Working together on a design thinking case and on one presentation with 24 people is a hard task and – as in every group work – of course not everyone was able to participate equally at it. Everybody has his or her own expectation of how things should be done and it’s hard to create something that everyone is okay with. But some of us were able to take responsibility and gave their best to split the 5 phases of Design Thinking into work packages on that everyone could participate.
What also made the process of creating a proper product/presentation harder is the fact that it’s not that easy to work yourself into a business case properly in such a short time span (5–7 days).
Besides, working on the group task might have been way less interesting than getting to know our exchange students from the USA (which is also something that this seminar is about, I guess).
When we got to know each other it happened very quickly that we built a very good connection to the American students – at least after the first few beers on Thursday and Friday evening. 😉
All of us enjoyed the Design Thinking seminar, and every day was full of new positive experiences and a lot of fun. Working on the case didn’t feel much like work but more like creating something with friends. And the evenings were even better.
We guided the Americans around in Münster and showed them the most important places like the market, the Aasee, the castle and of course some clubs and pubs. We also introduced them to the Münster bike culture and let them rent some bikes to make sure they got the full Münster experience (and could move from A to B).
Not only did we learn a lot about Design Thinking and about some parts of the American culture, we also made new friendships that remain consistent via the internet.
I think I’m speaking for most of us if I say that the Design Thinking Seminar was the best experience that we made during our university time so far and we can only recommend it.