Our Design Thinking Process
empathy
Our team decided to create an assessment based on ODU’s readiness for AA & Latinx learners and we sent that assessment to ODU students ranging from students of the ODU’s Latino Student Alliance and other organizations, as well as ODU faculty. Our questions ranged from whether or not students knew about places or resources on campus and if so do they help students effectively, are there any classes taught about Latinx and black culture, and what they believe determines success?
"I don't but, I would definitely like to know about them."
defining
Major themes we found through the assessment and through asking the peer around us was the lack of knowledge about the resources on campus and the comfortability of the students who needed help asking for it. From the start we saw that there was a problem for not only us but for current students that we asked that they didn't know where or even that we have certain resources around campus. We decided on how might we communicate about campus resources for AA & LX in a way that raises awareness and reduces the stigma of asking for help. We narrowed ideas down trying to figure out what would attract students to make them want to know about resources on campus.
ideation
As a team we witnessed that our main focus needed to be showing students how to use the resources around them because the resources are already in place on ODU's campus we just had a lack of connection when communicating the resources to students in a way that would entice students to want to use them without fear and the anxiety of asking for help. We are emailed a lot of information over the course of a semester so it's hard to keep up with what's important. Specially if it's a new place on campus that you are unfamiliar with. With every student that we talked to this unfamiliarity and disconnect of communication was seen so we wanted to create a plan that would take these hurdles out of the equation and that is giving students a trial of what's there for them already and having faculty talk directly to students as they use their resources.
protypying
We developed our prototype by using the design thinking approach and by researching and evaluation. At each step of our design we talked to students themselves. We do not want to give students a list of resource to try that they do not want to learn more about and actually use. This would defeat the purpose of our idea. We came up with a initiative that can diminish the barriers that we found and that plan is a map quest
Many AA and Latin X students are the first of their family to come to ODU, and are not sure where to turn for guidance support and facilitation.
They are often frustrated but the difficulties of obtaining help, and feel for defeated than enabled.
A Map Quest may seem like a childish indirect way of just giving students a map of their resources or even a simple pamphlet of what can help you, but a map quest is a way to have student see the human in how to ask for help and where to find things. A map quest puts the students themselves in control of learning there resources while making the experience less nerve racking specially with how we design our map quest program that can be found on the prototype page!
The Complete ODU student
We want a Path for AA and Latin X students to succeed in their learning and claim their crown. This is found through knowing your resources and how to use them.
