The world of student associations, is not all what it seems to be. Here, like in the corporate boardroom, we find a world of personal ambition that drive unproductive acquisitions and other unwanted managerial behavior. Agency problems as studied by Jensen & Meckling (1976) and eloquently summarized by Gordon Gekko (1987) are major causes of the credit crisis of 2008.
Behaviour change design has much to gain with the integration of insights from the behavioural sciences in the design process. However, this integration needs to be done without hampering the creative process. In two rich design cases aimed at health and safety behaviour change, we describe our efforts to develop a method for theory driven design based on the Double Diamond. Our method attempts to integrate insights from the Persuasive by Design-model (PbD) for behaviour change into the entire design process. Our case studies demonstrate that our method indeed augments the integration of theory and evidence in our designs, but only if the Double Diamond process model is complemented with an evaluation phase, and insights from the PbD-model are derived using rich, well developed tools.
We developed and piloted a course, called Changemakers, that supported interdisciplinary student-led action groups to identify social and environmental sustainability challenges and influence systemic change. By exposing students to dynamic and complex issues from multiple stakeholder perspectives, Changemakers aimed to empower students to find and use their voice and agency to make a difference in society. Students need knowledge and skills to navigate societal challenges, address SDGs and build confidence and creativity to change the status quo (Lozano, 2017; Raelin, 2009). Changemakers provided a playful and safe learning environment to explore societal challenges, form inclusive and sensitive judgments, and enact interventions for change. Students developed self-efficacy (Bandura, 2001) that were encouraged to be autonomous and self-directed in their learning (Morris, 2019). Through learning-by-doing, students gained a set of leadership and change management skills that can be applied to a variety of professional settings in local and global contexts.
