What we can do for you:
We can work with your organization over the course of several months; this longer format makes it possible to fully integrate human-centered design mindsets into your organization’s culture.
What we have done:
What is the value of a liberal arts education?
College students learn so much during their undergraduate years, and they acquire so many skills in coursework, sports, and other campus activities. But how does it all come together? Transcripts only tell a fraction of the story, and this may reflect a larger truth: legacy systems and services that no longer fit Higher Education in the 21st century. How do today’s students understand their intellectual growth as they go, and how can they communicate the value of their journey to advisors, employers, and graduate schools?
To answer these questions, we led a cohort of professors, administrators, and students at a top liberal arts college through a long-format program sponsored by the Dean of the College. This six-month program included 2 projects. We completed the first one, which targeted a facet of the admissions process, during our intensive 3-day kick-off workshop. Then, using the skills our participants developed during this first workshop, we set to our main task of helping students to design and communicate their own intellectual trajectory, over their four years of undergraduate life and beyond.
We started by learning from the people involved. In this case, that meant first going out and spending time with students — talking to students and observing their behavior. Then we worked with our teams of participants to unpack their human-centered research. We started to notice patterns that pointed to 5 different perspectives into this question. From those different perspectives we imagined outside-the-box new systems, services, and activities based on our enriched understanding of what was actually happening. We tested them out and made them better by seeing which solutions the students actually used, how they used the solutions, and which solutions could be even better if spun out to other parts of the college community.
Our program participants left with 5 new solutions, a drawing board full of new questions to address, and a broad repertoire of deep skills that they have brought to bear on new problems, big and small.
What participants took from the experience is reflected in their comments:
“I liked the focus on community, collaboration, creativity, and play.”
“I liked the sequential approach — breaking the process down and focusing on each separately then putting it together.”
“I liked being reminded to replace assumptions about our users with actual fieldwork.”
“I learned what Design Thinking is like in practice.”
“I learned what a good idea-generating session REALLY looks like.”
“I learned that I can be more creative in teams than I thought.”
“I wish I could do this entire workshop around designing a course/teaching.”
How can an established company leverage tradition as it becomes more innovative?
In a program run through Cornell University’s ILR School, we worked with a large financial security company in the Midwest.
I LIKED
hearing real examples, actually DOING the exercises that I can take back and start using immediately. Doing the case study with actual people with real problems – very different than ‘made up’ scenarios.
The level of collaboration and interaction. I like that it wasn’t just a sit and listen to someone talk. The actual doing of the activities was super engaging.
-Interviewing users in their own environment helped bridge conceptual ideas into something that was more “real”.
I LEARNED
to recognize situations in my current work where we have leapt to a solution without even considering the ‘user’s’ point of view. Also, the importance of brainstorming and not limiting to ideas that you think are feasible or realistic.
Don’t limit yourself by restricting your thought process or idea generation process. You will never know which one will be a great one!
It was three days that left me exhaustingly exhilarated.