A Design Thinking Approach to Higher Education
I'm a big fan of the Fall Experience Journal activity, and now regularly assign it in all of my courses for first-year and transfer students at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown, even if the course is taught during the summer or spring. For me the assignment compels students to put themselves out there in a very... Continue Reading →
Photo by Burak Kebapci on Pexels.com Reframing is one of the key mindsets within Design Thinking and something we address in almost all of our classes and workshops here at Johns Hopkins. My colleague, Dr. Patrick Brugh, has a wonderful LinkedIn article that outlines the approach to reframing that he has used in his courses... Continue Reading →
Next week marks the start of the Fall semester at Johns Hopkins. A lot has changed on campus over the past several months and this Fall semester - even more than previous Fall semesters - offers the opportunity for students to reimagine both themselves as well as their Hopkins experience. With this sense of possibility in mind, I would like to offer five Life Design-inspired tips for approaching the Fall semester.
Back in March, Johns Hopkins was one of the first universities in the country to shut down its research operation in the wake of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. Even though research is the life blood of a university, it was the right call and was likely critical in reducing the spread of the virus on... Continue Reading →
For this class, I adapted some of the excellent work from my colleague Smiti Nathan's blog, Life Design Log. Smiti is a big proponent of the use of stakeholder maps (as well as the Rose, Bud, Thorn exercise) and uses them regularly in her own courses and presentations. For my students, who are imagining lives... Continue Reading →
“I love commencement for many reasons, but there is one reason that is special. On that day, all students are successful. They may have taken a thousand paths to get to that moment, but they are united by ritual, celebration, and uniform… For those brief hours, everyone – graduates, parents, faculty, friends, family – all... Continue Reading →
I think one of the biggest challenges for college students - particularly in the first year - is formulating a healthy definition of success in college that is aligned with their values and purpose. At a school like Hopkins, most students viewed their high school education solely through the lens of the college admissions process,... Continue Reading →
In this lesson, I tried to lay the foundation to help students connect their ideas about the meaning and purpose of college ("Collegeview") with a set of values that shape their understanding about the larger world ("Worldview"). Even with the Worldview activity and the various analog and digital values sort activities out there (I used... Continue Reading →
For my second class, I wanted to get students to reflect on the "why" of their college experience. Not just why go to college, but why choose the very specific experience of a four-year liberal arts education at Johns Hopkins. When I asked them whether they viewed college as career preparation, an venue for self-discovery... Continue Reading →
Today marked the first class of my course, Intro to Hopkins: Arrive and Thrive. This course has been a core part of the first-year curriculum at Hopkins for the past several years. Though not required, the University offers approximately 30 sections, some of which have a specific focus (Public Health Studies, International Students, Student Athletes).... Continue Reading →
Education * Designed 