DT4HE - post workshop - Your reflections by Sarah Dyer

2024-03-27 09:53:48 UTC

Initially some of the standards may not look like they are relevant to your role. By going through the the DT process ideas of how the standards can be applied were unlocked.

2024-03-27 09:54:59 UTC

The standards are widely applicable regardless of your role.

2024-03-27 09:56:23 UTC

Standards are written in a way that are deliberately vague!

PSF Structure

2024-03-27 09:56:25 UTC

The structure is akin to maturity models ... building up practice and expertise in layers. Design thinking tends to be more about picking the right problem to solve (first diamond) and solving it well (second diamond). Of the 3 PSF elements our table looked at, the full cycle of DT could apply to all of them.

Empathy

2024-03-27 09:57:20 UTC

The process of understanding the user is deeper than originally imagined

PSF audience

2024-03-27 09:59:21 UTC

The PSF has to encompass vast breadth of practice so is necessarily widely defined: yet the beauty of design thinking is it teases out the really specific things that matter to users.

Don't overthink the section

2024-03-27 09:59:26 UTC

The area for the idea/evidence did not need to be set in stone

Diverge and converge

2024-03-27 10:00:22 UTC

Diverge and converge activities are very useful

Diverge and converge

2024-03-27 10:01:11 UTC

Allowed everyone in the group to equally participate

2024-03-27 10:01:45 UTC

I'm going to get students involved in unit planning.

PSF depth

2024-03-27 10:02:02 UTC

Preparing for the workshop was the first time I've ever engaged on the PSF: initial reaction was relief about how little time it took to read and digest and worry about how little time it took to read and digest !!

A0 format flat on tables

2024-03-27 10:03:18 UTC

Great way of getting people out of seat, on their feet and engaging

2024-03-27 10:03:33 UTC

May need a quick pitch on what the PSF is and why they are written as they are. Maybe some painstorming to help everyone get to the root of the problem.

Great group / great people

2024-03-27 10:03:59 UTC

Artist as communicator

2024-03-27 10:04:34 UTC

The excellent work of Chris was eye opening: the power of observation and distillation "in the moment" is something I will take forward into my own practice

Start with users

2024-03-27 10:05:44 UTC

Another great example of how readily people jump to diagnosis and solutions before relating properly and fully (empathising) with the users

5 minute silences

2024-03-27 10:06:49 UTC

Really powerful technique to enable and empower the reflectors in the room

Wide applicability of DT

2024-03-27 10:17:29 UTC

One of our table colleagues made the observation that the 3rd PSF element we looked at (the red / hard one) was actually pretty easy to answer: just re-write the same post it notes we'd used on the previous two (green / easier and amber / moderate) ... it leads to the thought that "mapping" of DT onto the PSF could be achieved by demonstrating applicability at three levels: micro (e.g., against any single dimension), macro (e.g., applying across all 15 dimensions), systemic (e.g., applying at Descriptor level 4)

DT in practice in education

2024-03-27 10:20:32 UTC

The intro to DT was excellent (and the MRI example a great to get people thinking about it).

Would be great to build on that with a few worked examples of DT applied to an aspect of education.

Energising

2024-03-27 10:21:51 UTC

The whole session was so worth while. Its a tough time in the sector right now, and was lovely to be working on something positive

Barriers

2024-03-27 10:27:09 UTC

It may not fit into this workshop series, but spending some time on the barriers to wider application of DT into education would be of interest: I think that the beauty of DT is that when well orchestrated, considerable amounts of the work of design goes away.

But at the start it feels like a wall of work in comparison to a more traditional as-is / to-be journey ... "How might we support time poor academics to engage with DT and use it well?"

Change of perspective

2024-03-28 08:57:17 UTC

I'm very familiar with the PSF and have worked with it extensively for many years. The workshop helped me to see the utility of the PSF from an institutional perspective (i.e., to support T&L development) more clearly; my perspective has always primarily been from that of an individual seeking recognition.

Value of personas

2024-03-28 08:59:28 UTC

The value of using personas to help plan, design and inform

DT / Person-centred design

2024-03-28 09:01:31 UTC

That I engage in design thinking more than I anticipated before attending this workshop - knowing more about the models/approach is useful to help contextualise and understand my approaches.

Diverge and Converge

2024-03-28 09:02:23 UTC

I found the idea of diverge and converge - particularly the 5 minute silence - very useful wrt supporting engagement and participation.

Inspiring and uplifting

2024-03-28 09:04:41 UTC

It was fantastic to get out of the day-to-day and to meet, learn and be inspired by such a lovely group of people. I was (very pleasantly) surprised by the diverse roles in the room (education developers, lecturers, support staff, consultants etc) and really valued the different perspectives.

