Impact Projects - Prototyping an innovation project

HPSS has prioritised project learning from day one. Inspired by the likes of The Met School, High Tech High and Albany Senior High School we decided very early on that projects would be an important part of our curriculum design and to that end Learning Projects became one third of the HPSS curriculum story.

HPSS Curriculum

Learning Projects evolved over the last five years (first led by Sarah Wakeford and more recently overseen by Liz, Jayne, Rebecca and Cairan) to become a differentiated range of offerings including Big Projects (more teacher led projects aimed at Years 9-10), Impact Projects (more student led projects based on the ASHS model) and Pathways Projects (aimed at Years 12-13 with a focus on pathways beyond schools such as gateway, work experience and tertiary studies). Whilst the focus may change there is a common learning design model and framework that underpins them all, with students going through a kick off phase, planning, action, review and finally showtime. 

Projects at HPSS

This year was my first year as a Project Guide and I have to admit, it has proven to be a real highlight, proving the hunch I have long held that project learning is one of the very best ways for students to develop key competencies or what we might refer to as 21C skills. It also provides the mechanism for deliver what can feel like an arbitrary edu buzzword - STEAM learning. For me STEAM is less about students experiencing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (because less face it that is really just the NZC). STEAM is really only powerful when it is genuinely integrated learning framed around solving very real problems or addressing very real issues. There was of course the fact that I had spent much of 2017 dream up a school design (with the planning of the ill-fated City Senior School) that was built around the concept of green innovation projects, or what might be more commonly referred to as social innovation projects. 

So when I had the opportunity to offer an Impact Project I knew I wanted to see how I approach it as if developing an Innovation Curriculum. I began by thinking about what Innovation might look if it were to become a stand alone subject. You can see my initial musings here. I decided that I would be best offering a project that was less about subject expertise (our students choose who they want to work with after experience workshop tasters with each project guide) and more about focusing on supporting students who came with their own ideas and were more in need of a project/innovation coach. 

Here is the project overview: 

The Hatchery - an independent innovation project

Do you have a project idea that doesn’t fit the other project categories??

Are you ready for leading and managing your own independent project?

Do you want to know how to design and create a truly innovative product, service or movement?

Want to learn how to use design thinking processes and agile methodology to make your idea a reality?

Your project may focus on Community, Enterprise and/or Sustainability and may be about people, places or things.

Assessment opportunities will be negotiated based on your project focus. 

In this project you will receive mentoring and support from myself and startup companies from GridAKL in Wynyard Quarter. Students will meet with the residents of GridAKL with an opportunity to get feedback, create partnerships and seek mentoring. There will be an opportunity for students become members of GridAKL’s Tech Cafe which will enable to attend workshops and events. 

There will be an application process where you will need to pitch your project idea to Claire and and potential project mentors.

Futures Thinking and Foresight

We began the process with an introduction to future's thinking and the concept of foresight with students exploring the possible futures of work, money, medicine, transport and fashion. Like with anything, students do't know what they don't know, so it is important to broaden their horizons and challenge their assumptions before refocusing on their interests and projects. 

Innovation Project framework

The main aim of the project was to provide the students with frameworks, tools and protocols which would enable them to transfer their learning to contexts beyond school. In a sense I saw this as a training ground for them becoming entrepreneurs working in somewhere like the GridAKL Startup Hub or Generator. 

After chatting to a range of startup folk I decided there were some key frameworks that would serve them well. The HPSS project process was to be framed by a combination of design thinking and lean startup, with a focus on ensuring the students spent plenty of time within the "problem space" before rushing to the "solution space". Board of Innovation provide a handy summary of this combination.

Source: Board of Innovation

The pitch

The process was kicked off with each student being taught how to develop a pitch deck for their initial ideas. Each student then delivered their ideas to a panel of start up and innovation folk (we had Thoughtwired's Dmitry and James as well as brand strategist Joe Ling and innovation coach Klaus Bravenboer). Their job was to really challenge the student's thinking and to encourage them to hold their initial ideas lightly. After this student's went back to the drawing board to completely rethink or redevelop their initial project concepts.

Innovation strategies and protocols

After that we worked through the following phases and processes:

Planning  - Students researched and assessed a wide range of planning tools. Students then developed gantt charts to map their overarching timelines and used calendars and/or kanban to plan week to week.

Empathy Mapping - students had to interview and discuss ideas with a range of potential stake holders.

Prototyping - Students then moved on to prototyping and fleshing out their ideas via sketches, storyboards or lean canvas templates. 

