Abstract
This chapter describes how the promotion of empathy in an academic support unit at a higher education institution enabled the design thinking process to generate programs designed around student retention. Empathy empowered staff to understand retention as a complex construct called a “wicked problem,” which is a deep, structural, and pervasive issue. Priority was placed on the development of empathy among the team members to build cohesion and trust and develop deeper understanding of the complexity within the student experience in the first year of university. The results of the process were improved team cohesion, stronger commitment to student success, and reorganization of the academic support unit.
TopIntroduction
In 2013, Charlie Rose from 60 Minutes interviewed the co-founder of IDEO, David Kelley (CBS News, 2013), who described how design thinking included human behavior, storytelling, and collaboration as tools for innovation. Kelley demonstrated how IDEO solved complex social problems through design thinking to improve the lives of people globally. For instance, he gave the example of how a swivel chair on wheels in an elementary classroom demonstrated how a well-designed chair could hold students’ backpacks and their attention by supporting the needs of young children to fidget while not disrupting the classroom (CBS News, 2013). The implication is that the designers understood the many aspects of students’ needs for school success. Therefore, the question addressed in this chapter is as follows: How could the design thinking process Kelley used to improve outcomes for children improve how staff in an academic support unit perceive the complex needs for student success in higher education?
Design thinking is inherently human-centered, empathetic, and creative in its approach to solving complex problems and is, therefore, a compelling model for improving student success. According to Brown and Katz (2009), the key elements of design thinking are observation, empathy, brainstorming, piloting, and iteration. IDEO describes design thinking as
a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. (IDEO Design Thinking, n.d., para. 1).
For decades, improving student success outcomes in higher education has been the focus of researchers and administrators. Design thinking supports higher education leaders in moving away from traditional modes of processing information to considering how to culturally adapt standards of success and develop new ways to support students. This chapter explores the complex crossroads of intellectual, financial, and cultural obstacles related to improving fall-to-fall retention and how developing staff empathy can mitigate obstacles to student success. Retention is defined as “the percentage of first-time undergraduate students who return to the same institution the following fall” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020, para. 1).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Complexity: The layers of constraints in solving a problem of a social nature, which often includes a social, economic, or political frame.
Team Building: The act of building empathy, safety, cohesion, and positive working relationships among a group of staff in an organization.
Funds of Knowledge: The values, ideas, concepts, culture, and social norms of a group of people. Minoritized students bring funds of knowledge onto college campuses that are different than the values and beliefs embedded in most higher education institutions.
Wicked Problems: A problem with a complexity of social, political, and economic layers that make solving problems difficult.
Empathy: In design thinking, empathy is positive regard for the client, combined with a deep understanding of their environment, experiences, and lived situation.
IDEO: A global design company that solves problems using the human-centered methodology of design thinking.
Marginalized Students: Students whose identities cause harassment, are underserved, or are unable to succeed on college campuses. Marginalized students may come from low-income backgrounds, be LGBTQA+, disabled, or racially minoritized.
Design Thinking: A method of problem solving that takes into consideration issues related to human behavior and social, economic, and political frames. Design thinking involves observation, empathy, ideation, piloting, and iteration.
Retention: The percent at which fall-starting, first-time traditional, undergraduate students return to their institution the following fall.
Student Success: Positive outcomes in students’ higher education experience, including progress through a degree program, strong G.P.A., continued registration from semester to semester, and graduation.
First-Year Experience: In higher education, a traditional students’ opportunities, classes, and activities during their first year of college. These experiences usually include orientation, seminars, and welcome activities.