design spotlight

 

design thinking starts with a human at the center

anyone who has worked with 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 knows that we are believers in the design-thinking process and bring it to our work with school districts. when people hear it is a 5-step process they think about a line, but we know it zigs and zags and is just as iterative and circular as it is linear. the first step is one that many sometimes skip, but for us it is a step you cannot miss, as well as one you will likely go back to again and again. before you build something, you have to know who you are building it for, so for us starting with empathy is crucial. designing a new way of teaching and learning is not abstract and should always be grounded in the needs of all the learners in the system.

we started with empathy, as we always do, in our work with 15 schools in loudoun county schools, virginia. each school team worked together to understand the interests and needs of the different stakeholders (student vs teacher). the teams classified each stakeholder as a “go-getter,” “on the fence,” or “disengaged.” they collaborated with their teams to determine what the stakeholder would think, feel, do and say, depending on their classification. this helped them to understand the needs not just of students, but of different types of students. 

                in the pictures above, the school teams created empathy map on two different types of students, the “go-getter” vs the “compliant.”

from their empathy maps they generated insights about each of their stakeholders, which helped them to define a problem of practice for both the teacher and student. they then used these to continue with the design process - defining, ideating, testing and refining.

want to see what happened next? email kelly@edelements.com to learn more or ask questions about resources for bringing design-thinking to your district!

 

 

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