Introduction
What is the purpose of a college education? What if I could develop skills and strategies in college that would help me to solve complex problems and design my own future? Using Stanford University’s award-winning, paradigm-shifting curriculum and design thinking, Design Fellows will engage these questions critically. Projects will include reflective writing and fast-paced, interactive exercises intended to reinforce the fundamental principles, methods, and applications of design thinking.
The fellowship uses design thinking to address the “wicked problem” of designing your life and career. This fellowship offers a framework, tools, and most importantly a place and a community of peers and mentors where we’ll work on these issues through readings, reflections, and interactive exercises in meetings. The fellowship employs a design thinking approach to help students develop a constructive and effective approach to finding and designing their vocation after Trinity.
Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving and innovation through prototype iteration. It is highly collaborative and a hands-on process for conceiving new solutions and getting unstuck. Design thinking emphasizes learning by doing and through feedback and iteration, allows students to make ideas real in the world. This approach lends itself especially well to the challenge of designing your life and vocation, large and vaguely defined tasks, because it allows you to start where you are - and build from there. While some people really do know what they want to do with their lives, the large majority of people have to try a few things out and learn as they go. The steps along the way are prototypes to enjoy and learn from, not failures.
Fellowship Learning Outcomes
As Design Fellows, students will earn a strong set of life design skills that will allow them to develop strong creative thinking, problem solving skills, and confidence to persist through challenges and problems. Through collaboration with their peers, fellows will achieve a solid understanding of design thinking and how to implement the necessary tools to build feasible action plans to achieve their personal goals.
Design Fellows will:
- Develop life design skills that equips students to tackle “wicked problems”
- Achieve a solid understanding of design thinking and how to implement the design process to a variety of problems
- Possess a strong ability to collaborate with peers
- Gain strong problem-solving skills
- Acquire confidence to persist through challenges and problems
- Develop effective creative thinking skills
- Gain energy management skills that will allow them to better balance their lives
- Obtain the ability to identify what work and activities are meaningful to them
- Determine a clear sense of future goals
- Develop the necessary tools to build feasible action plans to achieve their personal goals
- Teacher: Joseph Catrino