Empathy

Requirements: Half sheets of paper, dry erase markers

To design solutions, you must understand problems and to understand problems you must empathize.

Don't believe me? Let's try something.

Suppose you're trying to understand the experience of college students because you want to design solutions that make college easier to survive.

Brainstorm your problems (5 min)

On a piece of paper, write down at least 5 things that you think makes college hard for you, and for each one, brainstorm a solution.

Brainstorm your classmates' problems (5 min)

Now, write down at least 5 things that you think makes college hard for your classmates. For each one, brainstorm a solution.

Uncover needs (5 min)

1. Find one person in class you don't know.
2. Share your list of things that make college difficult.
3. Did they predict any of your problems?
4. Would any of their solutions helped you? Why or why not?
5. Now, it's your partner's turn.

Share (10 min)

• What problems surprised you?
• Would any of your solutions have worked?

Visualize (10 min)

Let's write down all of the problems you encountered.

Raise your hand if you have each one.

Let's deconstruct the problems inside the problems. How could design one solution to solve all of those problems?

Credit

Sign the activity sheet for credit.