are we teaching the wrong students?

Begin 1

Applying the design thinking process to building a more inclusive graphic design curriculum

Are we teaching the wrong students?

What you won’t get from this workshop?

Intro 3

What will you (actually) get from this workshop?

1. Create a set of personas that are representative of a sample of

your student population.

2. Draw insights from student personas that can lead to solutions

for specified problems.

Intro 4

As a designer you need to know:

1. What is your problem?

2. Who is your audience?

Design Process: Discover, Develop, Design, Deploy

Exercise 1: 2–5min 5

What’s the problem?

Write down at least one problem related to student retention

and success.

Persona 6

Creating personas:

Pruitt (2003) argues that designers often have a “vague or

contradictory sense” (p.2) of the intended users, a persona

provides a focus for goal oriented design.

Personas are a technique that moves the designer away from

designing based on a scenario, to designing based on the user.

Pruitt & Grudin. “Personas: practice and theory.” Proceedings of the 2003 conference on Designing for user experiences.

ACM, 2003.

Exercise 2: 15min 7

Who is your audience?

Personas can be created using ethnographic style methods. Data

can be drawn from conversations, interviews, emails, meetings,

data, observations, etc.

Identify some characteristics and demographics of your student

such as: age, education, location, occupation, family, etc.

Write from their perspective about their experience. Be their voice

including language and quirks. Don’t be afraid to empathize.

Student Example 8

Example of a persona

The Working Parent (code name: WoPa)

35-50 years old

has at least 1 child

working part-time or full-time

lives in a suburb or remote town

Student Example 9

Example of a persona (cont.)

I have a finite amount of time in the day to accomplish things. My kids

are my priority, my work has to fit around them and my design degree has

to fit around my kids and my job. I make time for my school work, but it

is often late at nights and between activities. I am often burned out and

discouraged by my performance and inability to just “get it” quickly. I find

the projects and concepts to be difficult because I do not have a high level

design background although I have been practicing design for a long time.

I want to get better and I apply the ideas I get from the classes. I find it

hard sometimes to embrace the new.

Exercise 3: 10min 10

What are the insights?

Ideas, concepts and theory can be applied to data (persona) to

provide insights.

Break down data as it relates to your problem.

Identify insights about your student population as it relates to the

problem.

Student Example 11

Example of a persona writing










Austerlitz Connection 12

“Superstudent” (Theory)

No family commitments or financial imperatives…Highly motivated and

as passionate about their subject as their tutors. They would be totally

dedicated to study, wanting to, and able to, spend every waking hour…

excelling at every aspect of the modern art and design curriculum, able to

write, argue, debate, articulate, present, negotiate, draw, create, invent,

and innovate, all within the context of the current politico-social global

environment and capable of adapting and changing as the fast changing

modern world throws technologies and problems their way. (p.16)

Austerlitz, N., Blythman, M., Grove-White, A., Jones, B.A., Jones, C.A., Morgan, S.J., et al. (2008). Mind the gap: Expectations,

ambiguity and pedagogy within art and design higher education. In L. Drew (Ed.), The student experience in art and design higher

education: Drivers for change (p 125–148). Cambridge: JRA Publishing.

Student Insights 13

Data from WoPa based on theory










WoPa connection 14

Example Student (WoPa) Insights

Limited time, study time is between activities

Degree is not primary concern

Can be easily discouraged

Disconnect between actual level of design and perceived level

Sometimes fears the unknown

Exercise 4: 10min 15

Insights to solutions

Explore how the persona experiences your problem:

(macro) EX: Program Learning Outcomes

(things in the middle) EX: Class Learning Outcomes

(micro) EX: Assignment expectations

Application Example 16

Macro things like:

We rewrote the PLOs. This allowed for more room for “meets” students

while still allowing for students to “exceed”.

Example of Formal Skills PLO:

- Produce work demonstrating mature/competent aesthetics.

- Make effective typographic choices.

- Demonstrate command/competence of media, materials, and technique.

Application Example 17

Micro things like:

We audited each of our classes down to the assignments for each week.

We found that in many cases we were asking students to do things that

were unnecessary or excessive.

Example of assignment:

An assignment asked for 80 thumbnails as a minimum requirement in a

week. Requiring 20 and recommending 80 was a better solution.

End 18

Approach the problem by knowing your audience.

Jeremy Stout:

[email protected] http://thesisadvice.tumblr.com/

Anitra Nottingham:

[email protected] twitter: @anitranot

What we hope you got from this workshop:

are we teaching the wrong students?

Education