Design Thinking Toolkit v2
Design Thinking Toolkit v2
2nd Edition
Michael Schurr, a 2nd grade teacher in New York, realized that he never asked his students what would make them comfortable in the classroom. He decided to talk directly with his students to gure out the best design for their environment. Based on his students input, he was able to redesign his classroom to better address the needs and desires of his students. He lowered the bulletin boards so that his students could actually see the content hed spent hours assembling, and created a more comfortable semi-private space for the students to study by rethinking the student cubby space. His students are more engaged and move more uidly in the classroom space. Now Michael consistently engages his students in helping him more effectively shape their learning experience. Michael is using design to re-imagine his classroom through the lens of his students eyes.
Teacher-designed
The faculty at Ormondale Elementary School in California wondered if they were preparing their students well for the future. They decided it was time to collaboratively design an approach to teaching and learning that they felt was updated and relevant for the 21st century. Collectively, they embarked on a design journey and came to an approach they call Investigative Learning, which addresses students not as receivers of information, but as shapers of knowledge. The faculty continues to evolve and share this approach with new teachers through the creation of a Manual of Investigative Learning to keep track of their philosophy and methods. They have gained support from their school board, and have become recognized as a California Distinguished School. The faculty at Ormondale Elementary School uses design to address the needs of their evolving student body.
School-designed
How might we redesign our approach to curriculum development and delivery to center around the needs and desires of our teachers and students?
With a movement toward student-centered and personalized instruction, the Howard County Public School System in Maryland is using Design Thinking to tackle next generation curriculum redesign incorporating 21st Century skills. Currently, there is a disconnect between the existing paper-based curriculum and the interactive digital resources that are now available anytime, anywhere for teachers and students. Tapping into teacher, parent, and student behaviors in and outside of school, the design team collected inspiration around the ways that people engage with information and interact with curricular materials. Understanding the desires of teachers, students, parents and administrators has helped the team rethink curriculum delivery as well as develop resources to replace, augment, and enhance current curriculum documents. Howard County is using design to re-conceptualize curriculum creation and delivery to meet the needs of all learners.
District-designed School-designed
How might we redesign our high school to elevate student engagement and academic outcomes?
Consistent low student achievement results at Castle High School in Hawaii demonstrated the need for a redesign and restructure of the school. Design Thinking Hawaii, a non-prot organization that engages volunteers to apply Design Thinking to big challenges, partnered with the Hawaii Department of Education to reimagine the Castle High experience. Through a series of mini-charettes, Design Thinking Hawaii has collected the needs and interests of learners, teachers, and families and engaged the larger community to imagine new solutions that could help the school be more effective. The adopted plan captured the communitys priorities in new content and structures, and Complex Area Superintendent Lea Albert is enabling the school and community to prototype and iterate core curriculum, character education, and support services. This is the rst public-school model in Hawaii to co-design its offerings with community, targeting systemic educational problems. Design Thinking Hawaii is using design to provide the state with input that will shape the redesign of Castle High and other schools in the community.
Community-designed
Students just arent interested in learning about fractions. There is no teacher community network.
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There are a lot of problems in education today but each of these concerns can be seen as an opportunity for you to design new, improved solutions for your classrooms, schools and communities.
The classroom organization doesnt accommodate different learning modes and shifting class sizes.
Current communication between administration and teachers doesnt give everyone a voice.
Students come to school hungry and cant The assessment rubric focus on the work. doesnt accurately represent learning.
The needs of todays learners are evolving as rapidly as the technologies that compete for their attentions. At the same time, our organizations and systems are stretched to their limits to keep up with the changing demands of the times. As an educator, you are distinctly positioned to keep a pulse on students evolving needs making you uniquely qualied to understand and design for the changing needs of our schools. With over 3 million teachers in the US alone, and with a vast international network of enthusiastic educators, you stand in force on the front-lines of K-12 education. Existing school processes and currciulum are structured to address district and state wide needs, but every school is different.
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But, because you understand your students and your school like no one else, it is your opportunityand your responsibilityto create solutions for the challenges you and your school face everyday. As Einstein famously said, We cant solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Wherever they fall on the spectrum of scale from an interaction with a student to engaging parents to managing your schedule to developing whole new approaches to systemwide reform the challenges facing educators are real, complex, and varied. And they need new answers. As such, they require new perspectives, new tools, and new approaches.
School schedules dont District-wide changes dont align with teaching and authentically accommodate learning rhythms. differing communities.
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I have seen teachers start to redesign their classroom spaces by interviewing their students...and develop new curricula by brainstorming and then prototyping out a unit...The fact that teachers are using humancentered design techniques to understand their students better makes students feel more engaged in the changing learning environment. The fact that the teacher is becoming the designer of his or her own classroom experience professionalizes the role of the teacher and allows for the most valuable changeauthentic change driven by the students needs rather than a school or district mandate. Design thinking is a creative act and lets teachers understand that the act of creating a really effective learning environment is an art that is both reective and intentional. If we want to change education and learning to make it more relevant, more effective and more enjoyable for all involved, teachers need to be the entrepreneurial designers and redesigners of the systems of schools and of the schools themselves.
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Contents
This toolkit is for you. What is Design Thinking? What can I use Design Thinking for? What does Design Thinking look like in action? The Design Process If you only remember a few things 13 14 16 10 11 12
1. Discovery
1-1 Understand the Challenge 1-2 Prepare Research 1-3 Gather Inspiration
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26 29 33
2. Interpretation
2-1 Tell Stories 2-2 Search for meaning 2-3 Frame Opportunities
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41 43 46
0. Getting Started
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3. Ideation
3-1 Generate Ideas 3-2 Rene Ideas
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50 54
4. Experimentation
4-1 Make Prototypes 4-2 Get Feedback
56
58 60
5. Evolution
5-1 Track Learnings 5-2 Move Forward
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68 70
Appendix 75
Getting Started Worksheets 76
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more fun
improved collaboration
getting unstuck
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CURRicULUm
Every day you design ways to interact with your students around content. You can follow a design process to be more intentional about connecting this content to the interests and desires of todays learners by nding out more about the things that they do outside of school and connecting that to the content you are bringing to them.
SPAces
The physical environment of the classroom sends a big signal about how you want your students to behave. Right now we tend to think of our classroom spaces as standard kids in rows, sitting in desks. By rethinking the design of our spaces, we can send new messages to our students about how they should feel and interact in the classroom.
Your school has already designed a set of processes or tools that may or may not be setting up your school for success. This is typically outside of the classroom and specic interactions around learning, and more around how the system operates. Every process is already designed, and thus can be redesigned! Sometimes creating tools can be essential to supporting newly designed processes.
SYstems
Not everyone can always make decisions for the system that they exist within, but everyone can contribute to the design of that system. Designing systems is about balancing the complexity of many different stakeholder needs with the needs of the operation. When designing systems, were often setting high-level strategy such as stating visions, priorities, policies, and key communications around these ideas.
How might I inspire students to engage in concerns of the environment? How might I engage my students in compelling ways around learning world history? How might I develop students to be active seekers of knowledge in subjects that they have little knowledge of? How might I help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to increase their vocabulary?
How might I use my classroom space in different ways to help set my students at ease? How might I create a comfortable space that meets the many needs my students have throughout the day? How might we reimagine our schools library for the needs and interests of todays learner? How might we create an exciting and effective space for teachers to collaborate? How might we design our high school campus to best engage and support todays learner?
How might I engage parents as an integrated part of their students learning experience? How might we recruit the best teachers to our school? How might we re-envision arrival and departure procedures at our school? How might we design ways to keep ourselves balanced and well? How might we redesign our school schedule to be centered around the needs of todays families and teachers?
How might we reinvision curriculum for an entire district while providing for individual schools differences? How might we track the development of students character traits over time to help shape our school philosophy more intentionally? How might we connect more with our neighborhood community? How might we use our school as an R&D hub for schools nationwide?
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DiscoVeRY
A 2-day summer workshop kicked off the challenge, with an excercise which entailed teachers imagining one of their current students in the year 2060. Based on understanding the goals and dreams of their students and families, coupled with the books they read about 21st century skills, the teachers collectively discussed the skills necessary for the students to succeed in the future. For further inspiration, the group visited outside organizations facing analogous challenges.
INteRPRetAtioN
The group synthesized the research creating generative questions, such as How might we enable the globally aware student? and How might we provide opportunities for interest-driven learning?
IdeAtioN
Initial brainstorm ideas included tools and classroom design and expanded to include curriculum and the educational system as a whole.
EXPeRimeNtAtioN
EVoLUtioN
Several brainstorm ideas were prototyped which resulted in the emergence of a pattern across all the prototypes: the team was passionate about a teaching and learning approach they called Investigative Learning. The approach addressed the students not as receivers of information but as shapers of knowledge. They developed short- and long- term plans for ideas they could try out, and the things theyd like to learn more about in order to continually build out this new approach over the school year.
Over the course of a year, many solutions were tested including diverse approaches to curriculum that integrated project- and theme-based learning in the classroom. The teachers created new communications for parents, and one teacher even received a grant to renovate a classroom and create a different learning environment for her students. Dedicated time in their weekly meetings was set aside to discuss was happening and support and learn from each other.
In the second year, the evolution continued with another workshop to make sense of the experiments they had conducted around the school. They developed a framework for Investigative Learning experiences that integrated everyones approaches, created commonly shared standards unique to their school that built upon state standards, and created new assessment approaches. They created a Manual of Investigative Learning to help everyone have a shared reference and have become recognized as a California Distinguised School.
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DiscoVeRY
INteRPRetAtioN
IdeAtioN
EXPeRimeNtAtioN
EVoLUtioN
Methods are the core piece of this toolkit: they offer the actual instructions that help you put Design Thinking into action. There are many, in order to provide you with a rich variety to choose from: every challenge requires a different approach and a different set of methods.
It often makes a lot of sense to follow these steps in a linear way, especially when youre starting out. But dont feel restricted by that: only you know how to best use this toolkit. Use it along with other methodologies and theories you nd useful to develop ideas. Adapt it, annotate it, cut it up, reconstruct it and make it your own.
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Design Process
Phases
1
discoVeRY
I have a challenge. How do I approach it?
2
iNteRPRetAtioN
I learned something. How do I interpret it?
3
ideAtioN
I see an opportunity. What do I create?
4
eXPeRimeNtAtioN
I have an idea. How do I build it?
5
eVoLUtioN
I tried something new. How do I evolve it?
Steps
11 Understand the Challenge 12 Prepare Research 13 Gather Inspiration 21 Tell Stories 22 Search for Meaning 23 Frame Opportunities 31 Generate Ideas 32 Rene Ideas 41 Make Prototypes 41 Get Feedback 51 Track Learnings 52 Move Forward
number of possibilities
The Design Thinking process oscillates between divergent and convergent thinking modes. It can be helpful to be aware of the mode that corresponds to the design phase you are working through.
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Stepping out of Problems are just your zone of opportunities for comfort = learning. design in disguise.
Get unstuck. Break your routine. Use the world outside your classroom to invigorate your work. Analagous inspiration is your best friend. Leave your classroom. Collaborate with others. Have an abundance mentality. Be optimistic. Believe the future will be better. Start with, What if? instead of Whats wrong?
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The design process has helped me see that I have a responsibility to be a change agent for teaching and learning. I dont need to have all the answers (or be perfect), but I need to be willing to try new things, dare to dream big, and be patient as I experiment with the designs that emerge in the process. Design Thinking has given me the tools and empowerment to create meaningful educational change.
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Getting Started
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GettiNg StARted
Dene a Challenge
3060 mins Reective 23 People
Every design process begins with a specic and intentional problem to address; this is called a design challenge. A challenge should be approachable, understandable and actionable, and it should be clearly scopednot too big or too small, not too vague or too simple.
List possible topics Finding opportunities for design often comes from noticing problems. An experienced Design Thinker maintains a mindset which instinctively reframes problems into opportunities. Make a list of all the problems youve noticed or things youve wished for. Frame the problem Rewrite the problem statements into how might we questions in order to frame the problem as a possibility. Use the dene a challenge worksheet to help create a how might we question. new processes for school drop off. In this case you might want to end with creating a presentation or a pitch to help engage others in your design ideas. Before you dig into the specics of your challenge, consider what might be the deliverables for this project Dene measures of success What else are you working toward? What will make this work successful? What are the measures of success? Examples include number of people who sign up for your program, stories retold by parents, student excitement, etc. Most of the time, these measures of success emerge as you dig into your project, but it helps to start to think about this at the onset.
Difficulty
This gets YoU An opportunity framed as a design challenge. KeeP iN miNd Dening a challenge is an act of leadership. Look around you, see what you think should be improved, and turn it into an actionable challenge that you and a team can create new solutions for. However, there is no right challenge to begin working on. Just pick one that you are most excited to begin working on and get started!
Keep it simple. Describe your challenge simply and optimistically. Make it broad enough to allow you to discover areas of unexpected value, and narrow enough to make the Establish constraints It is crucial to dene constraints and get specic on topic manageable. the problem or question you are trying to address. Sketch out end goals Does it need to t into a certain timeframe? Can it be Dene your goals for undertaking this design chalintegrated with an existing structure or initiative? lenge. Be honest about determining a realistic scope Make a list of the constraints you need to manage. of your project both regarding time and output.. What will you work to produce? Where do you expect to get Write a brief A clearly dened challenge will guide your questions at the end of this process? and help you stay on track throughout the process. Write a short brief that claries the challenge you If you are creating a solution for your classroom, it may be something that will be easy for you to try and plan to address. Write it as if you were handing it to someone else to design with. Capture thoughts on implement. But sometimes you are creating somewhy this is a problem, and what the opportunity for thing that is beyond your direct skills, or something design will be. that involves many other people such as dening new attributes for your school library, or designing
Use the dene a challenge worksheet in the Designers Workbook or in the appendix to help you dene a challenge youre excited to tackle and to create a project plan to guide the project.
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GettiNg StARted
A design challenge is the starting point of every design process, and the purpose you will work toward. Framing the right How might we question to address your challenge is essential. The question should be broad enough to allow for unexpected possibilities but narrow enough to let you focus. Be careful not to include the answer in the question. Here are a few examples you can choose from, or use as inspiration to come up with a challenge that matters for you.
CURRicULUm How might we engage students more deeply in reading? How might we bring the real Chinese community to my Chinese classes, and enable my students to make more authentic connections to the Chinese World? How might we create a curriculum that teaches students about the brain and about who they are as learners?
SPAce How might we design our classroom space to be student-centered? How might we create a space for teacher collaboration? How might we redesign the library to enable exibility between loud collaborative and quiet contemplative uses?
