Using Design Thinking to Improve Student Experiences in the U.S. and Brazil

• In Event: The Student Experience in Brazil and the U.S. at Fifty

Abstract

Universities in the United States and Brazil face many similar challenges--equitable access for student of all backgrounds, pressure to improve graduation rates, funding cuts, and pressure to innovate curricula and pedagogy in order to prepare today's students to face an unknowable future. The presentation explains how faculty leaders at Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) and PUCRS (Porto Alegre, Brazil) have used design thinking methodology, a set of strategies and approaches adapted from engineering, to foster collaborative, innovative, and forward-looking grassroots reforms in their universities. After explaining the basic tenets of design thinking, the presenters explain how the strategies must be adapted to the meet the demands of an academic culture/context. The authors conclude by discussing how Brazilian and American universities can learn from one another when it comes to fostering innovate, interdisciplinary approaches to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of students.

Authors

• Lisa Jasinski, University of Texas at Austin

• Coreen Davis, The University of Texas at Austin

• Bettina Steren dos Santos, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul