Development of User Story and Design Thinking Integration Teaching Model for Software Engineering Education

User stories (US) play a vital role in requirement engineering, yet they often encounter challenges such as ambiguity, inefficiency, and low quality. Many Indonesian universities face difficulties in equipping students with practical skills essential for crafting effective US, despite efforts to align curricula with industry standards. Moreover, existing approaches that integrate design thinking (DT) into educational settings are limited, as they either do not adequately emphasize the US or do not yet address the unique needs of educational contexts. This study presents an innovative US-DT integrated teaching model to enhance students’ experience developing industry-relevant user stories. Utilizing an action research methodology, the study incorporates surveys and literature reviews to guide the model's development. The model was tested with a sample of Indonesian software engineering undergraduate students, focusing on evaluating their satisfaction levels through metrics such as perceived usefulness (PU), learning motivation (LM), learning satisfaction (LS), and perceived ease of use (PEOU). The impact of the model was assessed via the Mann-Whitney U Test and Cliff’s Delta effect size, comparing it against regular teaching methods. Results demonstrate significant improvements in PU, LM, and LS, indicating effectiveness, although PEOU remains a key limitation requiring further refinement. Future research should focus on improving PEOU by refining teaching strategies, optimizing session management, introducing preparatory workshops, and extending the model’s application to different student groups to validate and broaden its educational impact. The findings suggest that adapting US and DT from industry can notably enrich student learning experiences.