Students and staff from Elon University's Center for Design Thinking presented three unique workshops for students, faculty and community partners from across Dayton, Ohio.
Director of Elon University’s Center for Design Thinking Danielle Lake, and student catalysts Lily Gooding and Julia Chan, traveled to the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community at Dayton University April 10-13 to present three unique workshops for students, faculty and community partners from across Dayton, Ohio.
The workshops were carefully created in collaboration with the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, an organization that connects the Dayton community and university campus together. Their mission is to cultivate partnership, leadership, community-engaged learning and scholarship, and innovative solution-based strategies for civic needs through an asset-based approach.
“I’ve been hearing great things from participants,” Nancy McHugh, executive director of the Fitz Center, said. “I would love to do this again. Perhaps a virtual workshop could be in store for the future.”
Even as seasoned catalysts for the Center for Design Thinking, Gooding and Chan had a lot to learn while working on their first major consulting opportunity together. The duo waited for participants to arrive for their Design Thinking Failure workshop, but when they looked at their watches, they had a good laugh for what happened next.
There was a mix-up in scheduling between the presenters and the participants, which caused Gooding and Chan to think Designing for Failure actually “failed.” Using design thinking principles, the catalysts began discussing how they could apply concepts from their workshop in this situation to better their outcomes.
“We had been designing this for a while,” Gooding said. “How are we going to respond to this failure? We’re going to workshop this as our own failure. We went through the mental stages of failure and having to pivot from that.”
Their workshop invited students to learn about how they can bounce back from failure rather than letting it tear them down using the design thinking method. Thankfully, over 30 participants did arrive for the workshops when the time was right.
The Dayton Nonprofit Partner Workshop was designed specifically for the collaboration between the Center for Design Thinking and the Fitz Center. Participants learned how to use each step of the design thinking process in a real and practical way, diving into what the human-centered, problem-solving approach is at the root.
“I loved having the opportunity to support participants’ personal, educational and professional growth with this consulting opportunity,” Lake said.
Many of those who came to Lake’s workshop worked on providing funding for community-based projects, which Gooding said people left with a new perspective on what to do.
There was no doubt that the catalysts were bringing the “Design Thinking Mutually Beneficial and Joyful Partnerships” to Dayton, one of the Center’s most requested workshops at Elon University. This workshop aligned with the Fitz Center’s goals of creating connections with new community-based learning partners and generating mutually beneficial project-based learning opportunities.
Though the 2024-25 academic year is ending, the Center for Design Thinking works year-long, collaborating and consulting with communities worldwide. Request a consulting session, which may include assessment, customized workshops and a badge for Pathways to Design Thinking.