Carla Yadav  Learning Launch Reflection  Design Thinking for Innovation    Challenge

While completing my doctorate degree in France, I was a representative for my team

on the Doctorand Council which was charged with facilitating the integration of doctoral  candidates into the environment of the laboratory, as well as aiding them for all university  administrative processes. The principal challenge for our group was that there were multiple  Doctoral Schools within the same laboratory, and each school has its own registration  process and general organization for the doctorate degree. Additionally, the lab welcomes  students from all over the world, where the language barrier for interactions with university  and doctoral school personnel as well as all the written resources for students can be  difficult to overcome.     During my time on the council, we decided to affront this problem and develop a

new website that would provide comprehensive information for each doctorate school  process in multiple languages. Furthermore, we decided to pair each incoming foreign  student with another doctoral candidate further along in their process. This became the  cornerstone project for the Doctorand Council during my time.     Selection

After a full year of intensive research into the experiences of different foreign

students using many design thinking techniques, such as storytelling and developing  personas based on ethnography, our team had amassed a large number of common  patterns of difficulty for their integration into the program, in addition to access to previous  years’ feedback from earlier councils. We also had held a meeting with the directors (full- time personnel) of each doctoral school within the laboratory to see what was possible  within the constraints of the requirements of the schools. Given the large scale of the  project to address all of the different schools’ processes and intricacies, we decided to  employ a learning launch for our website and mentorship program for one doctoral school,  which was the majority school for many on the council who had personal insight into that  particular process.     In general, a learning launch is a small-scale experiment for a larger solution directly

in the actual marketplace, where the major interest is to learn and iterate on the idea,  rather than decide to go through with it or not. This was perfectly suited to the next step in  our challenge, as the immediately received feedback from the focus on this one school  would help point out important changes needed for the future full version of the program.     Application    For our learning launch, we first developed our basic website with all general

information that can be helpful to any newly arrived students to the city and within the  laboratory. We developed specific pages, such as detailing what extracurricular activities  through the university were available to doctoral students, based on the original student  feedback through surveys and personal interviews.      We further established a fully detailed check-list like website on the registration for

students from the specific doctoral school that we chose and we paired each new doctoral  candidate enrolled in that school with a more seasoned doctoral candidate who intimately

knew the inscription process. In total, we had twenty mentorship pairs, and decided to put  five new students with mentors who shared the same native language to see if that could  help integrate new students more. Finally, we implemented multiple feedback options to  observe the learning launch including a dedicated feedback page on the website, a survey  sent out to all doctoral candidates, and one meeting with each mentorship pair together, as  well as one meeting with each individually paired person to ask for direct feedback on the  mentorship program. This first launch was set to run for one period of “new students”  meaning six months, so that the feedback could be understood and integrated into a better  product for the next semester of new doctoral candidates.    Insight    Over the entire process, design thinking tools were absolutely necessary to approach

this project. The insights that we received from student feedback allowed quick, executable  changes that augmented the experience for all users. Immediately, the feedback webpage  provided easy, important changes ranging from spelling errors, offers from students to  translate the page to help, and ideas to interactive ways for the website to help students  further. The best part of considering this a learning launch meant that we could quickly  implement the feedback on a regularly basis, continually improving our product.    However, the biggest insights came from the mentorship program and the meetings

in person for the “users” to provide their own feedback by telling their own stories. First, we  found that providing same native language mentors was not the best solution, as their  shared biases could actually lead to problems in the same step of the integration process.  This led us to decide to try the exact opposite on the next iteration, pairing foreign students  with French students who could then help the new doctoral candidate to better integrate  into the international community at the lab, and also. assist in the language barrier for more  administrative concerns. Additionally, we recognized many important human factors that  should be taken into account when looking for mentors, such as availability, languages  spoken, and even trying to pull from different friend groups/teams within the lab. The  design thinking principles were perfectly suited to this very human-centric problem.    Approach

The design thinking principles were perfectly suited to this very human-centric

problem, which required and continues to require actual personal feedback on what each  person has had trouble with. The learning launch was the perfect step at that time for the  project, as we had years of ethnographic research from past years as well as current, and  the council in our time had already brainstormed the website and mentorship solution. The  learning launch during my time on the council was cited as a major aid to new students and  has continued to be iterated and improved throughout the past four years as new ideas  come to the table.


