Applying the Design Process to Life Goals: An Experience Report from a Capstone Course

A key element in many computing and engineering capstone courses is a team or individual project. The project is often open-ended, requiring students to embrace ambiguity, consider constraints such as time, tools, and finances, and create one or more prototypes. One may also apply design thinking and the design process to their career and lives. This paper presents a "design your life" assignment, adapted from the Stanford Life Design Lab, that could be incorporated into any capstone course. The assignment had five parts: 1) three 5-year prototypes including professional and personal goals, 2) one 10-year plan, 3) a thank you note, 4) a gallery walk to observe and comment on other student's 10-year plans, and 5) reflection from a prototype conversation or experience. The goal of the prototype conversation or experience is to give students a low-stakes method to gather information about themselves. For example, if a student thinks they want to coach a robotics team but has not worked extensively with children, volunteering at an afterschool program would be a great prototype experience. The goal of the 5-year and 10-year plans is to make students create a coherent plan, so they have a roadmap for the first part of their professional journeys. The intention of the gallery walk is to build community. This paper presents the course context, details about the assignment, examples of student work, and suggestions for adoption.