The first semester is characterised by confusion. But the magic happens when students become confident and give themselves over to the uncertain development process.
There is always a right answer to the question we are asked. At least that's what we learn throughout primary and secondary school. For some, it continues at university, but in more project-driven specialisms - like ours - it can suddenly be completely different.
When you run and create development as a project, the starting point is always that no one knows the final answer. You don't even know if there is an answer or a good solution.
As a new student, it can be extremely difficult to relate to. For some, it almost requires unlearning the search for the ”right answer” that you've been trained to do throughout your life.
We see it again and again when a new class of students starts Product Analysis and Redesign at DTU, which we teach. On a very practical level, during the first semester, we are often asked if a specific direction or idea ”is what we are looking for”.
Well, we don't know that. We're not looking for a specific end result. Instead, we're looking for a good process and some exciting ideas that we wouldn't have come up with ourselves. And that takes time.
A new way of learning
Innovation is not for everyone, and the Danish education system should not put everything on the innovation board. There is also a need for smart people who can find answers without having to innovate. But perhaps innovation should be a little more prominent.
It's certainly a challenge for many new students - with good reason - when learning to work with innovation. And to frame it against the normal way of going to school, we like to pull out a quote from John Chris Jones, who knows a thing or two about design methods:
“Think of the designer as an explorer, searching for the undiscovered ‘treasure’ of a satisfactory solution concept.”
They're on the move!
The first semester is characterised by confusion. But already in the second semester, the mindset starts to fall into place for most people because they are so heavily exposed to innovation and development during the course.
This development is fantastic for us to experience first-hand. When we can feel that students start to feel more comfortable being in the uncertain process, things start to happen.
That's where the exciting solutions come from: when they don't try to hit what they think we want to see, but instead indulge in the process. When they let new and sometimes crazy ideas take over and come up with something completely new that we haven't seen before.