By Erin Kraal, CEL Faculty Director
Our learners are the center of an empathy map. Originally part of “design thinking,” an empathy map is a visualization tool designed to help build understanding about a user’s — or learner’s — experience. They are widely used by businesses and in human-computer interaction. In Higher Education, empathy maps help us understand student experiences in specific learning environments. In short, empathy maps are reflective visual depictions of our “typical” students that remind us of who is in our class, help us connect with them emotionally, and help us pay attention to the learners’ experience by reflecting deeply on their perspective.
Empathy maps consider four aspects of typical learning during a specific educational experience:
Say and Do | What does the learner say out loud? What do they share verbally? What actions or behaviors happen? What do they physically do? These are comments and actions that are observable by others. |
Think and Feel | What thoughts do they have? What are they thinking but might not share? What is their emotional state around this experience? |
Hear | What do they hear? What sources do they hear it from? |
See | What do they observe? What is visible to them? |
We can also think about the following:
Pain Points – What are the barriers or difficulties the learner might experience?
Gain Points – What are tangible positive outcomes for the learner?
Empathy maps can be applied to an experience (such as orientation or advising), a specific course, or an experience within a course (like exams or studio time). Instructors can build empathy maps from a variety of sources reflecting on their courses, collecting (informal) survey data, considering student background, thinking about the course or experience in the course sequence, and/or asking students directly.
You can do an empathy map yourself! Download a template, below:
Things to Consider
At the national level:
The CDC estimates that over half of the adults in this country have experienced at least one trauma before the age of 18, a statistic that is greatly increased for BIPOC or LGBTQ+ populations.
The Healthy Minds Survey of College Students in 2021-22 found 44% of students reported symptoms of depression, 37% reported anxiety disorders and 15% reported having seriously considered suicide in the past year.
It is estimated that almost 50% of college students in this country are exposed to a potentially traumatic event during their first year of college.
At the local level:
About 25% of KU students identify as first-generation college students.
31% of our students are Pell Eligible and 80% have financial need.
~14% of our students have DSO accommodations.
Every day ~41 students visit the Bear Pantry for emergency food/supplies and 220 students a week use the campus food pantry.
References and Resources
Alonso, J. (2024, January 29). Discrimination is a form of trauma for some students. Inside Higher Ed.
Gibbons, S. (2018). Empathy mapping: The first step in design thinking. Nielsen Norman Group.
Edutopia. (2021). Building relationships with empathy maps. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quX-YZ48Zlg
University of Waterloo, Centre for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Practical tools to empathize with your learners.
Imad, M. (n.d.). Trauma-informed teaching and learning (for teachers). [Video, 57 minutes].
Carello, J. (n.d.). Twenty tips and reminders for teaching during a crisis. In Trauma-Informed Teaching & Learning: Bringing a Trauma-Informed Approach to Higher Education.
Healthy Minds Network. (n.d.). Healthy Minds Study. Retrieved from https://healthymindsnetwork.org/hms/
Dr. Erin Kraal is the current Faculty Director for the Center for Engaged Learning and a professor in the Department of Physical Sciences where she teaches planetary science, astronomy, geology, and science writing. She is particularly interested in exploring how faculty teach and students learn the process of science. In her non-work time, she likes to hike, travel, and cook and has recently taken up a new hobby of learning to watercolor (yeah, YouTube videos!)