Category: Design Thinking

Catalyst Innovation Program 2019 – 2020 Winners

| February 14, 2020
Catalyst awards give us a rapid investment lever for individuals in the #iteachMSU community, when they sense the need for innovation and have an inspired idea, we can give them the boost needed to make something happen.
Brendan Guenther

Greetings everyone! My name is Rashad Muhammad. I am a Learning Experience Designer in the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology. As we begin the new year, I am excited to step into the role of the project manager for the Catalyst Innovation Program. Catalyst Innovation Program was designed to incentivize the MSU community…

What Would You Say You Do Here? Science Gallery Detroit.

| June 7, 2019
Science Gallery Detroit presents DEPTH - June 8 - August 17, 2019 at the Michigan Science Center

One of the questions we get a lot is “what is the Hub?” “Can you help me figure out how to make a video for my class?” Yes, we can connect you to people who are very good at this. “I need to re-design the curriculum for my program to draw more students.” Great, we…

Questioning the Compliance Narrative

| May 29, 2019
Could we begin to understand students as people who are interested in learning and growth for higher purposes beyond just compliance and grades?

I recently attended the 3rd annual Spring Conference on Student Learning and Success at MSU. The first year it ran, it was a joining of a couple of similar events across campus that previously had been taking place simultaneously. This year, there were more added to the party. Namely, what was previously a Student Success…

Can a university redesign itself? Yes – with your help.

| May 22, 2019

“Why would any human being anywhere in the world come to East Lansing, Michigan (of all places), for their education and spend lots of money to do so?” We ask this a lot, because in order to serve the needs of students and create a culture of care, we have to regularly interrogate what we…

Learning, Exploring, Leveraging, and Living – A Semester of PD (part 1 of 2)

| May 9, 2019
As someone with “fixer” like tendencies, the welcoming staff at Bluedog helped me see the value in pause. I’m not used to pause. I’ve always worked in places and for people who wanted more, faster, now, better. I still do - but I’m learning to approach these challenges differently.

I’m tired. In the best way. Since mid-February I have attended the Educause Learning Initiative (ELI) conference in Anaheim, an invited NSF work group on creating inclusive STEM studio learning environments, interned at an amazing design firm in Chicago for a week, and was the virtual engagement co-chair of the OLC Innovate conference. Whew! Here…

Infrastructure, Power and Opportunity: Reflections from the Biosphere 2

| March 5, 2019
Building a Biosphere takes continuous experimentation and evaluation. So, too, does building learning experiences and infrastructure. Quote by Jess Knott on her recent experience designing inclusive curriculum and student experiences at Biosphere 2

by Jess Knott This week I have had the incredible opportunity to camp at the beautiful Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona with a small group of interdisciplinary professionals engaged at the intersections of science, design, pedagogy and social justice. I am not locked in, and I have not met Pauly Shore, but as part of…

The iOS Design Lab at MSU: Create. Share. Impact.

| November 21, 2018
By fall 2018, the lab had recruited a cohort of 20 stellar students to embark on this year-long journey.
Sarah Gretter

Michigan State University has launched the first iOS Design Lab in the United States. The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology and the College of Arts & Letters have been working with Apple to offer students a space to create, share, and impact their communities by solving challenges through Swift, the coding language of…

What is #iteachmsu ?

| November 7, 2018
screenshot of the #iteachmsu homepage.

The #iteachmsu Commons is an initiative that has been in the making for almost five years, driven by educators, for educators. Initially, Melissa McDaniels of The Graduate School and a group of graduate Teaching Assistants launched “Inside Teaching MSU” as a space for graduate student educators to share their teaching ideas and learn from each…

Land Grant Ideals in Nigeria

| October 16, 2018
A quote from Bill Heinrich on his experience in Nigeria: "We had the unique privilege to be following in the footsteps--we were told repeatedly--of John Hannah, one of MSU's most expansionist presidents, who helped to found the University of Nigeria, Nsukka."

by Bill Heinrich I’ve recently returned from a small training project with faculty and staff at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). The team from MSU co-facilitated a series of design-driven conversations aimed at building the capacity of faculty and leaders in three areas at UNN. The redesigns focused on the UNN Information and Communications…

“Unlearning” to Teach and Learn

| April 10, 2018
"I’m unlearning what it means to support different instructors carrying different paradigms about what it means to teach and learn." - Bill Heinrich

By Bill Heinrich, Director of Assessment In 1995 Robert Barr and John Tagg argued for a shift in paradigms. They asked us all to move from a more instructor focused classroom to a more learner focused one. Their work zeroed in on what faculty (and by extension, administrators and leaders) in higher education should do…