Engaging Students through DICE: Design Thinking, Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

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DICE (Design Thinking, Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship) was a two-week workshop at POSTECH University, in South Korea. Professors from George Mason University (GMU) engaged a group of undergraduate students from GMU and POSTECH to work on global problem solving using DICE. The focus was on creating scholars with interdisciplinary interest and entrepreneurial streak, empowered to break down disciplinary boundaries for solutions of impact on pressing human needs. Students were teamed up and leveraged user-centered design to innovate in solving real-world challenges. Creativity and engineering concepts included brainstorming techniques, hands-on building and technology enhanced learning modules. For hands-on activities students were asked to present usable and useful projects. We discuss one such case study in this work involving the design of a chair cane. Another example of activity generated solutions to problems identified with glasses. Teams worked on a long-term project to come up with solutions to health issues in their respective countries. Pre and post-tests were applied and creativity level, analytical skills, and design approaches were evaluated.

Author(s):

Nathalia Peixoto    
Electrical and Computer Engineering
George Mason University
United States

Padmanabhan Seshaiyer    
Mathematics
George Mason University
United States