Design Thinking Action Lab

Assignment : Empathize

and Define (Empathy Map)

Challenge: Redesign the

School-to-work transition

Student: Cíntia Citton

Date: Aug, 5th, 2013.

University Teacher for over a decade, the person interviewed has experienced different roles on the learning process: as student, professional, employer and teacher.

During this interview he has focused on the teacher's point of view. However, the point of view from the job market as employer may also be present during some of his statements.

# 1# 2# 3# 4# 5# 6

SAY #1

- “Here in Brazil, employers think that technical

courses prepare better professionals to work

with them, because they’re more “hands-on”.”

- “Most University students here:

- don’t like to read, so, they have poor

reading history

- just want the certifi cate

- in IT Architecture (my subject) they already

come employed, so they already have some

technical skills developed and just want to

get a grade to move forward.”

SAY #2

- "I think that both theory and practice are

important for a good professional to build his

own knowledge. However, what we see here is

an University that is focused only on theory,

and a technical path that is merely practical.

Therefore, you get either someone focused on

theory but with no practical experience, or

someone who is only focused on fi nishing the

task, but not thinking about it and about the

ways to improve.“

- “The thing is: the knowledge they get at the

university might not be valid in future

scenarios, and the “just want the certifi cate”

attitude doesn’t seem to help on building

future knowledge.”

SAY #3

- "Some students come to the University with

the mindset of just getting a certifi cate,

because they also feel it is something apart

from the reality faced within their current or

future jobs, but they need their certifi cates to

move up and get access to better job posts.”

- "The table of contents that are offi cially

requested from University + the time left to

cover them + the fact that the students don't

have regular reading habits, make it hard for

us teachers to innovate on the methods, since

the content must be seen within the regular

course hours.”

SAY #4- "The school wants us teachers to innovate,

but they give us almost no tools or guidelines,

so the teacher is left alone with the task to

develop the students, but has to fi nish all the

content".

- "Some teachers think they have just to teach

the basics, they are afraid of the future

competition with their own students".

- "The only positive reaction to a diff erent class

I have perceived in my student was when I

have arranged some tours to the companies,

they really liked it."

- "My students do not react well to case study.

They are used and expect from teachers just to

explain content and make multiple choice

questions. Case study requests more thinking

than what they are willing to do."

SAY #5- "I teach at three groups during the week, same

subject. I have to teach them in the same way,

say all the same things over and over. It is

nonsense for me, and probably for many

students. I think it would be better if I could

record video classes they could watch at home

and then come to class to lab activities, group

dynamics, workshops and so on. “

- "Some students just want to seat down, listen

and answer to a multiple-choice test. Public

politics lead to this situation: the ENADE

evaluates the Universities here based on the

grades their students get on a multiple-choice

test. This leads the Universities to prepare

students rather for ENADE than for the market,

and reinforces the before-mentioned student

behavior. "

SAY #6

- "We see our students go to University just to

get the degree, and then they pay extra

courses to really learn. I think that happens

because these extra courses have more

fl exibility on their methods, can be more

practical (they don't have the same obligation

towards content as we do) and there you can

only fi nd people who are really interested, no

one is there "for the degree"... This has

allowed a whole new private teaching market,

so people are building their knowledge after

University with those extra courses.

Teaches IT at the University (more

than 10 years)

Has tried to use the following

technics:- Case study - Workshops- Tour to local companies

- Has to teach the same way 3

times a week- Has to ellaborate multi-choice

tests to get students ready for

the ENADE exams

THINK # 1

THINK # 2

THINK # 1From the “say” section it is possible to make the following inferences about the stakeholder’s thoughts:- He cannot bring many changes to his

class, for it is not ready for it.- The official requests regarding content

and evaluation are not in accordance to the challenges his students will face in the future.

- The students don’t want to read or do any extra class work. They go for the certificate.

- University should balance theory and practical approach in order to cut distances between studies and work environment

- Innovation in methods can only be brought if it doesn’t delays the content’s program.

- Students also feel this distance between University and work, therefore they are not committed to the studies.

THINK # 2- The content thought at the University

today is static and will soon be outdated. They should be giving students the tools to build future knowledge instead.

- The academic environment doesn’t seem to be worried about the situation, the major concern is to get a good review at the government’s evaluation system.

- The path for those who want to build new knowledge goes through extra courses that bring more practical activities such as labs, case studies and group discussions.

- Only extra private courses can bring the kind of learning experience that can make a difference for the students.

-Powerless to

introduce

significant

innovation to his

work by himself.

-W

ishes there could

be a more

interesting way to

teach at the

University

-Doesn’t know how

to change the

situation

University Teacher *

Make his classes more interesting

and effective

University must prepare students to build new knowledge and future.

Interviewer’s insights and initial hypothesis:- The current education system in Brazil does not motivate students or

teachers towards the learning experience- There must be alternative ways to introduce innovation to this field- Some possible alternatives include:

- One of the most important client segments of the Universities are the employers. There must be a closer and more effective dialog between these stakeholders in order to achieve a balance between the theory that enables to question current practices and the teaching of best practices, between classes and hands-on activities. This would include a stronger partnership among academic environment and enterprises, allowing more visits from students to the companies, and study of local cases (sometimes the cases content shown in class are so far from the student’s reality that they can barely relate to it).

- There should be some more autonomy to the teachers, even at public universities, or an experimental path through extra courses (maybe summer/winter courses using new approaches to the learning experience)…

- The discussion groups that should be formed to introduce the needed changes should include all kinds of stakeholders, in order to take into account all the needs at stake.

This will probably be the hypothesis chosen for the current work, since it allows more independent action towards the formulation of an alternative approach...

Final Questions:

- Is there a common strategy or method

that could be introduced to IT classes

in order to improve the

teaching/learning experience so

that this reflects on the school-to-

work transition?

- Which would be the alternative

program and method developed if

we were to build an extra course to

the one available at the Universities?

Is it already available somewhere

else? Can we adapt it to our reality?