BUCSBIN reflection by King’s College, Nepal
What impact has BUCSBIN made at King’s College? Hmmm… interesting question.
Recently we were discussing in one of our reflective coffee talks about how the Lab Studio Model and its principles have become central to our way of thinking about education. Whenever we are brainstorming ideas, creating workshops, facilitating classes, coming up with methods and models for teaching/learning, or even facing an administrative challenge we are always aware about being user/human centered. The learnings from BUCSBIN has been central to our way of thinking when we discuss about strategies, tools, techniques, process and philosophy of redesigning education in Nepal.
So it is not easy to say exactly this and that are “impact”. I will try to broadly categorize the impact into two categories — tangible and intangible as far as my memory serves me.
Tangible impact
- Created physical infrastructure for DoLAB (website, email, Facebook)
- Created TeachLAB training, a spin-off of Lab Studio Model for teachers
- Workshops for stakeholders from diverse backgrounds based on the pedagogy of Lab Studio Model
- Created an Integrated Course Curriculum, combining Entrepreneurship, Business Ethics, and Communication
- Changed teaching methodologies by increasing number of teachers
- Consulting on human centered design projects
- Starting research on entrepreneurial intentions
Intangible impact
- A validated concept for our student centric line of thinking
- Human centered mindset amongst our colleagues
- Prototype mindset within the team
- Thinking about strategies to make students/participants become self-directed learners
- Creating an environment of trust and care within the classrooms
- Helping students deal with uncertainty and ambiguity
- Increased conversations on making our curriculum user-centered
Let us hear from a few of our King’s College colleagues (they had more to say, this is a gist):
Sushant Rizal, Program Officer at King’s Incubator
We co-create our incubation program with the incubatees, iterating the program design from their feedback. Before BUCSBIN it used to be what we thought would be best for the incubatees — generally components of Business Model Canvas.
On a personal level I always look forward to learn more about design thinking after BUCSBIN.
Umes Shrestha, Assistant Professor at King’s College
Through BUCSBIN project, I was able to dive deeper into the concept of design thinking and later apply those insights in my classrooms. One of the biggest takeaways for me would be Ulla Maija’s statement “Feedback is a gift”.
Raunak Chaudhari, Adjutant Lab Master at King’s College
After BUCSBIN, I am more confident in designing learning programs like the Summer Fellowship and Do Camp workshops. This confidence comes from Lab Studio Model’s understanding the value of knowing and building on the “why”, and not fearing failure by having a prototyping mindset.
Oh yeah! I used to be a student and now I work as an Adjutant Lab Master.
Samip Dhungel, Faculty/Researcher at King’s College
BUCSBIN introduced me to the practice of Lab Studio Model, which has become sort of a mission in my work life as an educator, and as a subject of my research.
I was fortunate to be chosen to travel to Finland as an exchange student and to go through the DevLAB semester at Oulu University of Applied Sciences.My experience with the innovative DevLAB curriculum currently shapes the way I look at entrepreneurship and education as a business faculty at King’s College. I take elements from my learning experience and apply it while delivering my own courses.
Without overstating, I must say my BUCSBIN experience strongly shaped my career choices.
Smriti Karanjit Manandhar, Faculty/Head Student Development at King’s College
If I had had to summarize the impact of BUCSBIN on me, then it would be phrases like “Figure It Out”, and “Self-Directed Learning”. In fact it had such an impact on me that it has apparently become a part of my teaching style.
Recently, a Professor from the US, after observing my class said to me that he was very impressed by the way I was asking questions to students, the way I made them find answers to their own questions, and then synthesized the whole thing.
Indeed this learning from figuring things out has helped me change my approach from giving answers to helping people figure out their own ways of doing things just by asking some appropriate questions.