PRocesses ANd tooLs How might we build schoolfamily partnerships? How might we adapt the school schedule to the learning rhythms of our students? How might we create a way to systematically review, discuss, and support students at lower grade levels?
SYstems How might we develop tools that help teachers collaborate across our districts schools? How might we support a more well-rested campus? How might we design our campus to serve our students and the community?
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GettiNg StARted
1-2 People
Difficulty
This gets YoU A clear timeline to guide your design challenge. KeeP iN miNd As you dig into your challenge, you may nd that your plan needs to adjust because your project has taken a new direction. Let your design process unfold naturally; dont feel like you have to stick to the original plan. However, remember that setting deadlines can be helpful in propelling your process forward.
DAY
8am
DiscoVeRY
INteRPRetAtioN
noon
IdeAtioN
EXPeRimeNtAtioN
Do it in a day Transform a professional development day into a collaborative design workshop. To make the most of the day, dene a challenge, assemble a team and identify sources of inspiration ahead of time. The large amount of time set aside for a PD day is ideal for working through Interpretation, Ideation, and Experimentation. These are intense and productive phases of the process, and will leave the team with tangible ideas as evidence of your progress. A professional development day is also an ideal chance to go out into the world and seek inspiration. Doing a challenge in a day often results in inspiring new ideas, but doesnt allow you the benet of trying the ideas out in order to learn more about them. Consider spending time at the end of the day inviting teams of teachers to commit to experimenting and evolving ideas after this day, and share back learnings during some of your meetings over theyear.
EVoLUtioN
5pm
MoN
8am
TUe
8am
DiscoVeRY
Wed
8am
ThU
8am
FRi
8am
EVoLUtioN
INteRPRetAtioN
noon
DiscoVeRY
noon
noon
noon
EXPeRimeNtAtioN
noon
INteRPRetAtioN IdeAtioN
5pm
5pm
5pm
5pm
5pm
Immerse over a week or two. Commit time during a prolonged break, such as summer, or holiday break, to dive into the design process. A continuous period of time allows for a deeper engagement with each phase. Its an opportunity to experience the progression between steps. During the rest of the year, you can draw on what you learned during this time. It is amazing how far you can get in a short amount of dedicated time.
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GettiNg StARted
Decide what challenge is appropriate for a year-long commitment. Consider multiple factors, such as complexity, scope, peoples involvement and priority. Then make a project calendar and commit to deadlines and goals, as they create a sense of progress. Agree on regular check-ins to keep the momentum going. Be intentional about how best to match the ow of the project to the ow of the school year.
SePtemBeR
DiscoVeRY
OctoBeR
NoVemBeR
INteRPRetAtioN
DecemBeR
JANUARY
IdeAtioN
FeBRUARY
INteRPRetAtioN
EXPeRimeNtAtioN
MARch
EXPeRimeNtAtioN
APRiL
MAY
EVoLUtioN
Design with depth over time. Spread it out in small increments over months. Claim a common prep period or an after school meeting for working on a design project. Use the methods in this toolkit to determine the agenda each week. Meet regularly to build momentum, and provide opportunities for individual work and reection on the days inbetween.
JUNe
JULY
AUgUst
EVoLUtioN
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GettiNg StARted
TeAms.
SPAces.
MAteRiALs.
The team is stronger than any individual you know this well as a guiding principle of education. And collaboration is inherent to Design Thinking: having a team of people who offer different strengths and perspectives will enable you to solve complex challenges. But teamwork isnt always easy. Team dynamics can be as limiting as they are empowering. Heres how to build a great team:
StARt smALL. A team will work best if it consists of a core group of two to ve individuals. The smaller size will make it easier to coordinate schedules and make decisions. Invite others to join for brainstorms, give feedback or help you get unstuck when its most useful. INVite VARietY. Select people who can contribute from different angles. Consider involving an administrator, or a teacher you have never worked with. Youll have a better chance of coming up with unexpected solutions. AssigN RoLes. It helps everyone navigate the project if there is a clear understanding of what to contribute to the team. This is particularly helpful when you cant choose who to work with: make agreements about which responsibilities people can take on that brings out their strengths. Who will be the coordinator, keeping everything organized? Who will be the enthusiast, inspiring the team with big dreams? Who is the nagger, making sure things keep moving forward? Who will lead the team? ALLow foR ALoNe time. While most of this work should be done as a team, make sure to allow for individual work time. Sometimes the best progress comes from solitary thinking, planning and creating.
A dedicated space, even if its just a wall, gives the team a physical reminder of their work. It allows them to put up inspiring imagery or notes from their research and to be continuously immersed in their learnings. Shared visual reminders help track the progress of the project and stay focused on the challenge. To spark new ideas and get unstuck when the work gets more challenging, consider changing the space from time to time.
This process is visual, tactile and experiential. You often will create an overview thats visible for everyone on the team, or come up with a quick sketch to explain your idea. Make sure you have supplies on hand that make it easy to work in that fashion. Most of the methods require Post-it Notes, large Post-it pads or a ipchart and felt markers.
OtheR sUPPLies thAt wiLL Be UsefUL ARe: Adhesives Construction paper Foam core boards Markers Scissors Digital cameras Video cameras
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DISCOVERY
1
Discovery
Phase
WHATS IN THIS PhaSE 1-1 Understand the Challenge 1-2 Prepare Research 1-3 Gather Inspiration 26 29 33
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DISCOVERY
Phase
Discovery builds a solid foundation for your ideas. Creating meaningful solutions for students, parents, teachers, colleagues and administrators begins with a deep understanding for their needs. Discovery means opening up to new opportunities, and getting inspired to create new ideas. With the right preparation, this can be eye-opening and will give you a good understanding of your design challenge.
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DISCOVERY
11
Phase-Step
Worksheets for this step are available on pages 1619 of the Designer's Workbook to help you understand the challenge with your team.
10 min Reective
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A clear, agreed upon, design challenge expressed in one sentence. KEEP IN MIND A good challenge is phrased with a sense of possibility. Make it broad enough to allow you to discover areas of unexpected value, and narrow enough to make the topic manageable.
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DISCOVERY
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU An overview of the teams knowledge and its open questions. KEEP IN MIND Remember to stay open to new information, try to discover what you dont already know.
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU An agreement on the team members roles. KEEP IN MIND The various phases of the design process require different skills and respond to different passions. Remember to adjust your team structure over time.
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DISCOVERY
13 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A visual overview of all the people relevant to your challenge. KEEP IN MIND You may not get to talk to everyone in the rst attempt at this challenge inventory everyone now so that you can come back to this list when you have more questions in later phases.
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A calendar with agreements on team members involvement and set timing. KEEP IN MIND Be prepared to frequently adjust your plan. Often, new ideas will take you in a different direction from what you initially anticipated. The process of planning is as important as its result.
This project calendar includes a plan for stepping through the design phases as well as major check-in dates and deadlines.
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DISCOVERY
12
Phase-Step
Prepare Research
Identify Sources of Inspiration Select Research Participants Build a Question Guide Prepare For Fieldwork
WORKSHEET
Worksheets for this step are available on pages 2029 of the Designer's Workbook to help you prepare research with your team.
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A research plan listing activities and people you want to learn from. KEEP IN MIND Inspiration is found in places that excite you. Dare to plan activities that will invigorate the team, even if you are not certain what exactly you may learn from them. At this point, you are looking for inspiration, not validation.
Encourage people to tell you their whole story and avoid yes/no questions.
