Students Rethink the Office of the Registrar's Space to Enhance Collaboration, Creativity, and Engagement

The Office of the Registrar partnered with the Department of Design Studies in the School of Human Ecology to tackle an ambitious design sprint project with 15 students — redesign the Office of the Registrar’s space in three weeks.  Students elaborated on the tools and practices of Design Thinking to recognize challenges and propose creative ways to transform the space of the Registrar’s Office to promote collaboration and functionality.

Can you tell us a little about this project, and what you will be presenting at the Technology and Transfer Conference?

Scott: The Office of the Registrar has a good-size portion of the office looking to be redesigned. As the work of the Office of the Registrar continues to evolve, we wanted to have a space that could be more collaborative, adaptive and engaging and allow our staff to work more productively.  The Office of the Registrar partnered with the Department of Design Studies in the School of Human Ecology.  Professor Lesley Sager is instructing a course “Design Thinking for Transformation” that’s actually utilizing design thinking concepts and methods to redesign the Office of the Registrar.

The students presenting at the Technology and Transfer Conference will be redesigning a multi-purpose portion of the office.  Another group will be offering recommendations on the front desk area, and third group will be investigating usable cardboard furniture design.   The presentation will be about the students’ process through all the stages of design thinking.

Emily: We'll also have a finished design of the space through a 3-D modeling program to show attendees a preview of the newly redesigned office.

How is the redesign process so far?  What lessons have you learned?

Emily: For the past three days, we interviewed staff members individually and in groups on their space — what aspects of the space works, and what can be improved.  We noticed that many impromptu meetings were held in cubicles.  We want to create a space that would allow them to brainstorm and meet outside of the “quiet work” area.  We also needed this space to accommodate all-staff meetings, so we’re looking into movable walls and modular seating that can make the space as adaptable as possible.

Robyn:  When it comes to the design thinking process, observing how the staff members currently use the space can be just as important as the staff interviews.  We integrate these observations into our design so we can create a space that can fit what the staff needs, even though they’re not sure how to verbalize it at the time.  This is a really important aspect of design thinking.

Emily:  The design thinking process has five steps: empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test.  This is only day four.  Over the past few days, we’ve come up with a design challenge, prototyped and brainstormed.  We met with some staff members to test our ideas and receive feedback.  Next week, we will take our ideas and staff feedback and combine them into a cohesive design.  The third and final week will focus on the logistics, such as furniture specifications and construction documents.

Grace: We are currently in the prototyping phase.  We are creating 3-D prototyping models, and redesigning them based on the staff feedback.  We are focusing on improving collaboration, community, flexibility and productivity in the registrar’s office.

Emily: We have a lot of great students with different backgrounds, so this is a great opportunity to see how these different experiences collaborate for this big project.

Robyn: Just having this diverse group of levels and talents really help the three weeks not seem so challenging, because we have so many different ideas.

Scott:  This is a great example of the Wisconsin experience — students having this real-world experience to supplement their academic experience.  This is compounded on all the great work that our faculty do and that the students are doing in the classroom.  Because of this project, we have supported another campus initiative — these students are meeting a requirement of this course that would allow these students to earn their degrees quicker, and allow pre-students to enter the program faster.  Some of the pre-design students in this class will probably not have another experience like this for the rest of their undergraduate academic career.  Lesley and I are trying to find other campus partners where students can continue these types of projects summer after summer.

What are you looking forward to at the upcoming Technology and Transfer Conference?

Scott: The biggest thing for me is showcasing the wonderful work that some of our best students are doing.  We have 43,000 talented students at UW-Madison, and we need to find different ways to utilize the skills we are teaching these students.  Any way we can use these students to develop technological solutions, design studies, or art for our campus — this is how the registrar’s office can connect with the UW-Madison experience and the campus’ strategic values.

Grace: I’m looking forward to sharing our experience as students in this great experiment, and show the effect that design can have on your office and work.

Robyn: It’s really cool to be able to showcase what students can really do, and demonstrate the different avenues that education can take outside of the traditional lectures.