Description of the course
Please see section LIFE course
Description of the participants
The second LIFE course using the ICT-INOV innovation building methodology took place in the spring semester of the 2022 – 2023 academic year. A total of 11 students were engaged in the course. The students were enrolled in a variety of Tallinn University curriculums, such as IT management, law and educational sciences. The course took place weekly on Wednesdays, with each session having a duration of 2 hours.
Description of gamified design thinking activities
A learning activity based on design thinking was reused for the previous LIFE course. The objective of the learning activity was to challenge students to design and deliver a solution that would enable the exchange of second hand goods between TLÜ students.
Students first worked in a single group and after the first month they divided into groups of up to 5 individuals. The activity was structured as follows:
Step 1: Team building
Team building activities took place during the 1st class session. Students played ice breaking games. Subsequently, the educators introduced the course and the ICT-INOV digital learning platform.
Step 2: Problem discovery
Students were encouraged to research on and off-line the challenge in focus, as well as existing solutions. They shared their findings with their teams through the ICT-INOV digital learning platform. Each student published the results of their research work on the ICT-INOV digital learning platform.
Step 3: Defining the problem
Students were encouraged to have a discussion with their peers and articulate the problem in focus. They were encouraged to talk to end users, namely foreign students who come to study in Estonia only for a few years. They documented their findings on the ICT-INOV digital learning platform.
Step 4: Brainstorming and ideation
Students engaged in brainstorming exercises, such as the 6-3-5 method, using pen and paper. The students selected the best ideas that came out of that session.
Step 5: Prototyping
Students created a low fidelity prototype, meaning that they started a Facebook® group and constructed rules on how to use the cabinet system. They also remodeled the cabinet itself to look nicer.
Step 6: Presentation
The final presentation took place on May 16, 2023. Students received feedback from peer and educators. All feedback was very positive. Students felt that they did a good job and made their own contribution towards saving the world from overconsumption.
