Design Thinking
Design Thinking Methodologies
While we are very experienced with the traditional architectural process , we are equally experienced as educators . We intentionally use ‘ Design Thinking ’ methods so that teachers and educator teams can ‘ hack ’ everything we do and bring elements back into their own dayto-day practice . Also , we want a process that uncovers the unexpected , that approaches design challenges in oblique ways , and naturally requires unexpectedly multi-disciplinary teams that choose to be curious rather than certain .
Multi-Disciplinary Cohorts
While the team may be made up of educators from the school , they are never the teams that typically gather together . We do not start off with resumes or department lists to create the teams . Instead , the teachers are given a design challenge to respond to and team selections grow out of looking for a creative blending of backgrounds and yes-and attitudes .
Multi-Semester / Multi-Year Experiences
Each team agrees to work together for a minimum of one year , made up of two school semesters . This allows the first semester to be an ‘ ethnographic ’ process of empathy-driven discovery , both about themselves as professionals and the overall school itself . Similarly , it allows the second semester to be focused on making a positive impact on each member and the school itself . In an ideal world , the first cohort will be followed each semester by a new cohort . And over time , each cohort will take on some facilitation / mentoring of the future cohorts so that the process becomes embedded in the school culture itself .
Solo and Group Design Challenges
Together we end up exploring many things that arise along the way : childhood , peer collaboration , trans-disciplinary curriculum design , faculty lounge interactions , hacker and tinkerer mindsets , supporting parents , emergent professional practices , grading , plausible futures , artificial and virtual reality , storytelling , faculty meetings , social-entrepreneurism , creating cultures of curiosity and innovation , imagining entirely new school models , etc . Inspired by discoveries like these , each cohort member takes on a semester-long design project and the entire cohort takes on a group project as well , all of which has the dual goal of expanding individual practice and creating the conditions for the entire school to thrive .
While such a shift away from the traditional architectural process has a profound impact on the eventual design of spaces and places , it has a larger impact on amplifying the non-negotiable values within a school community . It creates opportunity for people to truly ‘ beta-test ’ their future experiences .
As a designer , approaching ‘ school architecture ’ in this way is no small change . It is akin to shifting from asking a client practical questions – such as how much space and storage do they need in their classrooms and studios ; what kind of furniture do they want in their new library or community spaces ; and how many 3D printers they want to order for their new maker space ? — to engaging a more oblique line of design inquiry .
Or , looking out more into the future , it becomes less about what the building can and should look like , and more about asking a school community ( and oneself ) about their aspired behaviors and rituals : how can multi-generational collaboration take place equally both on and off campus ; how can we test for and prototype an emerging culture of just-in-time creativity and curation in the ‘ corners ’ and ‘ nodes ’ of the school ; what if only 20 % of our future students come ‘ to campus ’ each day , while we simultaneously serve 1000 % more students then
EDspaces 2016 Speaker : CHRISTIAN will be presenting the EDspaces Closing Plenary Session on Friday , November 4 at 8:30 am .
we ever have in the past ; what if we stop designing existing classrooms as studios in the traditional sense of ‘ school ’ but instead position our students and teachers as empathy-fueled change agents out in the community at large ?
We live in a world education where everything is changing right in front of our eyes . No longer is it even understood what it will mean to ‘ go to school ’ in the future , nor what it will mean to ‘ design a school ’. As educators , distributors , manufacturers , school and community leaders , and designers of future learning environments , this means we are being challenged to adapt and shift on multiple fronts in order to serve our students and communities in ways we cannot possibly predict . To that end , this is a remarkable ‘ design challenge ’ to embrace , equally intimidating and extraordinary in nature .
And that brings me back to pondering rain puddles . Or more specifically , it brings me back to pondering how our own design process can learn more from kids splashing joyfully in rain puddles -- where perhaps the spirit of wonder and the unabashed desire to discover is the governing ethos – rather than in the ways we ’ ve historically created buildings called schools . n
CHRISTIAN LONG is an educator , school planner , plausible-futures seeker , and passionate advocate for innovative learning communities , having spent the last 20 years teaching , coaching , leading experiential education programs , and designing schools .
16 essentials | fall 2016