This week we planned for how we would know if our design for a non-profit that supports cultural awareness in a school. The plan to create a non-profit that encompassed such ideas as student produced videos, field trips, and a campus campaign was fairly wide reaching. The indicators of success had to reflect the reality of the project. To know if implementation had been successful, we would have to measure everything from student participation to teacher participation. We would also have to monitor and see if content was being produced for the blog (in the form of vodcasts/podcasts). We would also have to have some sort of way to monitor whether or not content was being viewed. Then, in order to know if the product had been successful or not, we would have to rely on different indicators. We decided the pre/post surveys would be a good way of monitoring changing student opinions. Another indicator of success would be an expansion of the project to other schools or communities. The project was not meant to be isolated to one particular school and would benefit from being as many schools as possible.
The biggest challenge we faced this week was deciding on what type of indicators we would use to know if our project was being successful. We also took in feedback on our original proposal of a non-profit. The feedback indicated that there would be some legal hurdles to clear before it could be implemented, leading us to change it to a coalition of students rather than the non-profit.
The design thinking process is a great way to plan and carry out plans that will significantly change a school because of how involved it is. It takes everyone into consideration and it allows contribution from various people. Unfortunately, I feel that this strength is also its weakness, as it takes significant resources, planning, and coordination to carry out the process correctly and effectively.
The reflection process is definitely something that I plan to use with my students, once they have completed a new and significant project, they will be responsible for reflecting on their learning and trying to see how it is that their perspective changed at the end of the project. As for our staff, one way to have everyone reflect on their work is to assign a specific time to do so. One would be a staff meeting where everyone is asked to reflect on a successful practice and one that they felt was not successful. Those can then be shared during the first few minutes of the meeting. The reflection does not need to be written or a specific length, just thinking about it will have teachers start reflecting on their work daily and trying to figure out how to successfully implement a new lesson based on what they have learned from prior experience.
Communication plays a vital role in the design thinking process. Everyone needs to communicate with clarity and contribute something for the group to be successful. One of the benefits to having our group meet every week was that everyone was kept accountable and everyone continuously contributed.
The biggest challenge we faced this week was deciding on what type of indicators we would use to know if our project was being successful. We also took in feedback on our original proposal of a non-profit. The feedback indicated that there would be some legal hurdles to clear before it could be implemented, leading us to change it to a coalition of students rather than the non-profit.
The design thinking process is a great way to plan and carry out plans that will significantly change a school because of how involved it is. It takes everyone into consideration and it allows contribution from various people. Unfortunately, I feel that this strength is also its weakness, as it takes significant resources, planning, and coordination to carry out the process correctly and effectively.
The reflection process is definitely something that I plan to use with my students, once they have completed a new and significant project, they will be responsible for reflecting on their learning and trying to see how it is that their perspective changed at the end of the project. As for our staff, one way to have everyone reflect on their work is to assign a specific time to do so. One would be a staff meeting where everyone is asked to reflect on a successful practice and one that they felt was not successful. Those can then be shared during the first few minutes of the meeting. The reflection does not need to be written or a specific length, just thinking about it will have teachers start reflecting on their work daily and trying to figure out how to successfully implement a new lesson based on what they have learned from prior experience.
Communication plays a vital role in the design thinking process. Everyone needs to communicate with clarity and contribute something for the group to be successful. One of the benefits to having our group meet every week was that everyone was kept accountable and everyone continuously contributed.