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DISCOVERY
EXamplE
A team from Riverdale Country School was looking to design new ways for teachers to collaborate. They decided to visit analogous settings where collaboration happens, and considered some pretty interesting inspiration a re station, a corporate ofce, and a design studio. While visiting the corporate ofce, they learned that the ofce staff prepare for meetings by sending out an agenda in advance. This way, everyone is prepared for the meeting. Gathering many other nuggets of inspiration, this specic story stood out to them, given that their faculty meetings typically began with a discussion of the agenda, and that ended up taking much of the limited time they had together. They decided immediately to try this idea in their school.
13 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU Appointments to meet and learn from interesting people. KEEP IN MIND When planning your interviews, consider the number of people that will be appropriate to attend. Too many interviewers can make people feel uneasy, particularly when adults speak with kids.
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DISCOVERY
2030 min
Hands-On 23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A question guide for a valuable research conversation. KEEP IN MIND The most valuable aspect of a question guide is the thought process that goes into writing it. During the actual conversation, let the person you are speaking with lead you to what matters to them. Use the question guide as a checklist to ensure you have covered everything not as a script for the conversation.
Preparing a list of questions will help you guide the direction of an interview.
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DISCOVERY
1-3 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A solid plan for your eldwork activities. KEEP IN MIND It is important to assign roles ahead of time, however, it feels more natural for all team members to engage in the conversation to some degree..
RESEaRCh tEIpS
There are many impressions to take in during a eld visit. Use the following research tips to draw out interesting stories and keep track of whats important.
Establish trust with participants Practice creating an atmosphere in which people feel comfortable enough to open up. Build on the skills you have developed in the school context. Listen patiently. Do not interrupt, and allow for pauses to give participants time to think. Use non-verbal gestures, such as eye contact, nodding, and smiling, to reassure participants you are engaged and interested in what they are saying.
Know what to look for Look for indications that reveal what people care aboutand keep in mind, that they may contradict themselves. ook for cues in the things that people L surround themselves with or the way they carry themselves. Notice workarounds and adaptations people have made to make a system or tool serve their needs better, for example: lowering the height of bulletin boards to make it easier for children to read them. Explore things that prompt certain behaviors, for example: a line printed around a track eld that causes people to run within a certain area.
Get the most out of your interactions Encourage people to reveal what really matters to them. Ask participants to show you the object or space they are talking about, Have participants draw what they are talking about. Keep asking why? in response to consecutive answers.
Capture what you see Take lots of notes and photos of what you see, hear, feel, smell and taste during a eld visit. Capture direct quotes. Write down your immediate thoughts without worrying about an interpretation.
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DISCOVERY
13
Phase-Step
Gather Inspiration
Immerse Yourself In Context Seek Inspiration In Analogous Settings Learn From Experts Learn From Users
WORKSHEET
Worksheets for this step are available on pages 30-33 of the Designer's Workbook to help you gather inspiration with yourteam.
30-60 min
Hands-On 26 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU Skills for learning from whats around you. KEEP IN MIND Approach your observation with an open mind and imagine this as the rst time you have gone through this experience. Look for details you may have overlooked before.
Explore and take notes Try to blend in with everyone else during your observation. Find a spot thats out of the way. Take notes and photos. Capture interesting quotes. Draw sketches, plans and layouts. Capture what you have seen Immediately after your observation, take some time to capture the things you found most interesting, and write them on Post-it Notes so you will be able to reorganize them later.
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DISCOVERY
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A new perspective on the challenge you work on, inspiration and energy. KEEP IN MIND Explore with an open mind, even if you do not immediately understand how to apply your experiences. After you return, spend time relating what you found interesting to the challenge you are working on.
EXAMPLE
A team, trying to redesign the library, went to the Apple store to gather inspiration. They observed the ways in which the in-store experience introduces customers to new products as well as how the set-up enabled people to navigate the space and easily nd what they were looking for. The team was very inspired by the visit and brought the in-store conceirge experience into their nal design solution.
12 hours Interaction
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU Access to in-depth knowledge in a certain area of expertise. KEEP IN MIND FIND the balance between using experts to get a good understanding of the current situation and preserving space to think beyond the existing models.
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DISCOVERY
23 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU An in-depth insight into the user's needs and motivations. KEEP IN MIND Field research activities are an opportunity to take a new perspective. Treat your conversation partner as an expert. Try not to make participants feel that you are more knowledgeable than they are, particularly when you are speaking with children.
Making the user feel comfortable is crucial to the success of an interview. With kids, it's especially helpful to meet them at eye-level.
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DISCOVERY
KEEP IN MIND Often teenagers and young people nd selfdocumentary exercises less intimidating than adults and enjoy expressing themselves in new ways.
KEEP IN MIND Group sessions will give you a good overview of a topic. If you are trying to gain a deeper understanding of peoples motivations, however, choose an individual interview. Particularly when working with kids, group interviews can be a great format to help them feel comfortable with an adult team.
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DISCOVERY
KEEP IN MIND This method is particularly helpful when you are trying to learn about a group that you are not part of. It can help you learn about children: they will share very different information with each other than with an adult. Be careful to not create the impression of your researchers spying on their peers!
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Interpretation
Phase
WHATS IN THIS PhaSE 2-1 Tell Stories 2-2 Search for meaning 2-3 Frame Opportunities 41 43 46
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Interpretation transforms your stories into meaningful insights. Observations, eld visits, or just a simple conversation can be great inspirationbut nding meaning in that and turning it into actionable opportunities for design is not an easy task. It involves storytelling, as well as sorting and condensing thoughts until youve found a compelling point of view and clear direction for ideation.
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LEARNINGS Learnings are the recollections of what stood out during a conversation or observation: direct quotes, anecdotes, notes on sounds, smells, textures, colors, etc. They are communicated in full sentences to capture the story.
THEMES Themes are created after you have organized your stories from eld research into categories. They are the headlines for clusters of similar learnings.
INSIGHtS Insights are a succinct expression of what you have learned from your eld research activities. They always offer a new perspective, even if they are not new discoveries. They are inspiring and relevant to your challenge.
HOW MIGHt WES How might we questions are the starting point for a brainstorm session. They are written in direct response to an insight. These questions feel optimistic and exciting and help you think of ideas right away.
IDEAS Ideas are generated during a brainstorm session. They can be very practical and simple or wild and crazyjudgment is deferred, as the goal is to come up with as many ideas as possible. Ideas are best communicated with quick sketches.
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Phase-Step
Tell Stories
Capture Your Learnings Share Inspiring Stories
WORKSHEET
Worksheets for this step are available on pages 36-39 of the Designer's Workbook to help you tell stories with your team.
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THIS GEtS YOU An authentic recollection of your learnings from the research activities. KEEP IN MIND Getting into the habit of capturing highlights while everything is still fresh will make it a lot easier to connect and process your learnings later on.
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THIS GEtS YOU A shared understanding of all the stories your team collected. KEEP IN MIND Tell stories person by person, one at a time. Use vivid details and describe your immediate experiences. This is not the time to generalize or judge.
When youre sharing stories, do it in a way that feels like everyone can contribute.
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Phase-Step
Worksheets for this step are available on pages 40-42 of the Designer's Workbook to help you search for meaning with your team.
Find Themes
After having collected and shared stories from your eldwork, begin to make sense of all that information and inspiration. This part of the process can take some time. A good rst step is to identify themes.
