Quick Start Guide

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Design Thinking for Educators

The Design Thinking Quickstart Guide, made for teachers who want to create innovative solutions for classrooms, schools and communities.

“How can I improve my school in just an hour?”
Well, truth is, Educator… you are also a Designer. This little book will introduce you to a process that helps you be inspired to design new solutions for the challenges you face.
Design Thinking is a process that is optimistic, collaborative, and creative. So, embrace your inner designer, step out of your comfort zone, and try Design Thinking on for size. You might just learn something new yourself!

“ I draw on design process all of the time now in thinking about
almost every system you can imagine, from how to archive student records to how to involve parents in our new student assessment strategies.”

Karen Fierst Learning Specialist New York, NY

First, you have to choose a design challenge. What’s your wish for something you want to fix in your school?
You may wish for a better way to teach a tough lesson or for a better way to collaborate with your peers. Maybe you have dreams of a library that better serves today’s learner or want to consider a new way to use your classroom space to more deeply engage students in learning. Heck, maybe you even wish your day would be more balanced and wish that your school would design ways that teachers and students can be well. A new format for parent-teacher conferences that really engages parents. A new vision for the school day schedule. The opportunities are endless!
HERE’S A TIP:

Think of a few things you may find yourself complaining about or wishing could be better.

I WANT TO DESIGN A:

CURRICULUM

SPACE

PROCESS OR TOOL

SYSTEM

Already feeling nervous? Good!
That excited energy will help you as you move through the 5 stages of the design process.

DISCOVERY

INTERPRETATION

1
I have a challenge. How do I approach it?

2
I learned something. How do I interpret it?

Get curious!

Make sense of it all!

B E FO R E YO U B E G IN, TA M E D ITA KE A M TE ON T OMENT H IS : TO Design T hinking is a dif fere about be n ce , a n d lieving w having a order to n intenti e can make ge onal pro positive t to new, relevan cess in t solutio impact. D ns e your cre ative abili sign Thinking giv that create es you fa ties and dif ficult a proces ith in challeng s es into o pportun for transforming ities for design .

IDEATION

EXPERIMENTATION

EVOLUTION

3
I see an opportunity. What do I create?

4
I have an idea. How do I build it?

5
I tried something new. How do I evolve it?

Generat e new ideas!

Make something!

Keep it going!

1

Discovery

Get curious!

If you want to create new and innovative solutions, you need to find a new way to get inspired beyond the things you already know. Dare to go out of your comfort zone and explore… A good designer is always looking to be surprised, finding inspiration through asking great questions or seeing the world with “beginner’s” eyes. There are many ways you can get inspired. Here are a few ideas for you…
Immerse yourself in the context of the person you are designing for. Designing for a student? Sit in their chair! Designing for other teachers? Sit in their classrooms! Visit a totally unexpected place. Designing a new library? Visit a hip retail store! Designing a new approach to teaching fractions? Visit a pizza parlor! Ask someone about their life. Are you designing a new way to engage students in learning foreign languages? Ask them about what they love to do over the weekend… it will give you ideas for how to engage them! Designing an approach to professional development for your school? Ask another adult about the last time they really enjoyed learning something!

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A team fr om Rive rdale Co S c h o ol w untr y as desig ning new for their ways teachers to collab They visi ora te settings— d a number of an te. alogous a fire sta corpora te office tion, a , and a de studio— sign to inspir e new so for their lutio ch inspired allenge. They we ns by re so dynamic some of the me eting s in the c orporati decided on to use th em in the , they ir schoo l.

ry went hool libra by the gning a sc si ed ir de sp re in was A team team store and he le T . pp ce A e en ri to th ierge expe ice experience nc co re in-sto a serv . designing t they saw ended up ired by wha sp in ly ct dire

DISCOVERY

1

Phase

Discovery

FOR MORE DETAIL, SEE THE METHODS LISTED IN THE TOOLKIT:

1-1 Understand the Challenge 1-2 Prepare Research 1-3 Gather Inspiration
26 29 33

WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PROCESS

WHAT’S IN THIS PHASE 1-1 Understand the Challenge 1-2 Prepare Research 1-3 Gather Inspiration

2
INTERPRETATION

Interpretation

Make sense of it all!

ounty Howard C from the rs of o n at io uc st ed e que A team of ence for ploring th istrict ex ng experi School D 1st centur y learni und af ter fo ey th a2 ns creating ure patter d teachers. pt ca ts en their stud parents, an ith youth, meeting w

FOR MORE DETAIL, SEE THE METHODS LISTED IN THE TOOLKIT:

2-1 Tell Stories 2-2 Search for Meaning 2-3 Frame Opportunities

2
Interpretation

Phase

WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PROCESS

WHAT’S IN THIS PHASE 2-1 Tell Stories 2-2 Search for meaning 2-3 Frame Opportunities 41 43 46

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Your job as a designer is to see the forest through the trees. Interpretation is the art of making sense of what we’ve seen and heard during the observations. It’s a process that takes us from scattered observations to meaningful insights. During this step, you reflect on what you discovered and see it from a totally, completely, new perspective.
What are 3 interesting patterns or themes that the people you talked to or the place you visited inspired for you? List them as opportunities for design. Not answers, mind you... That will come in the next step. A design opportunity gives you a moment to think about what you hadn’t noticed before... And is most helpful when you turn those insights into an opportunity. We like to do that as statements beginning with “How might we…”, or “What if…” Let’s say, for instance, that you are redesigning the space of your classroom and you chatted with some students who made you realize that they’re wishing for a mix of comfort and structure in the classroom. You could say, “How might we create our classroom to integrate comfort and structure?”

