Using Design Thinking to Facilitate Students' Transition to College: A Pilot Trial

Out-of-the-classroom experiences are efficacious in helping students navigate developmental challenges of transitioning to college (Astin & Sax, 1998; Busseri & Rose-Krasnor, 2008; Moore, 1998; Terenzini et al., 1999). Students are now using online social media networks (SMNs) to facilitate their transition to college (DeAndrea et al., 2011; Sponcil & Gitimu, 2012). Thus, there is demand for innovative preventive interventions that use SMNs to address the risk and protective factors associated with the transition to college. The current pilot tested Live It, an online SMN designed to facilitate student participation in out-of-class experiences that target these factors and address the developmental challenges of transition.

Interventions are underperforming in real world settings due to challenges such as scalability, user pull, mechanism to provide expanded levels of preventive content, and sustainable funding models (Kreuter & Bernhardt, 2009; Sandler et al., 2005; Spoth et al, 2013; Wandersman et al., 2008). To develop an intervention with these characteristics, the current paper used design thinking, a relatively new method for human centered product design, to develop and test Live It. The current paper describes the development and testing processes in terms of the five phases of the design thinking process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test (Design Thinking Process Guide, d.school, Stanford).

Live It is a social media platform that allows students to explore and engage in curated local experiences that enrich student engagement and feelings of connectedness with the university and surrounding areas. Additionally, Live It allows family, alumni, or other caring individuals to provide resources for student experiences via Live It gift cards. Sample was comprised of 244 first-year college students living on four floors of a residence hall during the university’s summer session (program group = 120; comparison group = 124; 51.8% male, 85.3% White, 28.1% Asian American). Program activities included online access to curated experiences, a $50 Live It gift card, and Live It experiences lead by upperclassmen.

 Students’ acceptability of Live It was high; for example, 58 percent of students agreed that Live It had experiences available that they were interested in, and 48 percent agree that they tried an activity through Live It they wouldn’t have done otherwise. Compared to the comparison group, students in the program group were familiar with more local experiences and perceived the university to have higher emphasis on campus activities and events. Lastly, behavioral data from Live It gift card usage indicates the social contagion of experiences; students spread knowledge about Live It experiences to other students, who then tried the experiences themselves, providing evidence that interventions could be delivered asynchronously.  

We discuss the utility of design thinking in intervention development and testing, and plans for improving Live It. Live It may be an efficacious tool for universities to facilitate campus events, student activities, and local experiences which support new students as they transition to college.