Our Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking course has won Gold at the Learning Technologies Awards 2025 for Best use of social and collaborative learning technologies.

The Learning Technologies Awards celebrates outstanding learning technologies worldwide – this year’s event took place on 12 November in London.

“Strong academic rigour and thoughtful design”

When presenting the Gold Award to our Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking course, the judges said:

“This entry demonstrates strong academic rigour and thoughtful design, showing a clear commitment to peer learning and creative problem-solving with well-integrated social and collaborative tools to support engagement and collaborative skill-building. The programme has good impact measures in place and clearly demonstrated improvements in how participants approach problem situations.”

From left to right: Emily Tannert Patterson (Senior Learning Designer, Cambridge Advance Online), Nathan Crilly (Professor of Design at the University of Cambridge), Asli Derya (Learning Proposition Director, Cambridge Advance Online), Andrew Pittams (Commercial Director, Cambridge Advance Online)

“A fantastic mix of learners from different regions, sectors, and roles”

Nathan Crilly, Professor of Design at the University of Cambridge, and course lead for Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking, says: “This award is the perfect way to recognise the whole team’s dedication to developing such an innovative, high-impact course. We bring together a fantastic mix of learners from different regions, sectors, and roles. So, it’s our job to create the best possible space for them to share their experiences and work together to develop their skills.

“That’s why the judges’ feedback was especially heartening. Those are exactly the elements that make my involvement with the course so rewarding, and that learners tell us make such a difference to their work (often before they’ve even finished the course). I’m excited to continue this collaboration with our fabulous tutors and wider team as we support more learners to develop their creative abilities and solve the challenges that really matter to them.”

“Valuable insights and increased confidence”

Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking was designed to respond to a highly sought-after need in today’s workplace for professionals with practical and innovative problem-solving skills. The course provides learners with tools, frameworks and knowledge to solve problems creatively, think outside of their biases and generate new ideas through collaboration.

Learners will get the chance to hear directly from industry experts and get personalised feedback, work together as a group on real examples and create a final report based on a project of their choice.

"After completing this course, I have gained valuable insights and increased confidence in managing my own creativity and guiding others to utilise creativity for problem-solving, idea generation, and idea evaluation,” says previous learner Marianna Nefeli Berg, Creative Consultant.

“I have also learned to apply various creative tools effectively, adding more layers to my creative toolkit – which just feels great.”

“A really special learning experience”

“I'm so thrilled for this course to get the recognition it deserves,” says Emily Tannert Patterson, Senior Learning Designer for Cambridge Advance Online, who worked with Nathan to develop interesting and engaging content for the course.

“It's a really special learning experience that helps people change how they think to better improve their problem-solving capabilities, and the social and collaborative learning elements are a big part of that. Having the judges recognise the thought and care we put into selecting the technologies to address specific learning needs and to ensure the learning experience and pedagogy stays at the heart of what we do is really gratifying.

“I'm a huge proponent of the course because I have seen the positive impact it has on learners, and I hope this award gives more people confidence to come and learn with us and reap the same benefits.”

This isn’t the first time Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking has been recognised. In 2024, the course was awarded an Honorable Mention at Learning Impact Europe for Advancing Teaching & Learning Innovation.

Think Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking might be for you? Take a look at the course details and book a chat(Opens in a new window) with us if you want to find out more.