Cluster related information Group ndings from your eld research into categories or buckets. You can start by having every team member choose three Post-its they nd most interesting. Place each of them on a large sheet of paper and begin to look for more evidence of the same theme. What did many people mention? Did someone else say the opposite? Are there behaviors you saw repeatedly? Which issues were obvious? Rearrange the Post-its into these new buckets. Find headlines Name the clusters you have dened, e.g., lack of space. Continue to sort and rearrange the information until you feel you have picked the interesting bits out. Turn headlines into statements Have a closer look at your themes and the stories that support them, and express them in a meaningful way, e.g., There is a lack of space for teachers to do their work. Write a full sentence. Use a new Postit and label your cluster with that statement.
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THIS GEtS YOU An overview of the larger themes that you found in your research. KEEP IN MIND Clustering can become difcult when there are many people involved. Consider splitting into smaller groups, or have a few people work on the themes rst and then present back and discuss.
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THIS GEtS YOU An understanding of what your learnings from the research really mean. KEEP IN MIND This part of the process can feel uncomfortable, as you must repeatedly question what you have learned in order to get to the actual meaning of your ndings. Getting through this period of ambivalence, however, will give you clear direction and purpose for the next steps. . .
Regroup the information and add new versions of your headlines until they feel strong. For example, you might group the themes there is a lack of space for teachers to do their work and the faculty room does not encourage collaboration together as "teachers need exible space to collaborate." Get input from the outside Explain the themes to someone who is not part of your team. Learn from their feedback and try alternative ways of organizing the information. Be prepared to let go Leave behind stories that dont seem important. Clean up your space and only keep the information you are still using.
After multiple interviews and analogous observations, the team captured their stories on Post-its, and then sorted and clustered the inspirational research into themed buckets covering the classroom walls.
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Dene Insights
Insights are a concise expression of what you have learned from your research and inspiration activities. They are the unexpected information that makes you sit up and pay attention. Insights allow you to see the world in a new way and are a catalyst for new ideas.
Select what surprised you Look across your buckets and themes and choose the information that you nd most surprising, interesting, or worth pursuing. What have you learned that had not occurred to you before? What did you nd most inspiring? What sparked the most ideas? Reconnect the learnings to your challenge Revisit the questions that you started out with: how do your ndings relate to your challenge? Narrow down the information to those insights that are relevant and nd new clusters. Be prepared to let go of details that are less important. Try to limit your insights to the three to ve most important. Craft your insights Experiment with the wording and structure to best communicate your insights. Create short and memorable sentences that get to the point. Make sure your insights convey the sense of a new perspective or possibility. Get an outside perspective Invite someone who is not part of your team to read your insights and check whether they resonate with an outside audience.
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THIS GEtS YOU Insights that concisely communicate your research learnings. KEEP IN MIND Not every insight is entirely new information. Often, you will nd things that you knew about before, but your research may have given you a new perspective. Dont be shy about retelling these stories.
EXamplE
A team of educators from the Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), Overland Park, KS, was challenged with publicizing the programs they offer at the newly-built building. The team went out to connect with people in local schools, universities and businesses. In the process, they uncovered the insight that parents are the gatekeepers of student time. While not entirely new knowledge, it helped the team realize that this signicantly affected the way they should think about promoting their programs. As a result, they re-framed the marketing to focus on the parent. The core need, they had learned, of parents was to feel that they could trust theexperience. We discovered that seeing is indeed believing when it came to communicating with parents. Monthly tours and open houses were scheduled to allow parents to discover what the CAPS experience was about on their own. The re-frame of our marketing caused enrollment to skyrocket 42% and lled the building with over 1000 student participants, said Scott Kreshel, CAPS team lead.
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Phase-Step
Frame Opportunities
Create a Visual Reminder Make Insights Actionable
WORKSHEET
Worksheets for this step are available on pages 43-45 of the Designer's Workbook to help you frame opportunities with your team.
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THIS GEtS YOU A visual representation of your insights. KEEP IN MIND Not every set of insights needs to be represented as frameworks or visualsuse them only if they make it easier to communicate your message.
Journey map
Venn diagram
Two-by-two
Relationship map
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THIS GEtS YOU Brainstorm questions that respond to the insights you found. KEEP IN MIND Avoid brainstorm questions that already imply a solution. Ask yourself: Why do we want to do that? This will help you reframe your question more broadly.
How might we create a teachers lounge with large couches? implies the solution is a room with large couches. Why do we want to do that? surfaces the actual need of a space for teachers to be able to wind down in between classes. The brainstorm question would then be: How might we create a space for teachers to unwind between classes? This expands possible solutions beyond the idea of a room with couches.
Working together in a workshop, a group of teachers created multiple questions in order to feed rich brainstorming.
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Ideation
Phase
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Ideation means generating lots of ideas. Brainstorming encourages you to think expansively and without constraints. Its often the wild ideas that spark visionary thoughts. With careful preparation and a clear set of rules, a brainstorm session can yield hundreds of fresh ideas.
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Phase-Step
Generate Ideas
Prepare for Brainstorming Facilitate Brainstorming Select Promising Ideas Sketch to Think
WORKSHEET
Worksheet 31 is available on pages 4855 of the Designer's Workbook to help you generate and document ideas with yourteam.
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THIS GEtS YOU The setup for a dynamic brainstorming session. KEEP IN MIND When you make brainstorming part of another activity, lesson or meeting, remember that generating ideas is a mode that participants need a little time to get into. Create the time and space for a transition into that mindset.
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Brainstorming Rules
These seven rules will make your brainstorming session focused, effective and fun. Introduce them at the start of every brainstorm, even if they merely serve as a reminder for experience participants.
Defer judgement. There are no bad ideas at this point. There will be plenty of time to narrow them down later. Encourage wild ideas. Even if an idea doesnt seem realistic, it may spark a great idea for someone else. Build on the ideas of others. Think and rather than but. Stay focused on topic. To get more out of your session, keep your brainstorm question in sight. One conversation at a time. All ideas need to be heard, so that they may be built upon. Be visual. Draw your ideas, as opposed to just writing them down. Stick gures and simple sketches can say more than many words. Go for quantity. Set an outrageous goal then surpass it. The best way to nd one good idea is to come up with lots of ideas.
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Facilitate Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a great activity to generate fresh thoughts and new energy. Create a safe and positive atmosphere for your brainstorm so the team can come up with all kinds of wild ideas.
Select a facilitator Decide on a person to lead the group through the activity. Familiarize yourself with brainstorming protocol. Present your topic Briey introduce the challenge you are working on. Share some of the exciting stories from your Discovery phase. Introduce the rules of brainstorming Explain each rule and its purpose to set the right tone for the activity. You can nd an overview of brainstorming rules in the beginning of this section. Equip everyone for participation Gather your team near a wall or ipchart. Give everyone a Post-it Pad and a marker. Encourage people to draw and be visual. Remind them to write in large letters and to note only one idea per Post-it. Start with a warm-up Choose a fun, easy or even unrelated activity to get people in the right mood: W arm-up brainstorm: how might we nd a needle in a haystack? Never could we ever: brainstorm things you could never do at your school. G et visual: ask everyone to draw his or her neighbor in a minute. Share. Move one by one Post the question you are brainstorming about on the wall so everyone can see it. Ask participants to take a few minutes and write down their rst ideas before starting as a group. Then facilitate the brainstorm and capture each individual idea. Keep the energy high Provide encouragement or alternative topics if the ow of ideas slows down. Switch to a new brainstorm question every fteen to twenty minutes. Throw out some wild ideas yourself. Remind your team of the rules if needed. Set a goal for how many ideas you want to generate in total.
