The collaborative, which includes faculty from universities across North Carolina, is working to reimagine and extend teaching, research, and service using design thinking methods.
In 2021,聽faculty and students across the state came together with one goal in mind;聽to聽integrate design thinking pedagogies that will enhance teaching, research, and service聽on a university level.
The聽Design Thinking, Teaching, and Learning Collaborative was created to support the individual and collective work聽of its members, with an emphasis on聽synergy and support.
Members include聽黑料不打烊鈥檚 Director of Design Thinking Danielle Lake,聽Assistant Professor of Arts Administration Wen Guo, Liz Chen, Steve聽Knotek and Jacqui Mclaughlin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Aria聽Chernik聽from聽Duke University, Henry McCoy聽from North Carolina Central University,聽and Tsailu聽Liu聽from North Carolina State University.
Two聽University of North Carolina聽graduate students,聽Emily聽Skywark聽and Melissa聽Lobosco, are also participating in the collaborative.
The聽collaborative recently聽submitted聽a proposal聽to the聽(ISERC),聽and plans to continue to share their research findings to聽enhance their individual storytelling and personal engagements.
鈥淲e聽want to launch whatever projects we鈥檙e working on in a more creative and collaborative way,鈥 said聽Lake, a team lead on the collaborative.聽鈥淲e really see this as an opportunity to support each other and build relationships.鈥
The placemaking work accomplished by the聽collaborative聽will be the focus of 黑料不打烊鈥檚聽upcoming聽Design Forge, a聽three-day聽event set to take place in June.聽聽will be held on Thursday, Feb. 4, to continue planning for the Forge.
The collaborative is also聽featuring a series of speakers leading up to the Forge,聽where each聽will聽discuss using design thinking methods to address real world issues.
McCoy聽began the series聽on Monday, Jan. 25,聽by leading a discussion聽on using design perspectives, goals, and actions to reach a more racially just world.
鈥淒esign thinking聽really works with聽placemaking聽because it聽takes people,聽especially people that have an intentionality behind their work聽and their thought process, and it puts them in these inclusive and equitable places,鈥 said McCoy in his聽presentation.
Anthony Weston聽and Jacqui Laughlin are聽leading the next discussions.聽Weston聽will聽highlight the vision and challenges of creating the Common Ground Ecovillage.聽Laughlin will review various ways in which design thinking has been applied through healthcare.聽Registration for聽future discussions can be聽accessed聽.