“Basically, this research was looking at what design thinking looks like across disciplines in higher education, using ľĂľĂČČ as a case study,” said Kearns, a Leadership Fellow.

According to Kearns’ research, which she presented via Zoom on Sept. 2, the design thinking practices used on the Elon campus are those that align with an experiential approach to a liberal arts and sciences education that encourages students to learn by doing. Her research was accomplished by surveying and interviewing university faculty and staff.

“We found that a lot of the practices we’re seeing right now are predominantly those that use teamwork, or more typically skills in a liberal arts education,” Kearns said, adding that faculty are focused on encouraging students to engage in active listening and visioning. “We’re not seeing as much prototyping or iterative feedback from stakeholders.”

Kearns and Lake have partnered with Kathleen Flannery, professor of psychology at Saint Anslem College, in their research. They recently submitted their case study for peer review in a higher education journal. Their conference presentation allowed them to get feedback for their writing, Kearns said. The presentation was an overall rewarding experiences for Kearns, who encountered new thoughts and ideas regarding her work.

“I thought it was really fascinating to talk to people all over,” Kearns said. “They were asking questions and absolutely knew what they were talking about. As an ľĂľĂČČ researcher, being able to present research to professionals was a really awesome opportunity because they had so many insights and interest in this research.”

Lake said the ability to present research is a valuable opportunity for students like Kearns as it helps them gain new skills and network with people in their fields of study.

“I really value getting the chance to co-present with Elon students at conferences,” she said. “These opportunities allow them to not just create knowledge, but also share that knowledge, explore the world of academia, meet experts in their field, and prototype possible futures after Elon.”

For Kearns, this research is just the beginning. She plans to soon examine the use of design thinking at universities outside of Elon.

“This research is a first step in a much larger project,” Kearns said. “Other universities are interested in replicating this first step.”

Elon Physician Assistant Studies students and community volunteers used design thinking practices to help better prepare for the crucial end-of-life conversations they will have as health care practitioners and patients, fostering humility, empathy, compassion and respect.

ľĂľĂČČ engaged community volunteers from The Village at Brookwood and Twin Lakes Community.

Dianne Person, director of the Anatomical Gift Program in the School of Health Sciences, had the initial vision for the workshop in 2019. She partnered with Tracey Thurnes, associate professor of physician assistant studies and Danielle Lake, the Director of Design Thinking, to create a space for physician assistant students to build essential communication skills needed for their professional careers.

The Crucial Conversations program is designed to be a mutually beneficial partnership.

“It gives us all skills on how to approach a patient’s family, how to tell their story and have it be heard by family members and physicians,” Person said.

“We talk a lot in health care about how we don’t do this well. We don’t have crucial conversations enough, and we shy away from them because they can be challenging,” Thurnes said. “Doing events like this and using the design thinking process makes it more authentic and provides us with ways to approach crucial conversations with more empathy and innovation, allowing us to focus on the important human elements of having these conversations.”

Antoinette Polito, associate professor of physician assistant studies, joined the team this year and helped facilitate the move to a virtual format while leading a meaningful student debrief following their conversations. “This is a hard thing to teach. It’s one of those things that until you do it, it is hard to imagine these hard conversations,” Polito said.

Before the workshop, students used an experience map, a design thinking tool, to create a plan of action before their conversations. The experience maps included the students’ goals, actions they planned to talk in the conversation, points they wanted to talk about with the volunteers, and thoughts they had before the discussions. Student Audrey De Los Reyes shared with her volunteer that “as a future PA and as a daughter, I will now be more open to having these conversations with my patients and my family members in a more open and empathetic way.”

Following a keynote titled “We All Have a Story” from Risa Hanau, a licensed clinical social worker and director of education at AuthoraCare, the students were put into groups of three and placed into breakout rooms over Zoom with the volunteers. There, the volunteers shared their experiences of having these difficult conversations with family members and healthcare professionals.

Person said the design thinking techniques, introduced by Danielle Lake, director of the Center for Design Thinking, aided the students by giving them new tools to have a dialogue with the community volunteers.

“In this case, she introduced a better understanding for what the problem is by listening more fully to others and observing the situation more thoroughly,” Person said. “Designing a different approach intended to address the problem and testing that new approach with others so that conversations can improve over time. The goal is to develop mindsets that support more thoughtful and empathetic conversations between healthcare practitioners and their patients as well as between family members.”

Person plans to hold the workshop annually.

The campaign is designed to support Elon’s ´ˇł¦łŮ-µţ±đ±ô´Ç˛Ô˛µ-°ä´Çłľłľľ±łŮĚýłľ´Ç»ĺ±đ±ô and offers a series of safe and physically distanced events from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday at the patio located outside of Pandora’s Pies.

Margaret Cox ’23, a student design thinking catalyst with the Center, said the campaign was designed to encourage students to infuse playfulness into their classes and day-to-day life. “With these Pop-up and Play events, we want to help students use design thinking to think about aspects of their life or classes that they could improve upon,” she said. “If you’re more playful with your learning, you’re more likely to enjoy it. You tend to feel more motivated if you’re having fun. That’s where it comes in and why it’s important.”

Socially distanced games and activities such as chalk games, classic games and brain puzzles will be available for attendees to determine their ideal style of play, and incorporate aspects into their daily life.

The twice-weekly event will feature different kits supplied by The Maker Hub for students, faculty and staff, from face masks, to dish towels, headbands, stress balls, and more. The Elon community can stay-and-play or take-and-make.

The first kit helped users create their own face mask.

“We like to give people the option to stay and play or take and make,” said Tyson Glover, cocurricular catalyst for the Center for Design Thinking.

A background in design thinking or experience at The Maker Hub is not required to participate at the Pop-Up & Play events. ľĂľĂČČ of all skill levels and backgrounds are welcome.

“All you need is to show up and be curious,” Glover said. “There’s a lot of stress and anxiety in the world right now so we wanted to create an event that was safe and fun.”

For more information on the Maker Hub’s Take and Make kits, click here.

The workshop was developed by Soniyah Robinson ’23, a journalism major and social justice lead coordinator at the Center for Design Thinking.

“We wanted to create a workshop focused on dismantling oppressive systems at Elon, specifically centered around implicit bias,” Robinson said. “So students can transform their ideas of bias and break ingrained stereotypes that lead to racist structures and institutions.”

While “Biased” focuses primarily on racial bias, the workshops will cover bias and stereotypes concerning race, sexual orientation and gender.

“It’s based around framing our roles in implicit bias and changing our internal dialogue and actions,” Robinson said. “Workshop participants will use the design thinking method of framing, exploring, generating, prototyping and cultivating to immerse themselves in the experience more deeply.”

Robinson said the workshops will begin by establishing a definition for words and phrases such as “racism,” “social justice” and “implicit bias.” This way the workshop’s participants have a common and agreed upon understanding of these terms.

The second phase of the workshop will focus on concrete examples of implicit bias, Robinson said, which will be followed by asking the participants to chart out times when they experienced bias or held stereotypes by using an experience map.

After going through their own experiences, the participants will use mind maps to construct actionable steps to create change in their lives and at Elon.

“At the end we have resources for the participants to walk away with — books they can read, podcasts they can listen to, resources from CREDE — to make sure the concepts addressed continue beyond the workshop,” Robinson said. “The point of this is to make sure conversation turns into action. That’s how we make change.”

Robinson said the workshops are intended to support students, faculty, and staff across campus.

“I’ve always been passionate about human rights issues. I’m always trying to find more ways to be effective in my activism work, and I thought this would be a great way to combine my design thinking work with my passions,” Robinson said. “I have been involved with the CREDE before and admire their work, so a workshop where we partner with them is right up my alley.”

Danielle Lake, Director of the Center for Design Thinking said the systems and processes we currently have been designed, and they can be redesigned. “The Center for Design Thinking is committed to partnering with others on and off-campus in order to generate and explore opportunities for more inclusive and equitable codesign of the implicit and explicit structures that shape our lives,” Lake said.

To request a workshop, click here.

New workshop formats

The number of people allowed in the Center at one time will be kept under 34, according to Danielle Lake, director of the Center for Design Thinking, and workshops will be available as webinars or in prerecorded formats. Instead of relying on sticky notes, students can share their ideas and collaborate by using shared virtual spreadsheets, polling tools, and other virtual aids while brainstorming during workshops.

Lake said workshops are also being designed for use in outdoor spaces.

“With students and faculty facing social distancing challenges, there is a need to explore how to learn,” Lake said. “We’re designing workshops to help students bring more their own sense of purpose, personal passions, and play to their learning this fall.”

The Center for Design Thinking can also visit classes to conduct design thinking workshops. In a Tuesday/Thursday class, because of physical distancing measures on campus, one half of a class can attend a design thinking workshop one day while the other half is in class. Then on the next class day, the other half can attend a workshop while the other students are in class.

“We can help them use some tools and develop some skills because they are not likely to be in the classroom as much as they were. There may be more free time, but there is just as much work to get done,” Lake said.

Design thinking as a skill

Design thinking can help generate and prototype ideas by creating many possible solutions to a problem rather than attempting the first option that comes to mind. “In western culture we think of design–creativity–as someone in a corner dreaming up these amazing things, and that’s just not the reality of how social change and innovation work. They manifest in relationships by trying, learning and failing over time,” Lake said. The design thinking process encourages the testing of a variety of ideas to cultivate a solution to a problem or issue.

Lake said alumni who were familiar with design thinking excelled in their employment as employers were surprised by the tools and skills beyond technical training that they were able to bring to the workplace.

“If you’re going to have students work effectively on teams and bring themselves into the classroom and generate ideas they value and be intrinsically motivated by your class, then we have tools or workshops to help that,” Lake said.

To request a design thinking workshop, please fill out a short form on the Center’s website here.