Module 2

Empathy

Empathy is:

“As a human-centered designer you need to understand the people for whom you are designing. The problems you are trying to solve are rarely your own—they are those of particular users; in order to design for your users, you must build empathy for who they are and what is important to them” (d school Stanford University, 2020).

Video transcript

Our first step is to understand out target audience.  To do this, our strategy will be to complete an empathy map.  This strategy separates emotions and feelings for us to better understand the user. 

When completing the map, listen to the person you are interviewing and write down:

What the user did, thought, felt, and said. What did you see and hear Afterwards, reflect and think about their pains and gains.

Activity

Let’s complete an empathy map!  You will read a scenario and learn what the four users are feeling.  Please use this empathy map template. You may complete one map outlining all four people or complete one map per person.  Save the maps as you will need to reference on the next step.  If you are working with a partner, you may complete one set of map/s.

Design Challenge

Interim President Anne Holton announced the creation of the Tiger Team to advise the administration how to reopen George Mason University.  In addition to safety concerns, student morale is low due to the stress from the abrupt move to online learning as well as disruptions in family and work life.  Recent Facebook posts and a student quoted in the NY Times have made the committee aware of the need to reengage students and get them motivated to return in the fall.  You have been appointed to a sub-committee to address these issues.  Read the comments below.  How does the administration address getting students excited about studying at GMU in the fall? What can Mason do immediately and when the students return?

Facebook posts

Please note, these are unedited and real FB posts.

Concerned parent “I hope GMU is looking forward to next semester and figuring out how to go back to normal classes or they will lose many students including our daughter…online is not the answer and not what we paid for! I listen to my daughter complain almost everyday about how bad the instructions are…cancelling classes with zero advance notice but expect material to be learned on student’s abilities. The professors are not responsive to her emails. We will not pay out of state level tuition for sub-par learning and poor instructional classes! Please find a way because our daughters loves GMU! Refocus on your students!”

FB Student 1 “As much as important to stay at home right now but what you said is so true. Base your my experience with GMU during COVID 19, some professors don’t know how to manage online classes and the transition from in class to online was very difficult to adjust! In one particular case my professor’s grading scale changed so bad that could effects everyone’s grade dramatically. I complained to her and she even ignored my email for couple days then answered in a brief email without pinpointing my concerns. And there is no place to send your complain. It’s very frustrating.”

FB Student 2 “The coronavirus has changed almost every aspect of our lives at Mason. Classes are now online, no more eating at the dining hall, no walking across the stage in May at EagleBank Arena during graduation — all while we hear of the thousands of people who are ill and dying around the country and the world.It’s scary. But we can do something to help stop the spread of the virus. Practice social distancing. Don’t gather in groups, avoid crowds, and whoever you are with, stay at least six feet away. Because even if you are not showing symptoms you can still have and spread illness. As college students, we are not immune nor are we invincible. Reports say 48 percent of those with the virus are between the ages of 20 and 54. Though most people who get coronavirus recover and many people have mild symptoms, if you feel sick, it is important to stay home, except to get medical care! Social distancing will protect you and your families, and those whose compromised immune systems might not be able to fight the disease. Flatten the curve. Mason Nation, we can do this together.”

NY Times interviewed student “Things are much more self-managed. My emotions toward school range from feeling unmotivated to writing shadow letters to my professors apologizing for my lack of focus. I have always loved school, but this doesn’t feel like learning. My professors try to create normalcy, but there is none.” (New York Times, 2020)

d school Stanford University. (2020). Design Thinking Bootcamp Bootleg. Stanford d.School. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/the-bootcamp-bootleg

New York Times. (2020, April 23). Teachers and Students Describe a Remote-Learning Life—The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/education/learning/coronavirus-teachers-students-remote-learning.html

Did completing the empathy map help you better understand the thoughts and feelings of the users? Write a reply below