Browsing by Author "Napier, Pamela"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 24
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    Assisted Lows: Collaboratively Finding Ways to Support T1D Patients During Hypoglycemia Episodes
    (2017) Semidey Capriles, Lisa M.; Eby, Chad; Napier, Pamela; Ganci, Aaron
    This research focuses on how hypoglycemia episodes -- low blood sugar events -- spark specific communication needs in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) patients. As a 22 year T1D veteran, I've personally faced challenges when needing, requesting and receiving an adequate response to help me overcome an episode. This research is born out of the knowledge that other people want to genuinely help, and aims to close the gap between a failure of knowing 'what to do' and effective actions.
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    Brick a Brick: Using Applied Improvisation to Build Empathy in Design Facilitators
    (2019) Meschi, Maria; Napier, Pamela
    The surge in design thinking and people-centered design worldwide has given rise to a new role for designers: design facilitator. A design facilitator is leading diverse groups of participants through the design process, providing opportunities for them to share their perspectives, and guiding them as they contribute to design solutions. These engagements require highly developed interpersonal skills, but few interventions exist to aid designers in cultivating these skills. Other disciplines have turned to applied improvisation, an approach derived from improvisational theatre, to improve communication, collaboration and other dimensions of social-emotional learning. This research examines how an applied improvisation approach might be utilized to cultivate empathy in design facilitators. To answer this question, participatory action research was conducted with design facilitators, applied improvisation facilitators, and an instructional designer. Interviews with facilitators from both contexts resulted in a model of empathy, evidence in support of the applied improvisation approach, and perceived barriers to implementation of applied improvisation in the design context. A participatory design session with facilitators from both contexts explored the specific actions that contribute to empathic facilitation and generated conceptual prototypes of an empathic facilitation training program. Finally, primary and secondary research were synthesized to create a solution prototype that was evaluated by an instructional designer and submitted to design conferences for peer review. The outcome of this research is a conceptual framework for a training program entitled, Improv for Empathic Facilitation. The solution is founded upon an experiential learning model and scaffolds learners through developing skills in four competencies: self-awareness, social awareness, collaboration, and facilitating with empathy. In addition to applied improvisation-based training, learners engage in simulated facilitation scenarios in order to practice their skills. Finally, the program utilizes a series of formative assessments by engaging in critical reflection throughout and culminates in a summative assessment at the conclusion. Criteria for the assessments is learner-generated throughout the program, honoring both their experience and expertise. This research provides a model of how to explore the cultivation of interpersonal skills in design facilitators. Additionally, by presenting its potential impact on interpersonal skills rather than cognitive skills, this research highlights a new dimension of how the fields of design and improvisation might positively impact each other.
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    Change Step: Improving Social Support for Women Veterans Through Participatory Design
    (2016) Wessel, Robert; Napier, Pamela; Eby, Chad; Wada, Terri
    This thesis discusses a participatory design project that focused on improving social support for women veterans in Indianapolis, Indiana. Using a series of design research methods to capture the voice of local women veterans, and by visually representing the outcomes of each phase of the project, the participant group and design researcher identified the needs of women veterans, considered existing social supports, and co-created a conceptual model for a social support network. This prototype network aims to make finding support easier, reduce overlap in existing social supports, and foster communication between partner support organizations. It is the first step in integrating social support for Indiana women veterans.
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    Co-designing for Healthcare: visual designers as researchers and facilitators
    (University of Cincinnati, 2015) Napier, Pamela; Wada, Terri
    This article describes the process, methods, and outcomes of a project that included multiple stakeholders in a participatory design process to re-design an indispensable service in the healthcare sector. The project explores how visual designers are taking on new roles as design researchers and design facilitators and what a human-centered design approach might look like within the healthcare sector of emergency management. Design methods included collaboratively visualizing the complexity of an existing context, including content development, production processes, distribution processes, issues, and perceptions; using generative tools to examine and discuss content, use, form, and function; prototyping toolkits to visually model processes, themes, devices, and technological capabilities; and evaluative surveying to collect and assess user feedback. The outcome of this project includes a completely redesigned product and service that has increased user subscription and satisfaction, as well as suggestions for future implications and improvements.
