Emma Blomkamp, Amanda Martin, Louise King, and Laura Fairbrother
This evaluation report examines how co-design capabilities evolve within a university by implementing a multi-year professional learning program. Using Most Significant Change (MSC) as an evaluative methodology, we trace the emergent impacts and relational transformations that occurred as staff at a regional Australian university engaged with co-design principles and practices between 2021 and 2024. The evaluation captures how participants moved from basic skill acquisition to becoming systemic change agents who could support others in integrating co-design approaches into their work. This relational evolution created ripple effects that extended beyond the initial participants, transforming teaching and learning practices across the institution. Our findings reveal that building co-design capability requires attention to individual mindsets and organisational conditions, including leadership commitment, safe spaces for experimentation, and responsive feedback mechanisms.
The evaluation identifies seven domains of change occurring at personal, professional, and organisational levels, from ’embracing the grey’ and practising empathy, to creating safe environments and shaping organisational culture. By analysing participants’ stories of significant change over time, we demonstrate that building co-design capability follows non-linear arcs of impact that involve experimentation, reflection, and adaptation cycles. This case study contributes to understanding how design capabilities spread and mature within large organisations, highlighting the temporal dimensions of capability building and the importance of sustained engagement for embedding collaborative approaches that can address complex social and cultural challenges. The paper concludes with implications for other institutions seeking to build co-design capabilities and transform organisational cultures through relational approaches to systemic design.
Keywords: co-design, capability building, professional development, professional learning, higher education, Most Significant Change, collaborative practice