Student Blog: OpenDesign+
Hello world, my name is Justin Koga and I am a Duke Senior studying Public Policy. This summer, I participated in Duke’s new OpenDesign+ program; an experience where my student peers, esteemed Duke I&E faculty, and I leveraged design thinking to solve some of education’s most pressing issues either caused by (or exacerbated by) the COVID-19 pandemic.
What truly made this program so special can be captured in its name, Open and Design. Inspired by open source software philosophies, OpenDesign+ taught our cohort how to design solutions that were meant to be iterated upon, communicated to stakeholders with diverse perspectives, and ultimately shared with many people in order to scale the biggest possible impact. We used a number of qualitative research methods to deeply understand our problem, and throughout this process, leveraged the principles of “open design thinking” to develop ethical, human-centered, and inclusive solutions. Read More
