As I establish a rhythm of blogging it seems timely to provide a context for my various Fall 2010 activities: What is the D-Studio initiative?
My role at the UBC Sauder School of Business this fall is focused on implementing the D-Studio. We are appreciative of funding provided by a UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) grant.
The idea of the D-Studio is to evolve the culture of design thinking and sustainability in the Sauder community — undergraduates, graduates, staff and faculty.
Right now there are 3 active projects under the D-Studio umbrella (the first two were described as ‘pilots’ in the TLEF grant):
1. The B.Com D-Studio (COMM 486J) which has 24 active and spirited undergraduate students enrolled in a studio course every Wednesday from 3-6pm.
2. Finding ways to embed design thinking (underpinned by principles of sustainability) into the first term of the MBA program – the MBA Integrated Core. There are 110 highly engaged and talented MBA students in the Core — as well as 6 other professors as part of the full-time Core Team.
3. Developing a design thinking Community of Practice — local and global — which involves designing and implementing a buddy-press site which will provide us with a virtual home for sharing resources amongst students, faculty, staff and the business community interested in design thinking.
The diagram below notes the relationships — and adds in some of the existing Sauder courses that have close connection to the D-Studio concept.
The circle in the top right puts forward the possibility of extending the studio idea to the broad UBC community as a pedagogical model and another way to provide trans-disciplinary experience for students.
But one step at a time — getting the D-Studio initiative off the ground is a good first step.