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THIS GEtS YOU A lot of fresh, new ideas. KEEP IN MIND Brainstorming is a fast and dynamic activity. Have your team stand up and encourage people to speak up and keep it short: only take a few seconds to explain an idea.
This team invited people outside the project to help them get unstuck and expand their design possibilities.
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THIS GEtS YOU A selection of ideas that the whole team is excited about taking forward. KEEP IN MIND Trust your gut feeling as long as there is excitement about an idea, it will be a good basis to work from.
Sketch to Think
Sketching even a simple representation of an idea makes you think through a lot of details. Brainstorm ways to bring your concept to life early to gure out how you might take an idea further.
Pick an idea Right after your brainstorming session, form several groups of two to four people and pick ideas to sketch in more detail. Expand the idea Now that you have chosen an idea to sketch in more detail, spend a few minutes brainstorming simple ways to bring the concept to life. Create a simple expression of your idea. Keep it simple and only focus on the most important aspects of your idea. Make sure you're still brainstorming and expanding on the idea, rather than being critical and limiting your possibilities. Share back Present your ideas to each other. Ask the other group members for feedback about their favorite parts of your sketch as well as aspects where they see room for improvement.
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THIS GEtS YOU A rst, tangible expression of your idea. KEEP IN MIND Seeing an idea come to life, even in a very basic form, injects enthusiasm and energy into a teams work. It is an opportunity to experiment and have fun while learning about your idea.
A team trying to engage students in learning about local history conceived of an ipad app which would allow students to take a photo of a location and then touch the buildings in that image in order to learn more about the history. They sketched the initial idea to help esh out the details of the concept.
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Phase-Step
Rene Ideas
Do a Reality Check Describe Your Idea
WORKSHEET
Worksheet 32 is available on pages 56-59 of the Designer's Workbook to help you rene ideas with your team.
Do a Reality Check
So far, you have (hopefully) been developing your idea without giving much thought to the constraints you may face while attempting to realize it. It makes sense to now do a reality check: look at whats most important about your idea and nd ways to evolve and develop it further.
Find out what your idea really is about As a team, examine whats at the core of your idea: what gets you excited about it? What is the most important value for your audience? What is the real need that this is addressing? For example, if your idea is creating a teachers lounge with large couches, the real value is in allowing teachers to unwind. List constraints Make a list of all the challenges and barriers you are facing with your idea. What are you missing? Who would oppose the idea? What will be most difficult to overcome? Put the list up on the wall so it is visible to the team. Remember, constraints are helpful for design don't feel too daunted by this list! Brainstorm new solutions First, start from the list you created in step one of this method, describing the core values of your idea. Think up additional possibilities that might satisfy the needs your idea responds to. Consider facilitating a quick brainstorm to come up with more ideas. For example: how might we create spaces for teachers to unwind between classes? Then revisit your list of constraints. Brainstorm how you might address some of these challenges. For example: how might we raise money to acquire furniture for our common space? Evolve your idea Discuss how you can change your concept based on your new ideas. How can you address the need differently? How can you work around the constraints you are facing? Archive ideas Let go of ideas that feel too difficult to create, or that you are not excited about. Keep your Post-its and notes so you can revisit them later.
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THIS GEtS YOU A rst step toward bringing your idea to life. KEEP IN MIND A reality check might seem discouraging, as you may have to let go of some ideas. Focus on the possibility of actually building an idea in the long term to keep up your collective energy.
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THIS GEtS YOU A description of your idea that summarizes all of its important aspects. KEEP IN MIND While you may nd yourself creating an extensive collection of thoughts or questions in the rst place, your concept description will become stronger as you simplify it to a concise summary.
Before building their prototype, the team took some time to think through a few details around their concept. Having written out the specic items necessary to build out experience of the concept, the team was able to divide and conquer while prototying.
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Experimentation
Phase
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Experimentation brings your ideas to life. Building prototypes means making ideas tangible, learning while building them and sharing them with other people. Even with early and rough prototypes, you can receive a direct response and learn how to further improve and rene an idea.
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Phase-Step
Make Prototypes
Create a Prototype
WORKSHEET
Worksheet 41 is available on pages 62-63 of the Designer's Workbook to help you document your prototypes.
Create a Prototype
Prototypes enable you to share your idea with other people and discuss how to further rene it. You can prototype just about anything. Choose the form that suits your idea best from the list below.
Create a storyboard Visualize the complete experience of your idea over time through a series of images, sketches, cartoons or even just text blocks. Stick gures are greatyou dont need to be an artist. Use Post-it Notes or individual sheets of paper to create the storyboard so you can rearrange their order. Create a diagram Map out the structure, network, journey or process of your idea. Try different versions. Create a story Tell the story of your idea from the future. Describe what the experience would be like. Write a newspaper article reporting about your idea. Write a job description. Create a letter to be sent to parents. Describe your idea as if it were published on the school website. Create an ad Create a fake advertisement that promotes the best parts of your idea. Have fun with it, and feel free to exaggerate shamelessly. Create a mock-up Build mock-ups of digital tools and websites with simple sketches of screens on paper. Paste the paper mock-up to an actual computer screen or mobile phone when demonstrating it. Create a model Put together simple three-dimensional representations of your idea. Use paper, cardboard, pipe cleaners, fabric and whatever else you can nd. Keep it rough and at a low delity to start, and evolve the resolution over time. Create a role-play Act out the experience of your idea. Try on the roles of the people that are part of the situation and uncover questions they might ask.
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THIS GEtS YOU A tangible representation of your idea that you can share and learn from. KEEP IN MIND Keep a parking lot for questions that come up while you build prototypes. Revisit and answer them as you develop your idea further. Capture the evolution of your prototype over time as you make changes and increase its resolution.
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Ways to Prototype
Prototyping is not about getting it right the rst time: the best prototypes change signicantly over time.
DIagRam
Challenge yourself to come up with at least three different versions of your idea to test multiple aspects of the possible solutions your team has come up with.
IntERaCtIOn
MOCk-Up
MOdEl
ROlE plaY
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42
Phase-Step
Get Feedback
Identify Sources for Feedback Select Feedback Participants Build a Question Guide Facilitate Feedback Conversations Capture Feedback Learnings Integrate Feedback Identify What's Needed
WORKSHEET
Worksheet 42 is available on pages 64-73 of the Designer's Workbook to help you get feedback with your team.
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tHIS GEtS YOU A plan for your feedback activities. KEEP IN MIND You only need a handful of conversations to get robust feedback. Consider the few constituents that might help you learn quickly.
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tHIS GEtS YOU Activities and appointments to get feedback on your prototype.. KEEP IN MIND Feedback is helpful even if your idea is still rough. Its easier to informally share early prototypes with friends and colleagues rst, before setting up feedback sessions. Dont be afraid of the skeptics: often, you will learn the most from your worst critic.
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tHIS GEtS YOU A guide to getting the most out of your feedback conversations. KEEP IN MIND Create the sense of a collaborative work session to build on and develop your prototype, rather than a critique. Avoid yes/no questions and invite people to think of improvements.
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tHIS GEtS YOU Constructive feedback on your prototype. KEEP IN MIND Try to let participants experience your concept, rather than just talking about it: let them interact with a prototype in their own context, or integrate them into a role play.
The feedback helped teachers understand what felt engaging to the students, so that they could continue to rene the ideas. They didn't ask the students for approval or disapproval.
