Design Thinking Workshop for 20 Engineering students by Rajan Patel for 21 days.
Posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 by LEAD
Rajan Patel, who is a student of Stanford University (MBA), was a facilitator for the Design Thinking
workshop which was organised in the month of June, for the Engineering LEAD
students who participated from different parts of India. Rajan has shared his
experience as student and as a mentor being with the student’s of India.
I never considered myself the creative type. I was good at maths, science, and technical problem solving and I wanted to use those skills of mine to pursue a stable career path. I grew up thinking I wanted to be a doctor. I surely never thought that I would be an entrepreneur.But after I graduated from college at Stanford, I actually designed an innovative product and helped build a social enterprise, Embrace, which has since won numerous international design awards and impacted and saved the lives of over 100,000 babies in developing countries across the globe.
This transformation and empowerment
was no mistake or coincidence. During my engineering experience at Stanford, I
was given the opportunity to learn framework to help design products and
solution for real problems in the world.
In order to achieve this, I developed a curriculum for a three-week
workshop on the Design Thinking, Making, and Entrepreneurship for college
students. I was extremely lucky to be able to partner with the Deshpande Foundation (and
the LEAD program, in
specific), who hosted me, helped me reach local students, and helped run the
workshop. Their mission and ethos is very much in line with my own vision and
they have so much valuable experience in the space. I was inspired by the
energy of the students and youth who manage and participate in their LEAD
programs. The opportunities they offer – camps, trips, financial support,
access to networks, training, etc. – have created an energized group of youth
who are making real change in the community and for their country.
The next phase of the workshop focused on making, as each student was
given the opportunity to use their hands to create. They first worked in teams
to learn and build electronics prototypes using Arduino, an easy-to-use
electronics software and hardware platform. In just two days, students taught
themselves how to use the boards, program code, and build functional prototypes
in which certain inputs triggered a corresponding output action.
Throughout the workshop, students learned about entrepreneurship. We were lucky to have met with so many inspiring entrepreneurs such as Sasi Sekar and AnupVijapur of NanoPix, Arjun Bhat from Travspire, Adithya Pasupuleti of Innovation 101, among others, who all shared their personal stories, the ups and downs of their entrepreneurial journeys, personal advice on starting up a company, and served as role models for the budding entrepreneurs to aspire to.
For the final part of the workshop, the students used all they had
learned to get into the field, identify problems in their community, and begin
to develop ways to potentially address them. Students interacted with farmers,
doctors, patients, and handloom workers to identify needs and then ideate
potential solutions. The most meaningful moments for me were hearing
students talk about how the experience has allowed them to understand their own
ability to identify and address problems, something they did not realize
before.
Based on the feedback and what I observed with the students’ work and
attitudes, though, it is clear that they have truly developed the skills and
confidence to go on and create change in their communities. Especially with the
continuing support and amazing opportunities at the Deshpande Foundation, I am
excited to follow and help these students as they become leaders and problem
solvers. My work also does not end here and I will continue doing my small part
in empowering India’s youth to be the change makers they can be!
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