Designing Student Services: A Case Study Of Design Thinking At A University

<p>This research project examined how an organization facing significant challenges could design projects vital to strategic renewal by using design thinking to deploy the idea of the design value chain. This study validated an existing design thinking framework, using a service design process at a postsecondary institution as the site for the study, thereby addressing an important gap in empirical research on the use of design thinking to improve faculty and staff (employee) engagement in the design of work, workplace, and workplace tools to enhance institutional service quality and enact strategic renewal at a postsecondary institution. This project used a case-study approach, drawing on publicly available artifacts from the redesign of academic and career advising at Portland State University, a single postsecondary site that used design-thinking techniques and employee engagement in the design of services. Materials were analyzed using document analysis and time-series analysis. The research findings suggest that employee engagement in design of services can be structured using a design methodology organized into six steps: (a) project initiation, (b) understanding user need, (c) reframing the problem, (d) visualizing change, (e) experimentation, and (f) design. This work is significant as it validates the use of design thinking both as a theoretical framework and a process to be deployed by non-designers in the design of student services.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Jhaj, Sukhwant S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Marylin Newell
• Gizelle Luevano
• Michael Flower

• Educational Administration and Supervision
• Educational Leadership
• Higher Education Administration

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dune.une.edu/theses/270

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dune.une.edu:theses-1269