Carla Yadav Learning Launch Reflection Design Thinking for Innovation Challenge While completing my doctorate degree in France , I was a representative for my team on the Doctorand Council which was charged with facilitating the integration of doctoral candidates into the environment of the laboratory , as well as aiding them for all university administrative processes . The principal challenge for our group was that there were multiple Doctoral Schools within the same laboratory , and each school has its own registration process and general organization for the doctorate degree . Additionally , the lab welcomes students from all over the world , where the language barrier for interactions with university and doctoral school personnel as well as all the written resources for students can be difficult to overcome . During my time on the council , we decided to affront this problem and develop a new website that would provide comprehensive information for each doctorate school process in multiple languages . Furthermore , we decided to pair each incoming foreign student with another doctoral candidate further along in their process . This became the cornerstone project for the Doctorand Council during my time . Selection After a full year of intensive research into the experiences of different foreign students using many design thinking techniques , such as storytelling and developing personas based on ethnography , our team had amassed a large number of common patterns of difficulty for their integration into the program , in addition to access to previous years ’ feedback from earlier councils . We also had held a meeting with the directors ( full- time personnel ) of each doctoral school within the laboratory to see what was possible within the constraints of the requirements of the schools . Given the large scale of the project to address all of the different schools ’ processes and intricacies , we decided to employ a learning launch for our website and mentorship program for one doctoral school , which was the majority school for many on the council who had personal insight into that particular process . In general , a learning launch is a small - scale experiment for a larger solution directly in the actual marketplace , where the major interest is to learn and iterate on the idea , rather than decide to go through with it or not . This was perfectly suited to the next step in our challenge , as the immediately received feedback from the focus on this one school would help point out important changes needed for the future full version of the program . Application For our learning launch , we first developed our basic website with all general information that can be helpful to any newly arrived students to the city and within the laboratory . We developed specific pages , such as detailing what extracurricular activities through the university were available to doctoral students , based on the original student feedback through surveys and personal interviews . We further established a fully detailed check - list like website on the registration for students from the specific doctoral school that we chose and we paired each new doctoral candidate enrolled in that school with a more seasoned doctoral candidate who intimately knew the inscription process . In total , we had twenty mentorship pairs , and decided to put five new students with mentors who shared the same native language to see if that could help integrate new students more . Finally , we implemented multiple feedback options to observe the learning launch including a dedicated feedback page on the website , a survey sent out to all doctoral candidates , and one meeting with each mentorship pair together , as well as one meeting with each individually paired person to ask for direct feedback on the mentorship program . This first launch was set to run for one period of “ new students ” meaning six months , so that the feedback could be understood and integrated into a better product for the next semester of new doctoral candidates . Insight Over the entire process , design thinking tools were absolutely necessary to approach this project . The insights that we received from student feedback allowed quick , executable changes that augmented the experience for all users . Immediately , the feedback webpage provided easy , important changes ranging from spelling errors , offers from students to translate the page to help , and ideas to interactive ways for the website to help students further . The best part of considering this a learning launch meant that we could quickly implement the feedback on a regularly basis , continually improving our product . However , the biggest insights came from the mentorship program and the meetings in person for the “ users ” to provide their own feedback by telling their own stories . First , we found that providing same native language mentors was not the best solution , as their shared biases could actually lead to problems in the same step of the integration process . This led us to decide to try the exact opposite on the next iteration , pairing foreign students with French students who could then help the new doctoral candidate to better integrate into the international community at the lab , and also . assist in the language barrier for more administrative concerns . Additionally , we recognized many important human factors that should be taken into account when looking for mentors , such as availability , languages spoken , and even trying to pull from different friend groups / teams within the lab . The design thinking principles were perfectly suited to this very human - centric problem . Approach The design thinking principles were perfectly suited to this very human - centric problem , which required and continues to require actual personal feedback on what each person has had trouble with . The learning launch was the perfect step at that time for the project , as we had years of ethnographic research from past years as well as current , and the council in our time had already brainstormed the website and mentorship solution . The learning launch during my time on the council was cited as a major aid to new students and has continued to be iterated and improved throughout the past four years as new ideas come to the table .