McMurtry Award Lecture 2020-2021: Alison Murphy
Channel: ISTatPENNSTATE
Date: 10/11/2020

"The Importance of Empathy in Teaching and Design."
 
Imagine a hospital system that prevents nurses from being able to enter a medication order, even when they’re responsible for entering it. Imagine industry software that uses colors to signify the status of various projects, but it’s being used by an employee who is colorblind. Imagine a pregnancy app that makes suggestions that are not affordable or feasible for women of lower socioeconomic status. 

When system designers fail to empathize with users, it can result in certain users feeling frustrated and excluded. As teachers who are training the next generation of IT professionals, it’s important that we give students the awareness and tools they need to develop systems that are both well designed and inclusive. 

In this talk, I will discuss the important role of empathy in both teaching and design. I will describe my use of IDEO’s design thinking framework as a fun way for students to practice empathy, creatively brainstorm technology solutions, and illustrate their ideas with digital prototypes. I will also share the positive results I’ve experienced both inside the classroom and in industry when starting with empathy.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Alison Murphy is an assistant professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State Brandywine where she enjoys teaching students to think critically and creatively about IT design and the socio-technical impacts of technology. Alison also conducts interdisciplinary research on how to improve the usability of health IT for both individuals and organizations through the use of qualitative methods and user experience design principles. Prior to earning her doctorate, Alison was an IT project manager and compliance manager at Johnson & Johnson supporting research and development, clinical trials, and manufacturing. Alison holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in information sciences and technology and earned industry certifications as a project management professional, Six Sigma Green Belt, and agile scrum master.

About the Award:
The George J. McMurtry Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award is named for the former associate dean of the College of Engineering who was instrumental in the founding of the College of IST. The award highlights recipients’ innovative teaching, commitment to learning and creative interface in the classroom or in online courses they teach.