Using a Design Dash to Re-imagine Makerspace Instruction and Services

Ewan Gibson, Erin Walker, Chris Rugo, Valerie Benigno, Jason Rouatt, Joseph Chan, Varun Verma, & Zee Zaman

Humber College

Session description: In the winter semester the Idea Lab began to take note of challenges in our 3D printing instruction and service delivery: awareness, engagement, and completion. Three years into its existence but without ever experiencing a full “normal” academic year, the Idea Lab team needed to dedicate time to exploring and identifying the root of these challenges. We needed to re-examine our learning objectives and our learning objects to improve the experience for users and employees alike. At the end of the semester, the team got together and took part in a design dash. In this activity we worked together to identify common pain points and reframe them as learning opportunities. We then began the rapid prototyping of what our reimagined instruction and resources might look like. 

In this session, we will describe the particular challenges we were facing, outline the design dash approach, and showcase the different iterations of the prototypes that were created.

Learning outcomes:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to...

• Identify pain points in service delivery 

• Reframe pain points as learning opportunities 

• Apply design thinking to instructional/service challenges