Design Thinking - and Designing for Thinking?

I've been listening to an interesting programme on BBC Radio 4 "In Business" about Design Thinking. 

There are many similarities to web design, such as using personas to make typical customers "real" to the design team and to others that they deal with. 

"There's a certain magic when a product you've bought just simply works, when a company's customer service satisfies instead of frustrates, or when a website gives you exactly the right information you need, exactly when you need it. But these seemingly serendipitous moments might actually be the result of exact planning and customer research. The technical term is 'design thinking' and with the help of designers eager to break out of the lab and into the real world, it's a movement that's catching on in all sorts of unlikely places"

"This week Peter Day talks to the people behind an award-winning government website, agencies that are creating whole companies from scratch, and finds out about other ways that innovative designers are intruding into the real world like never before"

The programme website is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038hkl7

It should be on iPlayer for a week, and there's a repeat on Radio 4 on Sunday.

Lightbulb moment:

I'm wondering whether such techniques could be applied to "soft" projects like university module (re)design, in other words "Designing for Thinking". 

Or would the use of personas lead to stereotyped views of typical students?