Jisc Change Agents' Network Conference 2024

Design practices, mindset and tools offer new possibilities for capturing feedback and solving innovation challenges in Higher Education (HE). Engaging students and staff as equal partners and co-creators of their experience lies at the very heart of the design ethos. Unsurprisingly, Jisc has named design thinking as one of the key capabilities for an HE leader in their 2030 strategy framework. Drawn from the business and digital realms, design thinking is highly relevant to the complexity and uncertainty brought about by the accelerated levels of innovation and change in HE. 

The education community is standing at the crossroads. We either fall back to the ‘familiar’ tools and ways of thinking or collectively explore the opportunities, new language, and innovative methods of capturing feedback which allow us to work alongside each other to understand the felt student experience. In this session, co-created and co-delivered by students and staff, you will hear about Designing Together, a design thinking based project that reimagined the role of students in academic development, and a way to build learning communities based on mutual respect, safety, and radical collaboration. 

By the end of the session, you will have an understanding of what design thinking entails and how you can start using it within your community. Participants will be introduced to the Designing Together cards that have been developed to encourage and facilitate designedly conversations, design projects and initiatives based on principles of co-creation and design thinking. Participants will also walk away with a set of practical tools and handouts to try in their own practice.