de développement. Keywords: Failure, design thinking, design thinking-based learning, failure tolerance, failure attribution, failure framing Introduction Though we know that it is a critical aspect of successful learning practice, little is known about the ways that educators might foster and develop a failure-positive mindset in their learning communities. This study explores whether using design thinking-based learning as a pedagogical approach might help students to rewire the way that they tolerate, frame, and attribute failure as part of their learning experiences. While professional innovators and creatives often encourage to learn from, and even celebrate, their failures as a key aspect of gen

FAQs

What problem does the study focus on regarding failure in university learning?

Students struggle to frame, tolerate, and attribute failure in a positive manner in post-secondary learning contexts.

How does the paper test whether design thinking can help students deal with failure?

It uses a comparative study of 600 undergraduate business students and analyzes survey responses about how students perceive and respond to failure.

What impact does design thinking-based learning have according to the results?

Integrating design thinking-focused approaches shows a positive impact on students’ self-reported failure tolerance and may change how students attribute and frame failure.

Oct 15, 2026

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