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tHIS GEtS YOU A summary of new ideas and perspectives on how to improve your concept. KEEP IN MIND Dont shy away from changing your prototype in between feedback conversations. Test your iterations right away.
Immediately after sharing their prototype with a user, this team met to review feedback while it was still fresh in their mind and quickly iterate the prototype for their next feedback session..
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Integrate Feedback
Feedback is invaluable to developing an idea, but can also be quite confusing. It may be contradictory, or may not align with your goals. Sort through the responses you receive and decide on what to integrate in your next iteration.
Cluster the feedback As a team, discuss the reactions you received to your prototypes. Start by sharing the impressions you captured right after your feedback conversations. Take notes on Post-its. Sort and cluster the feedback: what was positively received? What concerns came up? What suggestions and builds did you nd? Evaluate the relevance Take a moment to revisit where you started. Look at your earlier learnings and ideas. What was your original intent? Does it still hold true, based on the feedback you have received? Prioritize the feedback: what is most important to making it a success? Sort your notes and create an overview of which feedback you want to respond to. Iterate your prototype Incorporate valuable feedback into your concept. Make changes where people saw barriers. Emphasize what was well received. Then, create a new prototype that you can share. Go through feedback cycles repeatedly and continue to improve your concept.
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tHIS GEtS YOU Iterations of your concept based on feedback. KEEP IN MIND Do not take feedback literally. You dont need to incorporate every suggestion you receive. Look at feedback as an inspiration for better ways of solving the problem.
EXamplE
A diverse team in Albemarle County Public Schools in Charlottesville, Virginia got together to rethink their library spaces. They wondered if a repository of knowledge was the most pressing need for todays student, and considered: How might we create spaces where kids can search, connect, communicate and make? Through the Interpretation phase, the team identied insights around access, exibility, and collaboration that design solutions needed to deliver on to be successful. They built rapid, low-cost prototypes converting libraries to try out new solutions without major investment. They set up learning plans to ensure they were capturing feedback from the students and other stakeholders in the schools. Superintendent Pam Moran celebrates experimentation and prototyping, holding the idea that no design is static. They collected feedback from students and from staff, and iterated on the design based on that feedback aiming to ensure that the designs are great for the students, and respond to the schools unique identity. Pam knows the danger of one-size-ts-all solutions across a district. Solutions range from Ideapaint walls to toolcrib technology to media labs where kids can create diverse projects from rap music to documentary lms. By designing for the needs of todays students, Abemarle is evolving the shared spaces in their schools to allow for a mix of quiet contemplation and maker enthusiasm.
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THIS GEtS YOU What it takes to realize your idea. KEEP IN MIND Your needs may be larger than the support you can receive from your school. Dont give up. Find ways to creatively make your concept work within those constraints.
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Evolution
Phase
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Phase
Evolution is the development of your concept over time. It involves planning next steps, communicating the idea to people who can help you realize it, and documenting the process. Change often happens over time, and reminders of even subtle signs of progress are important.
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5-1
Phase-Step
Track Learnings
Dene Success Document Progress
WORKSHEET
Worksheet 51 is available on pages 76-79 of the Designer's Workbook to help you track learnings with your team.
Dene Success
As your concept evolves, you can begin to measure its impact. Dene a set of criteria for success to help guide and evaluate the development as you scale and build on your idea.
Consider the people involved Revisit your initial overview of the audience. Consider which values your concept has for each of these groups of people: is the prototype being used by the people you intended it for? What do they appreciate about your concept? Identify indicators for success As a team, discuss what success means for you: Are you hoping to count on a large number of colleagues attending an event? Which stories would you like to hear parents tell? What outcomes would you like to see called out in a school report? What would you tell the schools leadership in order to receive more funding? What would you like to hear a student say about your idea? Track what happens Think about how you want to measure the impact. Will you actively ask people? Can you count numbers? Will you rely on data from others? Plan how to track these indicators. Observe and take notes on the impact over time, periodically reconsidering these criteria.
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THIS GEtS YOU Criteria to evaluate the success of your concept. KEEP IN MIND Consider your criteria for success a tool that helps you identify which parts still need further improvement. Dont just rule out ideas.
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EVOlUtIOn Track Learnings
Document Progress
Once an idea has been implemented and become a part of everyday life, it is easy to lose sight of its impact. Change often happens slowly, and subtle reminders of success are important.
Track signs of change Use the research skills you acquired during the Discovery phase to observe indicators of change over time. Have you noticed different behavior? Have the relationships between people changed? Did you notice comments from your students? Ask questions, listen to stories and take notes and photos. Share stories Arrange reection meetings with your team. Tell each other stories of your observations. Write down quotes and observations and identify common themes. Discuss effects As a team, reect on the changes you have noticed. Compare your impressions with initial circumstances. Revisit the learnings from your early discoveries. Consider creating a before/after overview. Celebrate achievements Build an awareness of the changes that have come from your concept. Even if incremental, celebrate with your colleagues and encourage their continued involvement.
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THIS GEtS YOU Evidence of the impact your concept is creating over time. KEEP IN MIND Make sure to keep your eyes open for both positive as well as unintended signs of impact. Its often the workarounds and unintentional use of concepts that inform new design challenges.
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52
Phase-Step
Move Forward
Plan Next Steps Engage Others Build a Community
WORKSHEET
Worksheet 52 is available on pages 80-93 of the Designer's Workbook to help you move forward with your team.
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THIS GEtS YOU A calendar outlining team members involvement in realizing your concept. KEEP IN MIND An idea often changes signicantly when people start using it and adjust it to their own needs. Consider adaptations as yet another learning opportunity. Build a strong team and let people feel ownership of their contributions.
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Engage Others
In order to reach the full potential of new designs, the solutions must be shared with audiences outside your core design team. Depending on the outcomes that you hope to achieve with your solutions, you may need to pitch your concept, engage partners, or share your story. Choose a method for engaging that will support your end goals.
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THIS GEtS YOU An audience-specic way to engage others with your design challenge.
EXamplE
Though several months of community planning sessions were already completed on the The Castle Complex Redesign Initative in Kaneohe Hawaii, the team created a series of outward facing mini-design charrettes to gain further input the larger community. The team wanted to assess community interest, test the resonance of ideas for their trending direction, and engage the larger community in the implementation phase.To reach this larger audience, the team held one of the public outreach session and design charettees was held at the local Windward Mall. This allowed them to have a dialog with the larger community about the proposed chances at Castle High, and they were able to get more feedback, but also investment from the community.
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KEEP IN MIND Consider the story you share, or the concept you pitch as a prototype in itself. You may have to tell your story a few times or talk to a few different partners before you nd the right t. Every time you engage others, you can continue rening your story. Dont be intimidated. Begin by communicating what excites you the mosttalk about the opportunity and the bigger ideas rather than small details. This enables others to see the value and contribute to the concept.
KEEP IN MIND Dont be intimidated by different work styles that you encounter from your partners: every educational institution has its particular character, and corporate or private organizations operate in their own ways. Look at these differences as a learning opportunity.
Build Partnerships
Often you do not have all the capabilities or resources available to realize an idea. Look outside and nd partners who can help you bring a concept to life.
