Sauder commerce undergrads never cease to amaze me with their talent, commitment and creativity. At least the ones that choose to be part of the d.studio exhibit these traits. Last Wednesday was the final studio where we invited the CEOs of the 5 business that the students worked with during the major project of term to view the final results.
True enough, these reviews can turn into celebrations (or love fests as someone commented), but I am okay with this. Partly because the studio learning process is incremental with constant feedback, questions and comments. This is not the first time that students get feedback. And, actually, not the last. Florin and I are meeting next week to assign grades to the projects and provide written feedback: what they did well and where improvements can be found.
I am not from the school of “let’s really grind them during the review” — I just don’t think it is productive, especially if there are clients in the room who have worked hard along side the students and are excited by the results. Which these clients were. There were lots of business insights and ideas for these clients to take forward. Some of the groups are continuing some work with the clients because of their interest in the projects.
One of the insights from this exercise was the value of having different types of businesses and clients. The students were designing and implementing design workshops for very different clients and contexts — so they learned a lot from each other. So the final review was an opportunity to extend the learning.
I also learned a lot from this studio (as I usually do); I am determined to not completely renovate the studio for the Fall (which I tend to do) — instead I want to take the learning and refine and improve what we offered this term.
The students’ insights themselves were very useful — especially the group that realized that sometimes there just isn’t an answer right now. Not enough info. Needs research. And so on.
Here are some photos of the teams and their clients.
Van Houtte team with Client Morten Schroder
Climate Smart Business Team with client Elizabeth Sheehan
Final Review Pacific Arbour Retirement Home with client Peter Gaskill
Half Moon Yoga team with their client Beth McTavish
Met Fine team with their client Scott Gray