Our Design Thinking Process

empathy

In order to understand the needs of African American/Black and LatinX students, we:
1. Conducted a survey of African American/Black and LatinX students who were on a stage of academic difficulty.
2. Conducted focus groups with African American/Black and LatinX students to hear their concerns.
3. Spoke with UNIV 110 - Academic Success - instructors about their experiences helping students in academic difficulty

"It is very hard to get everything needed to be academically balanced. It is hard to focus and get work done on time."

-- Spring 2021 Survey Respondent

definE

As a result of our Empathy process, we found the following major themes:
- There are communication barriers surrounding ODU resources and student access to those resources.
- Services are scattered across ODU (and online), and there is no one place to get answers.
- Students don't know where to get help, how to ask for help, and/or even when they need to ask for help.
- African American/Black and LatinX students are in more academic difficulty than their peers.
After examining all the themes that surfaced in the Empathy Phase, we defined several areas that could help increase communication and decrease barriers to academic success:
- A one-stop university calendar system where students can combine academic, event, and social calendars, add customized events, and filter for specific types of events.
- A re-orientation process where orientation is expanded to long-term, year-round programming with events that are geared toward special populations and academic success issues like financial literacy, time management, and managing stress.
- Ungrading - a process by which students are not given number grades, which can have a significant negative impact, but rather the students use reflection and self-assessment to apply their learning and students are evaluated qualitatively versus quantitatively.
- Pass/Fail - during Spring 2020, undergraduate classes were moved to a pass/fail model. If more classes could be offered with pass/fail options that go toward degree progression, we could see more student success.
- Faculty Orientation - Faculty, administrators, and staff orientation processes are more focused on human resource-type issues than on learning how to work with students.
- Mentoring is a two-way street. Faculty, administrators, and staff need to know how to mentor; students need to be mentored and learn to serve as potential mentors as well.

ideatE

We analyzed survey results and compiled common themes
- Themes: Lack of communication, work life balance, time management, and organizational skills.
We reviewed current ODU resources, departments and programs.
We identified potential barriers and gaps in services.
We developed "how might we statements"
- How might we help students remain in good academic standing?
- How might we help students improve time management skills?
- How might we improve University communication channels?
- How might we development programs helping students balance work and improve organizational skills?
We synthesized findings and generated several ideas.
- Create a Monarch Mentorship program (passing ideas to Mentorship group)
- Expand Student Transition and Family Programs (long term)
  1. Add Family Support Director, Life/Success Coaches, and Mentorship Director
- Implement "ungrading" system (short-term - Fall 2021 pilot).
- Implement user-friendly University calendar (short-term Fall 2021-Spring 2022, long term, 2022-2023)
- Expand First Class programs to semester long initiatives (long term)
- We propose realigning new employee orientation sessions to provide professional development opportunities to learn how to teach and mentor students.
- Mentoring programs will be offered on two levels: for faculty, administrators and staff and for students.

prototype

Developed five prototypes to decrease number of African American/Black and LatinX students in academic difficulty.
Constructed prototypes in Mural and pitched ideas at Lumina Innovate Faculty meeting.
Met with Innovate Monarchs Lead Facilitator for reimage session.
Tested designs and made modifications.

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