Specify your needs Revisit the list of needs you created for your concept. Consider which needs you have the resources for, and which you cannot do yourself. Identify partners Create an overview of organizations or individuals that have capabilities you are missing. What is your relationship with them? How can you reach out to them? Make a list of who will contact these potential partners. Structure the collaboration Adapt your pitch story to share the excitement about an idea with new partners and clearly communicate your hopes for the collaboration. Write down goals, meeting times and responsibilities to build a common understanding of everyones contributions. Learn from each other Make your interactions with a partner a true exchange of meaningful ideas. Have an open dialogue about your progress, ask a lot of questions and actively encourage partners to share their thoughts.
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EXamplE
Albemarle School District brought their design brief to the table when discussing the redesign of their school libraries. Having done their own user research and having gained new empathy for their students need, the librarians were able to generate interesting ideas that neither consultant nor division central staff nor architects had considered. The district says that in some ways, this project has turned the tables so that the architects dont come in as the experts but as the listeners. The librarians and teachers led the architecture design discussions armed with the voice of their users. They were able to help bridge the gap between those who design for them to enable them to understand the unique nature of todays learner as well as the distinct characteristics of their own schools needs. For example, the librarians helped shift the architects mindset from a paradigm of building large architecturally important circulation desks anchoring librarians to their desks, to understanding the needs of todays librarian based on exible circulation and integration of todays research technology.
KEEP IN MIND Adapt your story based on which audience you are telling it to. What would you tell your headmaster? What do you want parents to take away from it? How would you present this to the school board?
EXamplE
Teachers at Ormondale Elementary School created a Guide to Investigative Learning in order to share the method of teaching inspired by their Design Thinking activities with new faculty joining the school.
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EVOlUtIOn
Build a Community
A design network can support the deepening of your practice as a designer. Build a community where you can share experiences and get advice on your own challenges.
Build a network Invite colleagues, experts, and friends to participate in your design community. Participants may be experts or novices in Design Thinking but should include people you feel comfortable sharing new ideas and frustrations with. Plan check-ins With your network, agree upon frequency, location, and timing of your visits. Checking-in can be virtual or in-person but must be scheduled. Use the meeting dates to help create your own deadlines. Learn over time By now youve probably completed at least one design challenge. A deeper understanding of Design Thinking can only come from repeated use of the process. Dene a new design challenge and leverage this design community to enable you to make greater impact with your solutions.
35 People
Difculty
THIS GEtS YOU A network of designers who can offer advice or serve as a soundboard with your own challenges KEEP IN MIND The best way to deepen your understanding and comfort with design thinking is through tackling new challenges. Every time you complete the process, you will learn something new.
EXamplE
Eager to invigorate his work, David Rothauser at New Design High School in NYC saw an opportunity to draw on the collective expertise of the diverse faculty he worked with. He formed the Beehive Group, in order to have a professional development team which could contribute thinking to each other's classroom challenges. Beehive sessions are seeded with challenge topics, such as HMW provide personalized instruction for students? The Beehive structure is framed by an iterative design cycle, which builds in time for teachers to provide feedback and support for one another's projects. New Design High School has built brainstoming teams into their school structure. When asked about outcomes of experience David says, Teachers learned that the group is more powerful than the individual mind. This was exciting to witness.
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AppEndIX
Appendix
Hello Designer!
Whether this is your rst design project or your ftieth, you are taking a brave step to address challenges in your classroom, school or community by designing new solutions that build from peoples needs and desires. Exciting!
This workbook is meant to help you structure your process and capture your thoughts. Use it how it best helps you you can use some of the methods or all of the methods, its up to you.
Getting Started
0-1 Define a Challenge 0-2 Create a Project Plan 03 Create a Project Plan
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01 Define a Challenge
GETTING STARTED
01 Define a Challenge
Next, ip these statements into possible design challenges. Begin your question with How might we or HMW for short. This turns the problems you see into opportunities for design!
Finding opportunities for design often begins by noticing problems. Sometimes it comes out as wishes (I really wish our school had _.) Sometimes it comes out as complaints (It annoys me
that were not _.) Either starting point is ne. You might want to try this with a friend share your dreams and gripes and ask them to reect back design opportunities.
HOW MIGHT WE
HOW MIGHT WE
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GETTING STARTED
END GOAL S
PROTOTYPES I WILL TRY AND BUILD NEEDS TO FIT WITHIN MY CURRENT SCHOOL BUILDING BUDGET OF 5O DOLLARS FOR THE YEAR
A PILOT PROGRAM
What measures and indicators will help me know my ideas are successful?
OTHER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
MEASURES
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GETTING STARTED
Write up a short brief that claries the challenge youd like to address. Write it as if you were handing it to someone else to design with. Capture thoughts on why this is a problem, and what the
CHALLENGE QUESTION
BRIEF
WITH THE ATTENTION SPANS OF STUDENTS DECREASING, AND INCREASING THE NEEDS OF MY STUDENTS?
AND MORE STUDENTS BEING ADDED TO THE CLASSROOM EVERY YEAR, THE
CURRICULUM
SPACES
SYSTEMS
AppEndIX
TIP Keep the challenge simple and optimistic. Make it broad enough to allow you to discover areas of unexpected value, and narrow enough to make the topic manageable.
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GETTING STARTED
The Design Thinking process is exible and can integrate into your school structure and timing. The process can be run in a day, a week, a year, or more. What you put into the challenge determines what you get out of it. The depth of insight, opportunity areas, and level of concept
renement and impact will vary depending on the length of your project. For now, choose the timeline youd like to begin working with. After getting started on the project, you may nd that youll want to evolve this plan to meet the needs of your design solutions.
BOOK ROOM
DAY
OCTOBER NOVEMBER
8am 8am 8am
MON
TUE
THU
FRI
8am
8am
8am
DISCOVERY
DECEMBER
IDEATION EXPERIMENTATION
JANUARY
FEBURARY
noon
EXPERIMENTATION
INTERPRETATION
noon noon noon
noon
noon
IDEATION
IDEATION
DISCOVERY
INTERPRETATION
EXPERIMENTATION
MARCH
5pm
EVOLUTION
APRIL
EXPERIMENTATION
MAY
5pm
EVOLUTION
5pm 5pm
5pm
5pm
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
EVOLUTION
In a Day
In a Week or Two
Create a timeline for your project. What are major dates youll be working toward? Do you need a prototype to be ready for use after summer break? Do you want to share learnings at parentteacher night or pitch your concept to the school board? Consider deadlines, meetings, and interim check-in dates.
AppEndIX
TIME
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LICEnSE:
At IDEO, weve been using similar processes, methods and tools for years in tackling some dauntingly complex challenges. More often than not, weve experienced how Design Thinking helps to get to the next step. Thats why we are excited to see how it can impact the world of education. Teachers at Riverdale Country School are starting to use design process to address challenges in their classrooms and schools, and together weve created this toolkit in order to share these processes more broadly.
This Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). The full text of this license is available here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. Under this license, you are free:
tO ShaRE to copy, distribute and transmit the
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Riverdale
Riverdale Country School is a Pre-K through Grade 12 independent school in New York City. www.riverdale.edu IDEO (pronounced eye-dee-oh) is an award-winning global design rm that takes a human-centered approach to helping organizations in the public and private sectors innovate and grow. www.ideo.com
manner specied as IDEOs Attribution below. You cannot attribute the work in any manner that suggests that IDEO endorses you or your use of the work.
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ShaRE AlIkE If you alter, transform, or build
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IDEOS AttRIbUtIOn:
If you create translated versions of this Toolkit (in compliance with this license), please notify IDEO at [email protected]. IDEO may choose to distribute and/or link to such translated versions (either as is, or as further modied by IDEO).