NTU Beats April 2025

The D-School at National Taiwan University (NTU) departed from the traditional practice of posting course results by hosting D-Night at the Excellence Research Building. “The spirit of D-School is about having fun. From D-Day to D-Night, everyone here is a pioneer,” declared D-School Vice Dean Sheng-Lin Chang in his warm welcome remarks at the opening of D-Night.

The event showcased eight speakers in various fields who presented talks about their personal journeys in academia and career. Hsi-Tzu Chang, a graduate of the Department of Sociology who has led leadership programs, shared how he had cultivated the courage to try new things by observing those he admired during his college days. Possessing such courage, he stressed, “When you fail, you don’t see it as the end, but as part of the process. You keep trying until you can’t think of any more methods.” This insight gave him the courage to later establish two non-profit organizations: the International City Nomads Development Association and the Good Planet Cultural Foundation.

Shih-Lung Chao, Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology of Taipei City, was a key initiator of the Creative Entrepreneurship Program during his student days in the Department of Electrical Engineering. After graduation, he continued working in the startup field. Although he claims with a smile that he avoids politics, his long involvement in startups led to a invitation from Chiang Wan-an to help draft an industry and technology white paper. After Chiang was elected mayor of Taipei, Chao unexpectedly joined the city government team. In closing, he encouraged the audience to embrace Serendipity—“the ability to make unexpected discoveries”—and maintain curiosity and a willingness to try new things.

Ruo-Xuan Xu, who started from scratch in the NTU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program, embarked on a new path during her academic journey. From her early interest in menstrual health to later researching aerial yoga, her learning path was meandering yet forward-moving. “Exploration often requires taking many detours. At the time, I didn’t know where it would lead, but looking back, I realize there was a reason for it, and it connects perfectly with my learning journey.”

D-Night attracted over 250 participants, including NTU students and faculty, entrepreneurs, and high school students. Whether they were explorers seeking direction or action-oriented individuals preparing for future success, the attendees left D-Night feeling fresh, inspired, and energized. They all gained precious insights and motivation from these eight real-life stories and enjoyed an evening filled with inspiration and joy.

You-Xuan Chen, Program Manager of NTU’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program, sharing how reading Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life leads to a deeper understanding of how to design one’s life. She encouraged the audience to “open their minds to different life perspectives.”

 

Invited attendees of D-Night: former and current members of the D-School community listen to D-School alumni share their stories of growth, highlighting the diverse possibilities within D-School.

 

Introducing a photo booth at D-Night for the first time.

NTU Beats April 2025

Nicknamed “King Sailor” on NTU campus, Huaipu Chen, a student in the Trans-disciplinary Bachelor Degree Program (TBD), participated in D-School’s Exploratory Learning program during the 2023 academic year. Together with Bryon, an American captain, King Sailor embarked on a sailing adventure from Mexico which became a journey of self-discovery and adventure for him. Chen documented his journey by producing and editing the film, “Explorer’s Adventure: Sailing in Search of Home.” Through this film, he shared the pivotal life-changing moments that have shaped him, as well as the challenges of his life at sea, port stops, and local cultural experiences. He says, “I want to spend my life exploring the unknown. I don’t want to rely on maps drawn by others—I will visit every corner of the world on my own. The Arctic and Antarctic are among my destinations, and from that, I will paint my own picture of the world.”

Huaipu Chen hopes that one day, his name will be among the most influential people in marine science. To bring his dream of becoming a marine science explorer closer to reality, he obtained a sailing competency certificate from the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and became the youngest-ever RYA Yachtmaster in Asia. He also plans to travel to the Arctic to study narwhals and undergo polar training.

Ruby Yun-Ju Huang, Chief of the Exploratory Learning program and a professor in the Department of Medicine, remarked, “NTU always stands behind its students, encouraging them to bravely follow their dreams and become who they want to be.” Shenglin Elijah Chang, Director of the Trans-disciplinary Bachelor Degree Program (TBD), added, “The TBD program is a place that offers you courage and the means to pursue your dream. If you dare to dream, we are here to support you.” Do you have a dream? Don’t be afraid—D-School is here to help you dream big and turn those dreams into reality!

