Innovation Fellowship

At a glance

Apply design thinking / innovation tools on current project(s) of your choosing. The core of the Works in Progress (WiP) Studio is participation in 7 learning community sessions with peers where you'll provide and receive mentorship, coaching, and accountability to support each other's learning and emerging design practices. In alternating weeks you'll experiment with design tools and methods by applying them to your project(s) in progress.

It's helpful, but not required, to have some prior experience with design thinking, human-centered design methodologies, or User Experience/User Interface Design. These can be gained through coursework, boot camps, workshops, or other Innovation Fellowship programs (i.e. Becoming a Design Thinker).

The details

Learning Community meetings

In Spring 2025 sessions will occur Fridays on the following dates:

• February 7, 8:30 am–11:45 am (breakfast included)
• February 21, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• March 7, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• March 14, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• April 4, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• April 18, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• May 2, 9:30 am–11:30 am

Sessions will be held in the Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center and in person attendance is required.

During these meetings you'll work closely with other fellows (staff and graduate students across campus). You'll provide and receive mentoring, coaching, and accountability that supports each other's learning and emerging design practices. 

Fieldwork

You'll set aside time on your own outside of learning community sessions with assigned and structured "experiments". These will help you frame design problems within projects you're currently working on, create your own work plans, learning outcomes, and milestones to determine the form and content of the work you'll engage in across the semester. Example milestones include qualitative research (e.g. interviews, observation, participant observation), workshop design + facilitation, prototyping, etc.

Fellows typically spend 1–3 hours on fieldwork every other week. The experiments you design should be aligned with current work and/or curricular projects. The Studio is intended to offer a useful structure and meaningful design support rather than create a new extraction of your valuable time.

Coaching 1:1s

You'll meet with the facilitator individually throughout the program to get support on your project experiments and individual goals. Date, time, and location (e.g. in person or virtual) will be determined based on the individual and facilitator's availability and preferences.

NOTE: The Work in Progress Studio (WiPS) is an updated incarnation of the Design Thinking Project Studio (DTPS) with the same essential structure and content. Even if you've previously participated in DTPS, you're welcome to join the WiPS, where you will benefit from getting reintroduced to design and innovation tools and methods, the flexibility to work on multiple projects at various stages, a different combination of Innovation Fellows in the learning community for support and accountability, and ongoing 1:1 coaching.

At a glance

Learn design thinking tools and mindsets to create change in meaningful ways and cultivate your creativity in this dynamic, hands-on course. Engage in navigating ambiguity in productive ways by applying design tools and techniques to learn from others, synthesize qualitative data and experiment with new ideas. You'll practice collaborating with a team on a design project and develop your intuition for designing your design work.

The details

In-person meetings

You’ll apply design thinking tools and methods on a team design challeng, actively experiencing and experimenting with course concepts through an active learning model.

In Spring 2025 sessions will occur Fridays on the following dates:

• January 31, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• February 14, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• February 28, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• March 14, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• March 28, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• April 11, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• April 25, 9:30 am–11:30 am
• May 9, 9:30 am– 11:30 am

Sessions will be held in the Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center and in person attendance is required.

Asynchronous work

In weeks we don't meet in person, reflection and self-assessments will be assigned that take no more than 1 hour to complete. Reflection will help you process what you’re learning as well as find relevance to and make connections between course materials and how they might apply to you academically, professionally, and personally.