Broad but difficult to map to

2024-04-03 15:28:25 UTC

The PSF are written in a way that's broad to enable us all to 'see ourselves within them' but this makes mapping activities to them more challenging, as they feel too vague.

Design Thinking's value in HE is huge!

2024-04-03 15:30:06 UTC

There is so much potential to use DT in HE and I'm excited about all of it!

We're all using DT, even if we don't know it

2024-04-03 15:31:24 UTC

It was lovely to see people realise that some of the things they were already doing, were examples of DT in action.

Are we tackling the problem the right way around?

2024-04-03 15:38:05 UTC

It was surprisingly hard to map DT activities onto the PSF. I think this is because DT is all about 'making stuff better in the service of people' and the PSF (if I've understood it correctly) is about setting standards. These standards should help to make education better, but in and of themselves, they are not challenges that need to be solved. Perhaps we need to identify the challenges in reaching these standards FIRST, and then map DT to these? Or (as our group did), hear about examples of ways we're all using DTinHE, and instead map the PSF onto these examples?

Accessibiity

2024-04-09 15:14:39 UTC

It would be really helpful to avoid white backgrounds in presentations slides, in favour of cream or pastel colours, to minimise visual distress for participants. This was compounded by the large number of screens in the room at the prevous event.

DT brief

2024-04-10 16:38:30 UTC

I feel that this first session would have benefited from, what might be, for each group 'defining' a brief, to take forward into sessions, 2 and 3 (maybe to share or pass to other groups). Understanding/learning design thinking as a method, while outlining the purpose and resonance of the PSF. What does the PSF look like in differing contexts, and what impact might the PSF have in those contexts? Exploring and understanding PSF preferred outcomes, and how we might nudge colleagues towards those preferred outcomes. This task is very difficult, seen as, in reality, design thinking as practice is a 'disposition' not a process. Looking forward to session 2 and 3 :). Thank you!

Very inspiring

eenbc — 2024-04-15 12:00:25 UTC

The whole continuous infinity-shaped process is really inspirational. We may do similar things in HE but the details of each stage are rather vague for example on how to enhance the assessments for a module. With the application DT, the process can be made more refined and thorough.

Visualised way in interpreting ideas

eenbc — 2024-04-15 12:06:33 UTC

It was wonderful to see what we discussed and learnt through visual images created by Nifty Fox. It was another way to communicate the important messages instead of reading notes. Though maybe not suitable for everyone, it can be effective to some who find images to be more helpful in understanding concepts and ideas. Perhaps we need to think about that in our own teaching!

Worksheets

eenbc — 2024-04-15 12:09:28 UTC

I liked the simple way in completing the worksheets in particular the empathy canvas. Can we not do more of that in our modules, i.e. adopting the format? But the content in that worksheet was really useful too.

2024-04-28 20:18:58 UTC

Multiple PSF ( new and previous) standards can be applied to a single pedagogical approach in T&L, this becomes easier to identify when considering the approach from multiple lenses eg student, educator, institution - a little bit like using Brookfield's 5 lenses

2024-04-28 20:32:59 UTC

journey mapping help to identify emotional journey - helpful to develop self-awareness of a process.

2024-04-28 20:33:26 UTC

PSF very open to interpretation

2024-04-28 20:34:25 UTC

Can apply/map several PSF standards to a single event/pedagogical T&L approach

2024-04-28 20:36:50 UTC

Aim to be more objective and not to 'fall in love' with ideas so can more quickly change /adapt to improve or ditch altogther

2024-04-28 20:38:27 UTC

think about developing more communication with my mentor to help develop action plans

2024-04-28 20:40:52 UTC

perhaps more opportunity to reflect on current practice in relation to the PSF to gain insight from other attendees experiences

2024-04-28 20:45:27 UTC

I really felt I learned / became aware about some of my own working habits ( good and bad) by listening and contributing to the 'role play' scenarios. I had not really experienced this approach previously and found it a very interesting way to approach a problem. I am considering developing a student task to align with the use of an annotated journey map exercise. thanks for the ideas!!

2024-04-28 20:48:01 UTC

it seems feeling overwhelmed was a common theme identified in several situations in HE !

It's easier that you might think!

2024-06-12 13:42:50 UTC

Some things we are already doing, but may not have realised

2024-06-12 13:43:05 UTC

DT is great!

2024-06-12 13:43:22 UTC

PSF can be quite vague

2024-06-12 13:43:44 UTC

Do more reading around DT

2024-06-12 13:44:03 UTC

You don't need to fully commit to it, you can just use elements of DT to make your practice better

2024-06-13 11:36:59 UTC