Using Visualization to Map the Student Experience       Reflection Assignment

Being part of a community college poses many opportunities and challenges for both students and staff.

With a commitment to make a difference, we work with students to achieve their goals through

education.  During my time with the college I’ve experienced many failed initiatives based on

conventional approaches to problem solving.  As part of the Design Thinking for Innovation course, a

new palette of tools has provided numerous insights to the complex dynamic of student experience as

they go through the steps required to begin college.   Using the design tool of visualization, we were

able to gain the needed perspective to a complex problem, a problem needing solutions we couldn’t

“see” using previous approaches.  These new insights have helped our team gain a perspective that has

provided new opportunities to address the challenge of supporting students going through the process

of enrollment and registration.

Understanding the challenges students face during this process is something we take for granted.

Something we think we already know.  As part of this, process students must complete an application,

financial aid, assessment for class placement, working with an advisor to choose a program, new student

orientation, and the actual registering for classes.  All of this before they can begin their first semester.

Along the way, students experience an emotional path as well.

There is truth in the saying "the hardest part is getting started," and this definitely applies for students

taking on steps needed to complete this process.  They typically feel frustrated and lost as they

encounter tasks in a setting where people seem to speak a "different" language using terms like FASFA -

Federal Application for Student Financial Aid.  All of this contributes to a challenging set of obstacles

along a path that requires support to help students navigate it successfully.  This experience is analogous

to trying to get someplace you’ve never been before without a map to help you reach your destination.

Our team's challenge was to find a way to visual important opportunities and to begin to redesign the

student experience of the enrollment and registration process.  To accomplish this we needed a new

perspective of the student experience.  The design tool of visualization has provided access to the

opportunity to create a student experience that replaces confusion with purpose and frustration with

encouragement and inspiration.

With visualization as a starting point, the team conduct conversations to generate ideas about how to

view that experience differently.  Two major opportunities came from those conversations.  First, how

we could come up with a better way "to see" the students’ perspective from the way we normally look

at it.   Second was to access the perspective to create change for the better.  Using maps of each of the

buildings we gained a “top down” perspective giving us a way to plot the student journey.  We then

marked the critical places where students complete each step of the enrollment process.  By super

imposing a journey map as part of the visualization tool and referencing the students’ emotional

experience, we gained insight as to what students might feel as they walked through the enrollment

process.

As a result of utilizing the visualization tool, we came up with ideas to add value over the course of the

student journey.  Some examples of these ideas were using the map to give us a sense of the distance

between the door students used to enter the building and the check-in desk.  This created an

opportunity to position a greeter just inside the entryway to make students feel welcome and direct

them to the next station where they check in.  This would replace the experience of potential confusion

as students tried to figure out where they need to go first.   Using the map of the building layout, we

could see the next thing students experienced was standing in line to check in.  Imagining each person

coming from the outside during the winter weather, we created the next opportunity.  What if we

offered coffee or hot chocolate? How would that generate a more positive experience?

Looking from the top down for the student perspective, we could see we might give students a

comfortable environment to find out more about the resources available to support their success during

the first semester.  The map gave us a sense of the experiential space and gave us the idea to create a

variety of student stations.  We created one called the "job zone" where students could begin to

envision what employment opportunities their education could provide.  Another station called student

activities to give students information about organizations and clubs they could join to feel a part of the

college community, and finally a station providing information about student support services like

tutoring, library services, and workshops.

The insights generated from the visualization design tool allowed us to see opportunities in the map of

the student experience beyond what we already knew about what students had to do to get enrolled in

classes.  Rather than seeing the student experience "straight on" we could visualize it from above and

create an experience that added value to the emotional component of the student journey.  Our plan is

to experiment with these opportunities for the upcoming semester and survey students about their

experience.  Using those surveys we can begin to examine our ideas and how well our map to create a

more fulfilling student experience worked.

Using visualization as the catalyst to create a new perspective outside of what we already knew, gave us

a different way to think about what students go through to enroll in school.  This ultimately will give us

additional skills to successfully see our “blind spots” and to create opportunities to use design tools to

innovate and transform the student experience as a way to realize our commitment to student success.

As for me, I believe I have personal opportunities to use design thinking to create solutions that may be

counterintuitive to my institution’s culture and conventions.  This course will help expand my capacity to

listen to others in the spirit of collaboration and provide a context for thinking differently.  To use these

tools, I now understand I will need to relinquish a degree of control and put more trust in the creative

process.  Finally, the cost of innovation requires the ability to move through a sometimes “messy”

process without a “map.”


