{"id":9392,"date":"2021-05-28T17:44:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T17:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2021\/06\/10\/mayx-snapshot-making-humans-central-to-the-process-with-design-thinking\/"},"modified":"2023-10-09T11:27:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T15:27:06","slug":"mayx-snapshot-making-humans-central-to-the-process-with-design-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/mayx-snapshot-making-humans-central-to-the-process-with-design-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"MayX Snapshot: Making humans central to the process with design thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each day this week, we\u2019re highlighting a course from <\/em>May Experience<\/em><\/a> \u2013 a chance for students to explore topics beyond the typical academic year.<\/em><\/p>\n

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COURSE:<\/strong>\u00a0Design Thinking
\nINSTRUCTOR:<\/strong> Ang\u00e9lica Lozano-Alonso, faculty director of the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship<\/a>
\nOBJECTIVE:<\/strong> Using the core steps of the design process, learn how to identify problems, find inspiration for potential solutions, imagine and build prototypes, and implement those new ideas.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Problem 1: How can a nonprofit agency use social media to increase its reach to those in Greenville\u2019s Spanish-speaking population who are survivors of intimate partner abuse?<\/p>\n

Problem 2: How can an elementary school teach its students in kindergarten through fifth grade a novel approach to problem-solving?<\/p>\n

\"Adhesive

Adhesive notes on a whiteboard help map out a problem in a MayX class on design thinking.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cExternal organizations are really excited to work with Furman students,\u201d says instructor Lozano-Alonso. \u201cIt\u2019s been really gratifying to see how Furman is so esteemed in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of this inaugural course, the students presented their \u201cdesign interventions\u201d to help Safe Harbor maximize its impact on Facebook and to help Summit Drive incorporate design thinking into its curriculum. They used what the instructors call the \u201cFour I\u2019s\u201d: identification of the problems; inspiration from real-world users facing the problems; iteration \u2013 repeatedly trying and improving on prototype solutions \u2013 and implementation.<\/p>\n

Design thinking has become a hot topic lately, with new books appearing constantly and corporations creating their own innovation teams. Misconceptions run rampant, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t know very much about it, you might think that it\u2019s about creating tangible products, like a mouse or a laptop,\u201d says Lozano-Alonso, a professor of Spanish who also serves as the faculty director of the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship<\/a>. Instead, innovators are using design thinking to rethink intangible processes such as social entrepreneurship, she says.<\/p>\n

The eight students in the class don\u2019t want to learn<\/em> \u2013 they want to do<\/em>, the instructors say.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s getting them to understand that problems are opportunities, and that they can be agents of change,\u201d says Lozano-Alonso. \u201cI hope it\u2019s just the beginning of them seeing themselves as people who can be problem-solvers in whatever circumstances they find themselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n