What does design thinking have to do with the futuring of education? Everything. We are continually striving to reimagine the educational system to provide learning environments that foster innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurialism for all students. Conversations, shifts, and fixes have been going on for years, with few truly disruptive changes.
The crux of the problem is that intended outcomes of education – innovation, empowerment, creativity, and entrepreneurialism – are not aligned with the mindsets, culture, and ways of thinking and solving problems at the core of educational institutions and the governing bodies involved in education. The educational system, educational organizations and the stakeholders must all learn, think, problem solve, make decisions, and be empowered in a culture built on these key characteristics if we ever hope to foster these dispositions in our students.
That’s where design thinking comes in. I recently had the opportunity to engage with an industrial designer who is the vice president of a product innovation company. His work, just like the work of IDEO, is about supporting clients in applying the human-centered design thinking process to innovate and solve their challenges or problems. What struck me most about this process is that it’s based on data and using systematic protocols that yield truly innovative, disruptive change. Another important factor is that’s is not a one-size fits all process and it empowers the organization itself (meaning all stakeholders) to be active participants in the change process and solving problems.
This quote from IDEO very clearly speaks to these same ideas, “Human-centered designers are unlike other problem solvers—we tinker and test, we fail early and often, and we spend a surprising amount of time not knowing the answer to the challenge at hand. And yet, we forge ahead. We’re optimists and makers, experimenters and learners, we empathize and iterate, and we look for inspiration in unexpected places. We believe that a solution is out there and that by keeping focused on the people we’re designing for and asking the right questions, we’ll get there together.” What’s even more powerful are the mindets at the core of this process: Empathy, Optimism, Iteration, Creative Confidence, Making, Embracing Ambiguity, and Learning from Failure.
There’s a lot of talk and decision-making about innovation in education, yet the very organizations that need to lead the change do not function in this culture. If we ever hope to reimagine education and have the tools to continually respond to change and future education, design thinking must be at the core of the culture of the organization. Change is a constant process. The system of education and educational organizations need to be empowered and have a culture and system to navigate and respond to these changes. Design thinking has the power and potential to support this transition.
I am currently working on a initiative with a local university to convene a group of educators, parents, students, administrators, and people from other disciplines and businesses. The purpose of this project is to engage many voices in conversations and action around the futuring of education. The design thinking process will be at the core of all our work. We are at the initial stages in this project. Right now there’s not a clear plan about where these conversations will take us but there is a clear consensus among the team: design thinking is key to the futuring of schools and education. Our planning team will continue to have conversations but I would also like to engage my PLN in this process virtually using the design thinking process. Hopefully you’ll jump on board and be a part of this critical movement.
The design thinking process starts with a challenge question or problem. Following the IDEO process, first step is the Inspiration Phase. The purpose of this phase is to frame your design challenge and begin to understand the people that it impacts. the first step is this phase is to frame the design challenge. A properly framed design challenge is critical to success. The following ideas should be considered when generating a design challenge, “Start by taking a first stab at writing your design challenge. It should be short and easy to remember, a single sentence that conveys what you want to do. We often phrase these as questions which set you and your team up to be solution-oriented and to generate lots of ideas along the way.”
So let’s start thinking and begin to frame some design challenges focused on the futuring of education. Access the Scrumblr below to being the ideas generation phase:
Looking forward to engaging in this process with you and being part of the collective voice of education!