Adventure Cards, Process Wheels,
and a Vision for Digital Storytelling:
Learning from Leonardo
Paul J. Wolff, III
Abstract This work examines the phenomenon of the Living Lab Transaction and
several user-engagement innovation tools developed to maximize meaningful interactions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university located in the northeastern region of the United States. Although much of
the research at MIT is focused outwardly on solving universal challenges such as
poverty, world hunger, and global economic issues, many students, scholars, and staff
intentionally use the 168-acre campus—located within the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts—as a working laboratory in which to experiment with ideas, inventions,
technologies, and new ways of thinking [In recent years, MIT has demonstrated a
significant commitment to using the campus as a test bed (i.e., “living labs”), as
evidenced in the launch of an Office of Sustainability that advances the educational
mission of the institute (2013), in the Plan for Action on Climate Change (2015), in
the creation of a new full-time appointment (i.e., the “Living Lab Design Manager”)
with responsibilities for cultivating research that uses the campus as a test bed for
innovation (2016), and in the Pathways to Sustainable Leadership document (Campus Sustainability Task Force, 2017)]. New tools such as the Process Wheels, the
Learning Adventure Card user interface/database, and the Discover Living Lab Web
App, which are based on the conceptual Urban Living Lab Learning Frameworks
(UL3), are introduced as examples of customizable, shared resources that cultivate
leadership, team building, and creative problem-solving skills. The tools address
common challenges that can thwart agility for project teams; they are designed to
facilitate deeper learning and new ways of seeing by weaving together knowledge
from fields such as cognitive science, fine arts, developmental psychology, philosophy, organizational behavior, applied mathematics (game theory), and from popular
culture.
Keywords Living lab · Innovation and communication tools · Knowledge
database · Leadership and team building · Campus as a test bed · Boundary
objects · Living lab frameworks · Digital learning
P. J. Wolff, III (B)
Living Lab Design and Strategic Engagement, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
600 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02464, USA
e-mail: peripherypauljoon@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15604-6_26
417
and a Vision for Digital Storytelling:
Learning from Leonardo
Paul J. Wolff, III
Abstract This work examines the phenomenon of the Living Lab Transaction and
several user-engagement innovation tools developed to maximize meaningful interactions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university located in the northeastern region of the United States. Although much of
the research at MIT is focused outwardly on solving universal challenges such as
poverty, world hunger, and global economic issues, many students, scholars, and staff
intentionally use the 168-acre campus—located within the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts—as a working laboratory in which to experiment with ideas, inventions,
technologies, and new ways of thinking [In recent years, MIT has demonstrated a
significant commitment to using the campus as a test bed (i.e., “living labs”), as
evidenced in the launch of an Office of Sustainability that advances the educational
mission of the institute (2013), in the Plan for Action on Climate Change (2015), in
the creation of a new full-time appointment (i.e., the “Living Lab Design Manager”)
with responsibilities for cultivating research that uses the campus as a test bed for
innovation (2016), and in the Pathways to Sustainable Leadership document (Campus Sustainability Task Force, 2017)]. New tools such as the Process Wheels, the
Learning Adventure Card user interface/database, and the Discover Living Lab Web
App, which are based on the conceptual Urban Living Lab Learning Frameworks
(UL3), are introduced as examples of customizable, shared resources that cultivate
leadership, team building, and creative problem-solving skills. The tools address
common challenges that can thwart agility for project teams; they are designed to
facilitate deeper learning and new ways of seeing by weaving together knowledge
from fields such as cognitive science, fine arts, developmental psychology, philosophy, organizational behavior, applied mathematics (game theory), and from popular
culture.
Keywords Living lab · Innovation and communication tools · Knowledge
database · Leadership and team building · Campus as a test bed · Boundary
objects · Living lab frameworks · Digital learning
P. J. Wolff, III (B)
Living Lab Design and Strategic Engagement, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
600 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02464, USA
e-mail: peripherypauljoon@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15604-6_26
417