Archives For design for education

Education has been a growing theme at TED. It’s one that seems to strongly resonate across the community, from techies to creatives to entrepreneurs to big business C.E.O.’s. One idea that is gaining popularity is around the notion that education has to encourage and reinforce kids’ natural curiosity. Unfortunately, conventional education does a very efficient job of beating kids’ natural curiosity out of them. This year’s TED prize winner, Dr. Sugata Mitra—the first to step up to $1 million in prize money—tackles this issue head on.

Dr. Mitra, an educational researcher and professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), wishes to design the School in the Cloud—a learning lab in India, based on his vision for Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE). The school draws inspiration from Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments, in which he observed children both learning and teaching on their own and without any guidance or intervention.

Watch Mitra’s inspiring talk here and learn more about his plan for the School in the Cloud here.

(Posted also on my LinkedIn Thought Leader blog)

Posted on February 28, 2013 In design for education, design thinking
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Creativity’s Role in Education

February 7, 2013 — 2 Comments

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It was good to see a strong focus on education at Davos this year. One session at the Annual Meeting that I particularly enjoyed discussed the addition of creative and artistic education to the traditional STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) agenda. John Maeda, Carol Becker, Justine Cassell and Tomas Saraceno made a compelling case for the benefits of cross-fertilization between arts and sciences.

Artist Tomas Saraceno showed an inspiring example of how science can help art achieve its creative goals and, along the way, create new science. Carol Becker, Dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia University, talked about how the arts helps develop, what she calls, the “particularity” of the person. The idea of individuality and unique creative contribution would seem to have a role in both the arts and the sciences.

The overall conclusion from the session was that creativity has an essential role to play in education, whether for the purposes of enhancing technical innovation or for creating well-rounded graduates who can truly contribute to society.

For more thoughts on why design is a perfect lens through which to look at the tensions in education, read my World Economic Forum post here.

(Posted also on my LinkedIn Thought Leader blog)

In design for education, design thinking, strategic thinking , ,
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Reflections on Davos 2013

February 5, 2013 — 1 Comment

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I recently returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The overall sentiment there was one of cautious optimism. While there is a long list of major problems to be tackled, the immediate prospects for the global economy seem reasonably good and there is a sense that most economies will grow this year.

The theme of the week was resilience—the question being, how do companies and countries weather the increasing volatility of markets, society, and climate? One obvious conclusion is that resilience requires the ability to rapidly react and innovate in changing circumstances. Creativity and design can help make organizations more resilient.

Another theme was the growing focus on tackling global problems that are associated with basic human needs. I couldn’t help but reflect upon the Designing for Life’s Necessities post in December. Access to healthy food and clean water, achieving active healthy lifestyles, redesigning broken healthcare and education systems, creating new jobs, supporting aging communities, and mitigating the effects of global warming—these were all topics of discussion in Davos. My sense is that in the next year more large corporations, governments, and NGOs will be looking for creative ways to address these issues.

Davos is a place to meet intellectual superstars and I was fortunate to spend time with both Daniel Kahneman (father of behavioral economics) and Clayton Christensen (of The Innovator’s Dilemma fame). They both offered wise words about purpose, success, and happiness—while commenting on the dangers of taking a conventional view of success and happiness. In particular, how companies measure success today in terms of return on capital.

How will you measure purpose, success, and happiness this year?

(Posted also on my LinkedIn Thought Leader blog)

In design for education, design of government, design thinking, designing for impact, economic recovery, emergent design, organizational design, social impact, strategic thinking ,
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The New Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators

January 15, 2013 — 3 Comments

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A few months ago education expert Sandy Speicher was kind enough to share her thoughts with me on the question: What’s different when you look at the world ofeducation through the lens of design?

Today I’m proud to share the newly relaunched Design Thinking for Educators toolkit. This toolkit supports teachers in using design thinking tools to become agents of change in their classrooms, schools, and communities by designing more effective curriculum, spaces, tools, and systems. Created in partnership with educators, the toolkit includes real-world classroom experiences and an accompanying workbook to help teachers determine which challenges to address.

Please share this free toolkit with educators in your network, and tell us: What’s your favorite tool in the new Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit?

(Posted also on my LinkedIn Thought Leader blog)

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A Design Lens on Education

November 13, 2012 — 9 Comments

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“Education provides the foundation of our global possibilities. We design this well, and the whole world changes.”

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement from Sandy Speicher, one of the few people I know who is well qualified to have a perspective on both design and education. Her journey has taken her from graphic designer to college professor to education designer to education expert. Sandy now leads the education practice at IDEO.

Recently I asked Sandy to share her thoughts on design thinking in education. Here’s an excerpt: Continue Reading…

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