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    Collaborative Visualization Workshop: Engaging People, Perspectives, and Values
    (Design Research Society, 2009-08-29) Kooi, Lee van der; Napier, Pamela
    During this workshop participants will gain experience through doing collaborative visualization in a team to articulate values and perpectives, and connect facts, thoughts and ideas. They will develop a shared understanding of how their own personal values connect to a design process and the larger social, economic and environmental contexts in which design decisions are made.
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    David Craig and Pamela Napier Research Introduction
    (Center for Translating Research Into Practice, IU Indianapolis, 2021-09-24) Craig, David; Napier, Pamela
    Professors David Craig and Pamela Napier briefly discuss their translational research that deals with accessible healthcare for all Hoosiers.
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    Design Facilitation: Training the Designer of Today
    (Cumulus Association, 2015) Napier, Pamela; Wada, Terri
    Due to the inherent complexity of human-centered design—which focuses on diverse stakeholder collaboration and participation within the design process—simply understanding a design process and deploying design research methods is not enough. Rather, the designer of today must now be able to understand the increased value that stakeholders bring to the design process. The designer of today must be able to develop design activities that empower stakeholders to express, make, evaluate and collaborate. And the designer of today must be able to facilitate others, through the design process. These new abilities all point to an emerging design skillset called design facilitation. Embedded within this new skillset is the ability to develop the mindset, skills and characteristics—along with utilizing processes, process tools, methods and planning frameworks—in order to effectively facilitate others through creative, collaborative problem-solving.
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    Design for Social Change: A Pedagogical Approach to Prepare Students for Human-centered Design Practice
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Napier, Pamela
    The discipline of design is changing. Today more than ever, there is a growing need for designers to utilize their skills, methods and processes to address complex social challenges. In order to be prepared for this evolving landscape, designers of today must value and carry out a human-centered approach—putting the needs and concerns of people first—and shape design activities that enable and empower people to express, make, evaluate and collaborate in order to creatively solve problems and develop meaningful solutions. Today, design students are being required to expand their skill sets to include design facilitation, and a deep understanding of practicing human-centered, participatory design. Due to this shift in mindset and approach for social innovation, the design education community must be continuously seeking ways to teach these emerging skill sets and provide learning experiences that prepare students to be successful in today’s professional design context. With this focus, research was conducted to shape a process and approach for allowing students to work in real contexts with real people, and build new skills for designing for social change. This poster will describe a pedagogical approach that utilizes a human-centered process to help students select, develop and deploy participatory design methods in order to identify and frame social challenges. In addition, this approach teaches students to collaborate with stakeholders while generating, prototyping and evaluating solutions to those challenges. For this research, visual communication design students engaged in this process for a social design project in their senior-level studio course, VC5: Design Methods for Innovation. The pedagogical approach, process, project outline, student outcomes, and challenges/implications for future research will be highlighted.
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    Designing Design Thinking Curriculum: A framework for shaping a participatory, human-­centered design course
    (Cumulus Association, 2015) Napier, Pamela; Wada, Terri
    Within design education and practice today, new ways are continuously being developed to utilize Design Thinking in response to social, environmental, economic, and cultural factors. In the Visual Communication Design program at Indiana University, Herron School of Art and Design, Design Thinking is an integral component to both curriculum development and course content. In considering the inherent complexity of human-centered design—which focuses on diverse stakeholder collaboration and participation within the design process—simply understanding a design process and methods for collecting data is not enough. Students must go through a process of building a value system for conducting participatory design research. They must also understand the nature of the changing role of designers, from more traditional "making" roles, to design facilitators who must possess a particular mindset, model certain characteristics, employ distinct skill sets and use a specific approach. This presentation and paper will focus on an in-depth case study that describes the authors' methodology for integrating Design Thinking into the course curriculum of an undergraduate senior-level studio course, titled "Design for Innovation: Introduction to Design Methods," where students work in a variety of real contexts with diverse stakeholders throughout the design process.