Related Links:

✦ Trans-disciplinary Bachelor Degree Program
✦ Exploration Learning

Huaipu Chen sailing towards his dream of becoming a marine science explorer.

 

Screening and sharing session of King Sailor’s documentary Explorer’s Adventure: Sailing in Search of Home.

 

Huaipu Chen sharing his story of exploration and learning on his sailing adventures.

NTU Beats October 2023

This year, D-School D-DAY, an end-of-semester sharing session, drew nearly 500 participants. Themed “D-DAYDREAMER,” the event attracted people to realize their dreams and ignited a spark in everyone’s heart.

The band that performed at the university’s commencement ceremony was invited to play at the opening ceremony of D-School D-Day, drawing an impressive crowd to dance around the stage. The Trans-disciplinary Bachelor Degree Program spotlighted 25 students who had broken away from the disciplinary silos of traditional higher education to create new fields of their own, such as creativity education, long-term care for the elderly, and animal rights. The trans-disciplinary program gives students the opportunity to “explore and learn” with a high degree of flexibility and freedom. The students can take courses in any field they wish during the program. By taking advantage of every resource inside and outside the university, they can explore every possibility in pursuit of their dreams.

At the venue of the Trans-disciplinary Bachelor Degree Program presentation, the participants could pick up gold coins to invest in the projects that were interesting to them. Many students in the program were on hand to share details about the process of working on their projects with the participants, while expressing their ideas through self-media campaigns and workshops to expand their influence.

Lastly, the highlight of the event was unveiled in the D-School course presentation area. The participating students marveled at such projects as Food Design and Social Innovation, Active Aging in Place: Home Culture, Design for Well-being: Redefining Health from a Multi-Dimensional Perspective, as well as a variety of cross-disciplinary courses focusing on the practical aspect of projects. The participants all took photos and notes while exclaiming, ” I really want to take this course next term!”

Petit Theatre interacted with the students.

 

The students presented their projects to faculty members.

 

Group photo of students in the “Healthcare and Innovation Design” course with Vice President Shan-Chwen Chang (4th from the right).

NTU Beats April 2024

“Design Your Life” is one of the popular courses at NTU D-School. This course focuses on guiding students to explore themselves; moreover, at the end of the semester, the significant others in the students’ lives will be invited to a sharing session, where they will reflect on their process of exploration, their new understanding of themselves, as well as their future aspirations.

“Can life be designed?” is a question that is often raised in this course. Huang, a student from the Department of Business Administration, said that the core of life design includes “community, time and practice.” Courses like this build a supportive community and give students the courage to do what they have always wanted to do. This process takes time and requires practical actions.

Ying, a student from the Department of Biomechatronics Engineering, mentioned: “Although many of us met one another in this course for the first time, everyone at D-School is kind enough to offer great support and encouragement to their respective plans.” The guests included not only classmates but also partners, friends and family. Prof. Shi-Wei Chu, Vice President for Student Affairs, pointed out that such companionship and support are the most precious assets in life. Students spend a lot of time thinking about their lives in this course, which is rare in university studies.

With the dedicated support from a team of students and faculty members, “Design Your Life” has been on offer for 5 years. Prof. Pin-Hao Chen from the Department of Psychology and Prof. Wenn-Chieh Tsai from D-School acknowledges and appreciates their contribution along the way.

Even after graduation, the seniors set up the Detour Team to continue to support the course, allowing students to find out their own life paths through conscious attempts, and realize the blueprint of their ideal life.

 

Students review the past, reflect on the present, and learn to take action through the course. These experiences become the stories they tell their significant others. Through exploration, they share their hesitations, growth paths, and future directions.

 

This is an occasion for honest sharing where everyone can hear each other’s plans and offer support.

