Tag Archives: design thinking

PROCESS POST: Starting to put the pieces together…

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How might a school (and education, at large) become more agile, more adaptable on a larger scale and shorter time frame?

What if we explored recipes that combined ingredients of Collins’ Good to Great (the flywheel effect, “who” before “what,” and the hedgehog concept), Design Thinking and the Japanese concept of “kaizen” (continuous improvement through…Discovery, Interpretation, Ideation, Experimentation, Evolution), and Manuel Lima’s power of networks, which is closely related to Friedman’s flattened world?

Could we re-imagine and re-purpose so that school becomes more of a quickly evolving ecosystem that better integrates learners with real-time, real-life, contextual learning and a developing citizen skill-content set that readies learners for the present and future more than for a past that is rapidly fading?

To move from the industrial age to the information age to the creativity age, must we synergize processes that can better develop creational momentum?

[“A piece of ‘why,'” A piece of ‘what,'” and A piece of ‘how'” are strands of a series on why school needs to change, what about school needs to change, and how schools might navigate the change.]

CHANGEd: What if we designed and experimented more in schools? 60-60-60 #20

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On March 21, I attended the magical Trinity Musical Gala (also see here). Among the feast was an iPad concerto and a dance troupe debut. AMAZING!

Last Friday, I participated in MVPS’s Design Thinking Summit. After interviewing students for precious insights, we designed outdoor classrooms and modeled with recycled “trash.” It was so fun and multi-disciplinary. INSPIRING!

Awhile ago, a colleague sent me this MITvideo on “Boxie” (5 min worth watching), an anthropological robot made from a cardboard box. MESMERIZING!

To create new soundtracks, 3D renderings, and cultural cyborgs is a recipe for developing creators and producers, rather than mere consumers. Let’s generate map makers instead of mere map readers. Let’s design and experiment our way into a new three-ring circus as schools.

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if instead of filling their heads, we grabbed their hearts? 60-60-60 #17

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Enhanced information technology and advanced understanding of human learning make it strange that schools retain many methodologies geared for “filling heads.” Additionally, society faces challenges demanding “grabbed hearts.”

At yesterday’s MVPS Design Thinking Summit (#dtsummit12), we immersed ourselves in “Design = Utility + Significance.” At design’s core beats EMPATHY. Through design, doing-learners engage human experience to improve that experience. Insight into others’ needs grabs hearts. Grabbed hearts inspire active hands and feet…and wise minds. Isn’t that what we want need?

First 1/2 Highlights: [View the story “#DTSummit 2012 10:15 Storify” on Storify]

Second 1/2 Highlights: [View the story “#dtsummit12 Design Challenge (pm) Highlights” on Storify]

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

Sharing Curiosity Paths and Resources – #Design, #Engagement, #PBL

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I don’t have a lot of time to write this morning, but I do have some time. So, it occurred to me to use my time to share a bit. This week, I benefited greatly from various colleagues sharing their “curiosity paths” and resources with me. My colleagues know that I am interested deeply in design thinking, learner engagement, and project-based learning. Among many shares this week, I highlight three below by embedding three videos and the links to the sites that contain these videos and additional resources about design, engagement, and PBL. In my mind’s eye, I see these three strands as a braided whole – I see them synergisticly. I am not sure that design thinking, learner engagement, and project-based learning could ever be un-braided into silo-ed parts. They are intricately connected parts of an entire system. Enjoy. It’s about learning.

http://www.designthinkingforeducators.com/

http://edu20.bretford.com/index.html

http://www.edvisions.com/custom/SplashPage.asp

d.school, innovation, creativity, and possibility #Synergy

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What if…

What if we employed more “design thinking” into our programs in K-12 education in Atlanta? In “Innovation 101,” Carolyn Geer detailed a bit of Stanford’s d.school (the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) and founder David Kelley. What would it take to integrate more design thinking across curricula in our schools? How could we use design thinking as “connective tissue” among the curricula? To design potential solutions for identified community problems certainly provides glue that holds together what is typically thought of as history, science, math, English, art, etc.

How could a K-12 Design Lab for schools in Atlanta be grown right here in our surrounds?

Reminds me of Geoff Mulgan’s TED talk on studio schools.

Also reminds me of RE:ED #nxtchp2011.

Imagine the possibilities…