A team of educato rs from the Blue Valley Ce nter for Advanced Profes sional Studies (CAPS) was taske d with publicizing the pro grams in their newly-built build ing. Through interpreting the ir observations they discovered the simple (but powerful) ins ight that parents were the gatekeepers of students’ tim e. By shifting marketing mater ials to focus on parents versus students, they caused program enrollment to sk yrocket.

3
IDEATION

Ideation

Generate new ideas!

This is the part you’ve been waiting for…Brainstorming! Sometimes it takes a lot of not-yet-great ideas, to find the ideas that really feel innovative. Sometimes it takes combining multiple ideas to find the solution that feels best. Brainstorming is a unique Design Thinking method in that there are actual rules, and yes, you must follow them! Trust us, this will help push you to generate out-of-box solutions and get your creative juices flowing.

3

Phase

FOR MORE DETAIL, SEE THE METHODS LISTED IN THE TOOLKIT:

Ideation

3-1 Generate Ideas 3-2 Refine Ideas

WHERE YOU ARE

IN THE PROCESS

WHAT’S IN THIS

PHASE 50 54

3-1 Generate Ideas 3-2 Refine Ideas

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T IP Find at le ast 2-3 people to brainsto rm jo the more . The more head in your s ideas yo u’ll come in the game, up with!

BRAINSTORM

at e no bad ideas EN T. There ar M ow G rr D na JU to e ER DEF of tim e will be plenty this point. Ther r. te them down la Even if an idea W ILD IDEAS. ea ENCOU RAG E istic, it may spark a great id real doesn’t seem else. for someone TH ER S. Think E IDEAS OF O BU ILD ON TH an “but.” t “and” rather th To get more ou D ON TOPIC. n SE tio CU es qu FO rm AY ST ainsto n, keep your br of your sessio in sight. M E. All ideas TION AT A TI SA ER  upon. V N CO ON E ey may be built ard, so that th need to be he to d s, as oppose Draw your idea mple L. si d UA an IS V es ur BE wn. Stick fig do em th g . in ds rit just w many wor say more than — sketches can trageous goal TITY. Set an ou d one good N UA Q R FO GO ay to fin it. The best w then surpass lots of ideas. ith w up e m idea is to co

RULES

4

Experimentation

Make something!
MINUTES

If you build it, you will learn. Prototypes allow you to share your idea with other people and figure out what’s working—and what’s not working—about your concept. It can sometimes feel daunting to “bring an idea to life,” but we assure you, you can do a lot with paper, scissors, and imagination.
The important thing is to make your idea tangible. Don’t worry about getting it right the first time, just get started. The best prototypes change significantly over time. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn about your idea just in the process of building it out.

ATION EXPERIMENT

Phase

4
Experimen tation

FOR MORE DETAIL, SEE THE METHODS LISTED IN THE TOOLKIT:

4-1 Make Prototypes 4-2 Get Feedback
58 60

WHAT’S IN
WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PROCESS

THIS PHASE

Prototypes 4-1 Make 4-2 Get Feedback

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IN T E R A

C T IO N

A team o f teache rs nation w ere rede from schools a cross th sig the need e s of toda ning the schoo l library y s ee wha for t a library ’s student. They wa if it was experien bu ce would nted to talking to ilt more like a tr ee-hous feel like architec e . Before tested it ts about out in a rapid an the idea, they d rough manner.

DIAGRAM

Prototypes come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. Challenge yourself to try prototyping a form you don’t usually work with. You might surprise yourself with how much fun you have with this new working style!

RO LE PL AY

MODEL

MOCK-UP

5

Evolution

Keep it going!

Phew, by now you’ve attempted to change your school for the better. How did it go? What was it like to go outside your comfort zone—or your classroom—to look for inspiration? Evolution is all about reflecting on what you’ve done, what you learned and how you’d do it differently next time, and then—perhaps, most importantly—what you want to do next. So, what do you want to do next?

A group of comm unity volunteers and educators at Design Thinking Hawaii, wanted fee dback on their de challenge—the Ca sign stle Complex Re design Initiative. to assess comm In order unity interest, ge t feedback, and tes resonance of the t the ir current ideas, the team held an outre session at the loc ach al Windward Mall.

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For a deeper dive into Design Thinking and step-by-step worksheets to guide you through your next design challenge, download the (free!)

Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit and Designer’s Workbook.
www.designthinkingforeducators.com

We want to hear about what you’re working on! Send us stories about what you’ve been designing. [email protected]

Design Thinking for Educators

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Riverdale

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