NTU Highlights 104

The NTU Leadership Program upholds four core values—Team, Altruism, Action, and Change—with an aim to cultivate leadership thinking, problem-solving skills, and effective communication in students. The program has designed a series of leadership classes, including Introduction to Leadership, The Operational Thinking of Leading Enterprise, and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. The expert guidance of professionals with workplace experience helps students learn how to generate new ideas and refine and narrow down to the best idea during a project, thereby letting students acknowledge that to “lead” and to “be led” are equally important in teams. The program also collaborates with the Taiwan Women on Boards Association to offer Leadership Lectures that give students the opportunity to learn from and interact with corporate leaders.

The program organizes various activities to facilitate interaction among lecturers, industry professionals, and students outside the classroom. Events such as Study Abroad and Internship Experience Forum provide a platform for experienced students to share their adventures with other peers, which encourages students to explore different possibilities. As students learn more about their potential and explore future learning opportunities, they also work to bring about changes to their lives by focusing on diverse societal issues such as social inequality mitigation, environmental sustainability, and local revitalization. The students then work in teams to put theory into practice. For example, the Refugee Network Taiwan initiative provides online English classes to refugees and has won the Best Impact Award in the U20 International Youth Forum. The Leadership Program ignites a fire within students and gets them to confront future challenges, hoping that they will become leaders of change and contribute to the society and the world.

In collaboration with the Taiwan Women on Boards Association, Leadership Lectures has invited 57 leaders from a variety of professional fields since Fall 2021. These lectures guide students to understand the job market and industrial development, which enable them to make career plans early.

 

Via online teaching, the NTU Leadership Program project – Refugee Network Taiwan provides fundamental education to Syrian refugee children and further establishes a job-matching platform for refugees to solve the problems of unemployment.

 

The Operational Thinking of Leading Enterprise (OTLE) class holds an OTLE Alumni Assembly, during which alumni share personal career experiences. Such event encourages students from different departments to gather and exchange ideas.

NTU Beats January 2024

“Have you heard of cage-free eggs?”

Chia-Chi Tsai, CEO of Talent Field, a community placemaking¹ enterprise based in Chiayi, was invited by NTU D-School to share innovative methods for initiating discussions on egg issues with the students. Starting with a question, her answer led to the launch of the “Operation Egg Industry Transformation” board game. That’s right, she creates a“game” to help young people and adults understand the importance of transforming the egg industry.

Issue Gamification: A New Form of Community Awareness-raising

Tzu-yi Hsu, the Operations Planning Manager at D-School and organizer of the event, said that this was the first time any of the students had played a board game that integrates public issues–in hopes of opening new horizons for problem-solving. Before the students started to play the game, Tsai explained the issues behind the game to them, that is, the inhumane treatment of laying hens at conventional chicken farms, the food safety crisis caused by drugs used on the chickens, the dilemmas faced by Taiwanese chicken farmers in the context of global competition, etc., showing the students how issues can be transformed into games so people can learn about the issues while playing the games.

“This is not a very fun board game,”Tsai joked, since the players are learning while playing. However, the students said exactly the opposite in their feedback. Scott and Ray, students majoring in International Business at NCCU, threw themselves into the game and played enthusiastically. Afterwards, they couldn’t stop browsing the cards on their tablets to see more of the beautiful AR images and gather more information on the issue. Scott remarked,“I think the game’s degree of completion and issue integration are very high.”He believes that “Operation Egg Industry Transformation” employs traditional card and grid mechanisms, allowing players to gain knowledge while excitedly playing and completing the game.

Intrigued? You Can Follow in D-School’s footsteps!

In 2020, D-School launched “Game for Life: Reading and Re-designing Games for a Purpose,”a course aimed at showing students how to translate issues they care about or knowledge into games for the public. D-School assistant Prof. Wen-Jie Tsai said he hopes to recruit students from different disciplines to brainstorm together, share their expertise with game interactions, and design innovative user experiences. He will work with the School of Occupational Therapy next semester to offer a class on board game design for elder players.

Having taken D-School’s Introduction to Social Design, Scott strongly recommended other D-School courses to Ray. He also had an in-depth discussion with speaker Tsai on the issue of raising laying hens. The game allows for player feedback on the issues, confirming the effectiveness of this new approach to communicating issues.

¹Placemaking means designing public spaces, old streets (laojie) and city squares, that are comfortable, safe, and accessible for all members of the community, regardless of age, ability, or socioeconomic status.

