A first-of-its-kind program to train Marshall faculty, students and staff in design thinking has launched from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, also known as the iCenter.

Maddy Branham, director for the new Innovation Catalyst program, described design thinking as “a process to solve complex, human-centered problems.”

The Innovation Catalyst training offers a unique microcredential for completing the first round of the program called the Innovation Explorer Training. This first round exposes participants to the principles of design thinking and provides them with the opportunity to practice the basics of Design for Delight. Also referred to as D4D, this is the design thinking model created by Intuit, a financial software company for which University President Brad D. Smith previously served as CEO. 

Smith said the goal of the training is to allow every member of a team to improve and innovate.

“I am convinced it will be a game changer as we navigate and lead in the ever-changing higher education landscape,” Smith said in the University’s announcement of the program.

“Our goal is to have at least one Innovation Catalyst driving student-centered innovation in each academic and administrative unit on campus in three years’ time,” said Dr. Ben Eng, the iCenter’s executive director. “We believe that if we empower Marshall, faculty, staff and student leaders with design thinking skills, then they’ll be able to combine it with their own unique subject matter expertise to transform their areas for students.”

The difference between D4D and other design thinking programs is how many steps the process involves. Design for Delight follows three steps: deep customer empathy, go broad to go narrow and rapid experimentation. 

Branham described deep customer empathy as “walking in the customer’s shoes to understand what they need in order to improve their lives and really getting to know the problem they’re having.” 

Going broad to go narrow, Branham said, is “coming up with a bunch of different ideas and then narrowing down.” Going narrow focuses on solutions that are most likely to delight the customer, according to Intuit. 

The last step is rapid experimentation, or testing solutions quickly with real customers. The goal of rapid experimentation is to create “a scrappy prototype of an idea, then test it on customers,” Branham said.

She went on to say that design thinking is “not always this perfect, aligning thing.” 

“You might experiment with the customer and you might realize, ‘Wow, I don’t know their problem.’ So, you go back to customer empathy. You might realize, ‘I think I know their problem, but this isn’t the right idea.’ So, you go back to go broad to go narrow and come up with a different idea to test; or maybe you’re on the right track, but it can be improved. So, you continue to iterate the prototype and make it better.” 

The Innovation Explorer training is free to Marshall faculty, students and staff and is offered in two formats: asynchronous online or in-person for teams of up to 10. Participants can complete the training in two hours.