Using Visualization to Map the Student Experience Reflection Assignment Being part of a community college poses many opportunities and challenges for both students and staff . With a commitment to make a difference , we work with students to achieve their goals through education . During my time with the college I ’ve experienced many failed initiatives based on conventional approaches to problem solving . As part of the Design Thinking for Innovation course , a new palette of tools has provided numerous insights to the complex dynamic of student experience as they go through the steps required to begin college . Using the design tool of visualization , we were able to gain the needed perspective to a complex problem , a problem needing solutions we could n’t “ see ” using previous approaches . These new insights have helped our team gain a perspective that has provided new opportunities to address the challenge of supporting students going through the process of enrollment and registration . Understanding the challenges students face during this process is something we take for granted . Something we think we already know . As part of this , process students must complete an application , financial aid , assessment for class placement , working with an advisor to choose a program , new student orientation , and the actual registering for classes . All of this before they can begin their first semester . Along the way , students experience an emotional path as well . There is truth in the saying " the hardest part is getting started , " and this definitely applies for students taking on steps needed to complete this process . They typically feel frustrated and lost as they encounter tasks in a setting where people seem to speak a " different " language using terms like FASFA - Federal Application for Student Financial Aid . All of this contributes to a challenging set of obstacles along a path that requires support to help students navigate it successfully . This experience is analogous to trying to get someplace you ’ve never been before without a map to help you reach your destination . Our team 's challenge was to find a way to visual important opportunities and to begin to redesign the student experience of the enrollment and registration process . To accomplish this we needed a new perspective of the student experience . The design tool of visualization has provided access to the opportunity to create a student experience that replaces confusion with purpose and frustration with encouragement and inspiration . With visualization as a starting point , the team conduct conversations to generate ideas about how to view that experience differently . Two major opportunities came from those conversations . First , how we could come up with a better way " to see " the students ’ perspective from the way we normally look at it . Second was to access the perspective to create change for the better . Using maps of each of the buildings we gained a “ top down ” perspective giving us a way to plot the student journey . We then marked the critical places where students complete each step of the enrollment process . By super imposing a journey map as part of the visualization tool and referencing the students ’ emotional experience , we gained insight as to what students might feel as they walked through the enrollment process . As a result of utilizing the visualization tool , we came up with ideas to add value over the course of the student journey . Some examples of these ideas were using the map to give us a sense of the distance between the door students used to enter the building and the check - in desk . This created an opportunity to position a greeter just inside the entryway to make students feel welcome and direct them to the next station where they check in . This would replace the experience of potential confusion as students tried to figure out where they need to go first . Using the map of the building layout , we could see the next thing students experienced was standing in line to check in . Imagining each person coming from the outside during the winter weather , we created the next opportunity . What if we offered coffee or hot chocolate ? How would that generate a more positive experience ? Looking from the top down for the student perspective , we could see we might give students a comfortable environment to find out more about the resources available to support their success during the first semester . The map gave us a sense of the experiential space and gave us the idea to create a variety of student stations . We created one called the " job zone " where students could begin to envision what employment opportunities their education could provide . Another station called student activities to give students information about organizations and clubs they could join to feel a part of the college community , and finally a station providing information about student support services like tutoring , library services , and workshops . The insights generated from the visualization design tool allowed us to see opportunities in the map of the student experience beyond what we already knew about what students had to do to get enrolled in classes . Rather than seeing the student experience " straight on " we could visualize it from above and create an experience that added value to the emotional component of the student journey . Our plan is to experiment with these opportunities for the upcoming semester and survey students about their experience . Using those surveys we can begin to examine our ideas and how well our map to create a more fulfilling student experience worked . Using visualization as the catalyst to create a new perspective outside of what we already knew , gave us a different way to think about what students go through to enroll in school . This ultimately will give us additional skills to successfully see our “ blind spots ” and to create opportunities to use design tools to innovate and transform the student experience as a way to realize our commitment to student success . As for me , I believe I have personal opportunities to use design thinking to create solutions that may be counterintuitive to my institution ’s culture and conventions . This course will help expand my capacity to listen to others in the spirit of collaboration and provide a context for thinking differently . To use these tools , I now understand I will need to relinquish a degree of control and put more trust in the creative process . Finally , the cost of innovation requires the ability to move through a sometimes “ messy ” process without a “ map . ”