Students playing the “Operation Egg Industry Transformation” board game.

 

Scan the cards for detailed introduction to the topic.

 

Speaker Chia-Chi Tsai introducing egg issues and how they inspired her to create the board game.

NTU Beats December 2023

NTU established its D-School in 2015 and introduced the Trans-disciplinary Bachelor Degree Program (TBD) in 2021. During the 8 years since its establishment, NTU’s D-School has offered over 300 courses to its 7,000 students and faculty, involving diverse industries and communities to create and sustain a learner-centered open university.

This summer, TBD faculty members and student union collaborated with NTU Plus and its venue partners in Daxi District to organize TBD Welcome Day. Assistant Professor Dr. Shu-Wei Huang explained that the TBD curriculum structure is aimed to cultivate the students’ three core abilities: problem-solving, innovative practice, and global connection. Associate Dean Shenglin Chang shared the origin story of D-School and the evolution of its strategies and visions. She advised students to let their passion and interest be their guide and learn with their partners with trust and an open heart.

During the reality puzzle-solving section, the organizers adopted the “River Age” reality game, designed by field partners of NTU Plus. The game encouraged the students to explore Daxi and fully experience the region through their five senses. Welcome Day was not only about getting to know each other but also demonstrating that at D-School, any field can be a classroom full of real-life learning opportunities. Associate Professor Shany-Yun Huang mentioned that TBD is a brand-new program that encourages students to learn with an open attitude and a sense of purpose; through deliberate thinking, each student can shape and define their learning process. While hardships and setbacks are inevitable, the experience is worthwhile– because “this is new and this could be fun.”

Participating students and faculty on TBD Welcome Day.

 

Associate Dean Shenglin Chang (second left) interacts with students.

 

Students participate in the reality game in Daxi District.

 

Associate Professor Shany-Yun Huang shares his great sense of humor during a feedback session.

NTU Beats July 2024

In its effort to redefine educational paradigms, NTU D-School has spearheaded the innovative “Exploratory Learning Program” as a key element of their transformative “Future University” project. This groundbreaking initiative is the first of its kind in Taiwan, empowering students to delve into several fields while pursuing their academic journey without interruptions.

Prof. Ruby Yun-Ju Huang, the Director of D-School’s Social Innovation Research Center, borrows a marketing slogan to inspire students, “No matter how brave you are, you will tremble before taking a new step.” With those words, she encourages students to transcend traditional educational boundaries by transforming the whole world into their classroom. By participating in such pursuits as sailing, dance troupes, backpacking, and more, students not only explore the world but also rediscover and rekindle their original motivation for learning.

This narrative of transformation resonates with Jamie Lin, Chairman and Partner of AppWorks, who shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey garnered during his junior year in NTU’s Department of Chemical Engineering. Lin’s million-dollar dream-come-true grant, Jamie’s Gapyear Program, is a real testament to the transformative power of education intertwined with real-world experiences. He stresses the importance of passing on this legacy by guiding aspiring entrepreneurs as they forge unconventional paths of their own toward innovation and personal growth.

Prof. Benson Yeh, the former associate dean of D-School, advocates taking a nuanced approach to education, urging students to discover their passion and unlock their potential through exploration. Stressing the significance of self-discovery over predefined outcomes, Prof. Yeh underscores the value of personalized learning experiences. Addressing parents, he always underscores the crucial role of nurturing resilience in the face of adversity, a spirit of courageous exploration in their children.

Reflecting on NTU’s commitment to fostering the students’ individuality and unleashing their potential, Vice President for Academic Affairs Prof. Hung-Jen Wang emphasizes the university’s dedication to offering flexible learning structures that cater to the students’ diverse needs. By nurturing a culture of self-discovery and the pursuit of dreams, NTU aspires to inspires individuals to boldly enter and embrace their singular paths toward fulfillment and success.

Building a wonderful life with exploratory learning.

 

Prof. Ruby Yun-Ju Huang encouraging students to step out of their comfort zones.

 

Give yourself space to be yourself.