SMU and C-Hear joined hands for social good. The experience was remarkable!

The Southern Methodist University (SMU) has made commendable contributions to the field of education. It is an honor to say that C-Hear recently had the pleasure of working together with SMU.

Brian Sullivan, the Director of Design Strategy at Sabre Corporation, developed an innovative course called Design Thinking for the students at SMU. The objective of the course was to make students learn the process that goes into developing and marketing new technology, taking into account factors like user research and consumer insights. The course is currently taught by J. Schuh and Bill Ward with both the instructors having remarkable expertise in their field.

To make the course more impactful and the learning experience of the students more real, Brian and J. decided to bring a real-world social good non-profit company as a case study for the students. We are extremely pleased to say that the company selected was C-Hear.

The students used C-Hear as a case study and put it through the design thinking process. Students teams were taught the importance of creating empathy maps for potential customers and of modifying product design and marketing strategy as per the needs and wants of the end-user. They applied design thinking to make plans that would help a brand or a non-profit grow.

C-Hear’s key stakeholders, including the CEO Adena Harmon, the COO Jesse Collard, the CEO of AdaptivApps Linda Robison, and the VP of Revenue Strategy Gina Cavalier, were all a part of their journey. The stakeholders attended the class sessions themselves and incorporated many design thinking ideas, which helped their mission of using technology to create products that will benefit everyone, including the people with disabilities. By the end of the course, the students presented their creative ideas and plan to C-Hear’s stakeholders.

Among the products discussed was C-Hear’s Intelligent File Format called CHIF. The team at C-Hear benefitted greatly from the creative ideas of the students at SMU and the wisdom of the faculty members. C-Hear will be delighted to be a part of such ventures in the future as well. We express our deepest gratitude to South Methodist University and appreciate their efforts towards social good.

There is nothing that cannot be achieved through co-operation and teamwork. The world needs creative minds to ideate and work together to come up with solutions that will benefit all humanity alike and make the world a better place.

To know more about SMU and its creative programs, visit:

https://www.smu.edu/Pro/certificates/certificates-in-person/user-experience-design