Design Thinking & Experiential Learning

• Design thinking is about designing "with" rather than "for" people - bringing stakeholders into the creative problem-solving process
• Students must unlearn traditional academic approaches and embrace ambiguity, failure, and uncertainty as part of the learning process
• Design thinking transforms both mindset and practice, creating lasting change in how participants approach problems in education and life

Guests

Dr. Stacy Neier Beran, Senior Ignatian lecturer and faculty director of experiential learning at Loyola University Chicago

Julia Allworth, Manager of innovation projects at the University of Toronto

Brian LeDuc, Principal design strategist at Learning Design and designer in residence at UC San Diego Design Lab

This episode explores how design thinking functions as both a method and mindset in higher education. The panelists discuss how they implement design thinking in various contexts: from student-led redesign projects of university spaces and experiences, to faculty development, to community engagement. They highlight tensions between academic culture and design thinking approaches, noting how the process builds crucial workplace skills like creativity, empathy, and comfort with uncertainty. All panelists observed that design thinking fundamentally changes participants, creating confidence and empowerment as they learn to embrace failure as learning and develop solutions through collaborative, human-centered processes.

Links

Think by Design: Celebrating Design Thinking and Experiential Learning.

https://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/think-by-design-celebrating-design-thinking-and-experiential-learning/

Design Thinking in Student Affairs: A Primer

https://www.routledge.com/Design-Thinking-in-Student-Affairs-A-Primer/Allworth-DSouza-Henning/p/book/9781642670332?source=shoppingads&locale=en-USD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=P7696357662_ECOMMC_US-SALE_cross-network&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACWuhHWJuk80YrFzX0irInIyWqOq6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzrzABhD8ARIsANlSWNNzkzkFPlVI3dEUnQcCszHg6_JWsjjGgwjOUxBCzzmE364KRti1LTUaAi0tEALw_wcB

Learning, Designed newsletter

https://brianfleduc.substack.com/

Hidden Potential, by Adam Grant

https://adamgrant.net/book/hidden-potential/