Description of the course
The micro-degree program aims to equip participants with academic knowledge and skills that enable organizations to better understand the connection of their activities with the UN sustainable development goals. The program covers several areas, including mapping out the areas of influence of organizational activities, analyzing and implementing sustainable solutions, and supporting the development of related knowledge about environmental changes and sustainability.
The program Environmental Innovation and Communication focuses on the use of collaborative e-platforms during practical independent work, enabling participants to develop an understanding of the role of environmental communication in creating environmentally friendly behavior. Participants will gain an overview of the most common theoretical starting points of environmental communication and the possibilities of their implementation, as well as develop their communication problem-solving ability during practical independent work.
Description of the participants
Participants in the spring 2023 session were managers and professionals from both the private and public sectors who had at least a bachelor’s degree or equivalent educational level. Course was suitable for individuals who are currently working or will be working in the near future in areas related to the green revolution, sustainable and sustainable development, implementation of environmental and innovation policy measures, and related communication. More specifically the participants were department, process, service and product managers, quality specialists, production engineers and managers, project, administration, development and executive managers of organizations of private and public sector.
Description of gamified design thinking activities
A design thinking learning activity was custom-made for the course, aiming to encourage participants to identify sustainability problems in their daily lives or work life and to find potential solutions. The activity involved participants working in groups of up to 7 individuals. To facilitate the learning process, the ICT-INOV educational platform offered instructors the flexibility to structure activities using the steps of design thinking.
Step 1: Empathize
At the beginning of the day, Jaanus Terasmaa delivered a presentation on sustainability and introduced the design thinking methodology to participants. The class was then divided into 4 smaller groups. They began the activity by sharing their ideas and thoughts on potential areas of common interest with the goal of identifying problems that could be solved using the design thinking approach. During the activity, the participants focused mainly on gathering information to become familiar with the field of sustainability and to gain a better understanding of the problems related to it. This step was important to ensure that the solutions proposed in the future by the groups were relevant and practical.
Step 2: Define
Once the participants had gained insight into the sustainability issues facing our planet and people, they moved on to defining the specific problem they would work on. They reviewed the information gathered in the empathy phase of the activity and focused on identifying the core problems to address. This step was critical in enabling the groups to develop effective and actionable solutions.
Step 3: Ideate
Participants were encouraged to post their main ideas to the ICT-INOV digital learning platform and to have a discussion with their teammates. After the discussion they selected a common problem for the whole team to address. Then they articulated the problem that they would work on. Participants reviewed the previously identified challenges and engaged in a brainstorming session to generate potential solutions. It was important for participants to focus on generating a large quantity of ideas, rather than being concerned about the quality of each idea. Whether working in teams or individually, participants were encouraged to be open-minded, non-judgmental, and to let their imaginations run wild. They were also reminded that even unconventional or fantastical solutions could be valuable, as they may later be refined into more practical and feasible solutions.
Step 4. Prototype
Participants worked to transform their ideas into paper prototypes, with the goal of receiving feedback on their solutions through interviews and other means. The focus was on creating a draft version of the intended solution, which could then be refined and improved over time. Sustainable design was emphasized, with the understanding that there are many ways to incorporate sustainability principles into the design of a solution.
Step 5: Testing and presenting
During the testing phase, participants had the opportunity to receive feedback on their prototype from users, with the goal of learning if their proposed solution would have a positive impact, and to identify areas for improvement. The feedback received during testing was valuable in helping participants refine their solution and ensure that it was effective and sustainable. In the end of this phase participants used the ICT-INOV educational platform for posting their projects before they presented their solutions to the others.
