Short Profile

Lena Mayer is a researcher at the Potsdam University and the HassoPlattner-Institut. Her research interests lie in training transfer in organizations and (virtual) team collaboration. She collaborates for her PhD case study with an industry partner, BASF SE.

She is part of the HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program, as well es the Mathilde-Planck lectureship program for women-in academic-training for a PhD degree.

After graduating from the HPI School of Design Thinking Potsdam, Lena started working as a freelance design thinking coach and guest lecturer for organizations and universities. 

She graduated from Maastricht University with a M.Sc. in Work and Organizational Psychology. Next to her studies, she founded the student organization Maastricht Disrupt with fellow students. Their aim is to bring the topics of human-centered design and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange to the Maas-Rhein Euregio.

Publications

• Von Schmieden, K., Mayer, L., Taheri, M., Traifeh, H. & Meinel, C. (in press). Razors for Arctic VIP Travelers: Using Warm-Up Games in MOOCs. In Design Thinking Research. Springer, Cham.
• Osann, I., Mayer, L., & Wiele, I. (2020). The Design Thinking Quick Start Guide: A 6-step Process for Generating and Implementing Creative Solutions. John Wiley & Sons.
• Mayer, L., von Schmieden, K., Taheri, M., & Meinel, C. (2020). Designing a Synthesis MOOC: Lessons from Frameworks, Experiments and Learner Paths. In Design Thinking Research (pp. 35-47). Springer, Cham.
• Mayer, L., Schmieden, K., Taheri, M. & Meinel, C. (2019).Creative Skills on Demand: Adaptive Digital Education Formats for Organizational Learning Environments. HI'19 Conference on Computational and Cognitive Models of Creative Design, December 2019.
• von Schmieden, K., Mayer, L., Meinel, C. (2019). Learner Response to Brainstorming Techniques in a Design Thinking MOOC. In Cumulus Conference Proceedings Rovaniemi, 2019, pp. 443-455.
• von Schmieden, K., Mayer, L., Taheri, M., & Meinel, C. (2019). Iterative Course Design in MOOCs: Evaluating a protoMOOC. International Conference on Engineering Design, Delft, Netherlands.
• von Schmieden, K., Staubitz, T., Mayer, L., Meinel, C. (2019). Skill Confidence Ratings in a MOOC: Examining the Link Between Skill Confidence and Learner Development. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education Vol.1, pp. 533-40.
• von Schmieden, K., Mayer, L., Taheri, M., & Meinel, C. (2019). An Iterative Approach to Online Course Design: Improving a Design Research MOOC. In Design Thinking Research (pp. 99-112). Springer, Cham.
• Osann, I., Mayer, L., & Wiele, I. (2018). Design Thinking Schnellstart: Kreative Workshops gestalten. Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH Co KG.
• Mayer, L., Hölzle, K., & Meinel, C. (2018). Investigating Training Transfer of Design Thinking Skills in Online Education. In ISPIM Innovation Symposium (pp. 1-4). The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM), Boston, USA.
• Taheri, M., Mayer, L., von Schmieden, K., & Meinel, C. (2018). The DT MOOC prototype: Towards teaching design thinking at scale. In Design thinking research (pp. 217-237). Springer, Cham.
• Mayer, L., von Schmieden, K., Taheri, M., & Meinel, C. (2017). Supporting Design Thinking Education In Organizations With Digital Learning Units – A Testing Set-Up. Conference Paper for 18th Internatinal Continous Innovation Network Conference, Potsdam, Germany.
• Mayer, L., von Schmieden, K., & Meinel, C. (2017). Investigating skill confidence as a concept to enhance learning development in online education. Conference Paper for LearnXDesign, London, UK.