This workshop will focus on the practice of incorporating design thinking methodology into the classroom to engage students in social change. The Department of Community Engagement at Point Park University uses design thinking methods in courses ranging from the first-year to the PhD as a way to encourage students to innovate social solutions for their community.
The University's First-Year Experience course, City-University Life 101, provides students with an innovative and experiential way to engage with the Pittsburgh community and become agents of change. Through administration of this course all first-year students are exposed to service-learning, social innovation and change. The course incorporates design thinking into a required assignment for the class, a Social Impact project poster. In completing this assignment, students identify a community, research the prevalent social issues within that community, and develop project proposals with potential solutions to address these needs. Assessment data from the course indicates students have responded positively to the addition of design thinking as pedagogy and are more likely to understand the importance of advocating for a healthy community.
The facilitators for the workshop will provide participants with an overview of design thinking, and how it is incorporated into the UNIV 101 course. Participants will then be led through a series of design thinking methods, and provided with ways to implement design thinking into their courses. Participants will leave with a concrete understanding of design thinking as a pedagogical tool.