Partnerships - The students and I called on a whole raft of connections to partner each project with a project partner or mentor. Mentors include Previously Unavailable who have taken in Ria as an intern (her project is focused on her becoming an Innovation Coach). Mia is working with Changing Minds' Tamara Waugh to help develop her online platform supporting teen mental health. Whilst this has been time consuming, establishing these connections is what seems to elevate the projects beyond "school projects" into something way more authentic. It also teaches students to be accountable - a super important skill to develop!

And alas this is about where I got to with them (as I just finished up at end of Term Two to head to my new role at Albany Senior). So whilst I have planned the rest of the year, I won't be there to see them move into lean startup phase and on to preparation for showtime at the beginning of Term Four.

The Innovation Road Trip

However before I left I did manage to take them on an awesome Innovation Road Trip. The intention of this was to show them aspects of the innovation pipeline or ecosystem we are now seeing evolve in Auckland Central. I firmly believe student need to see these spaces in order to see themselves in them. 

We began the day at University of Auckland's new Unleash Space which positions itself as an interdisciplinary Innovation Hub available to all Auckland Uni students. The space is part makerspace and part student start up co-working space. If you want to see an awesomely set up makerspace, then you need to visit! Also it was great to see students just a little older than ours being supported through their own Innovation Projects. 

We then visited Generator on Madden St and the Mason Bros to see what I refer to as the "enterprise" end of the co-working, entrepreneurship and innovation pipeline. Hugely inspiring to see where innovation projects and entrepreneurship could take them.

We then rounded out the day with a tour and series of talks at GridAKL's Startup Hub which represents a potentially more entry (and expansion) level of that innovation pipeline or ecosystem. A number of GridAKL residents shared their stories and insights and it was awesome to here what they had learned in projects being echoed, i.e. hold ideas lightly, really explore the issue and needs of the customer, user or client and learn to be agile and adaptive in your planning. 

So there you go. 

It is most definitely was a prototype and is most definitely is still a work in progress. I do however already see some real success and believe there is real power in developing genuine learner agency by arming students with frameworks, tools and protocols and then giving them plenty of time to try and fail and try again. I am going to miss my Hatchery students dearly but I know I will keep in touch with many and I also know I will have many opportunities to get amongst projects in my new role as Principal at Albany Senior High School, who in many ways I see as the home of Impact Projects in NZ. Freakin' pinching myself! 

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Prototyping an Innovation Curriculum - HELP!

For the last 20 years I have been an English teacher and have spent much time happily rolling around in the English Curriculum, unpicking the strands and unpacking the achievement objectives, all part and parcel of the the learning design process for any English course or module.

This year I am, for the first time, taking on the role of Project Guide for Impact Projects, with a specific focus on Independent Innovation Projects. Whilst we do have a brilliant Projects Curriculum and a very clear framework for teaching and learning the projects process I did find myself wondering about the specifics of an Innovation Project. How can we teach students to be innovative? Can you even teach innovation? Or should it simply about providing the conditions and space for innovation? What if Innovation became a learning area?

What might an Innovation Curriculum look like?

Notes from the meet up

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be part of a meet up which bought together innovators,  entrepreneurs, academics, scientists, tech specialists, business leaders and the like, so I thought this just might be an excellent opportunity to let the hive brain do the work for me. It was only a short session, just enough time for us to talk our selves in a good few circles often coming back to whether you could even teach innovation at all. People did however agree that there were a few concepts skills and dispositions that may be useful for su[porting innovation or innovative thinking.

So for the sake of a first stab at framing up Innovation as if it were a Learning Area I've had a go at thinking about what an Innovation curriculum could look like....sort of...maybe. Note - I am absolutely, unapologetically making this up as I go along.

Note about context - the following is intended to be taught within/alongside the students completing their own social innovation project. 

Innovation

What is Innovation about?
Innovation is defined as the action or process of innovating. Innovation is the study of effectively developing new methods, ideas or products.

Learning Area Structure

Three Strands: Innovation Concepts, Innovation Skills, Dispositions for Innovation

Innovation Concepts
In the Innovation Concepts strand students will develop an understanding of what innovation is. They will develop an understanding of what an innovation framework or model may look like (by exploring models such as design thinking and agile methodology). Students will explore different types of innovation such as product, process, structure, service etc.

Innovation Skills
In the Innovation Skills strand students will focus on developing the skills needed to support the innovation process of their choice. Students will develop skills in the areas of problem identification (e.g. empathy mapping), ideation, prototyping (e.g. lean canvas), refining, testing and evaluation.

Dispositions for Innovation
In the Dispositions for Innovation strand students will develop an understanding of the dispositions that support innovation. Students will be supported to develop empathy, creativity, adaptability and resilience. Students may research an innovator of the choice??


Arghhh! The more I try to capture this curriculum idea the less clear it becomes. I really need feedback. What do you think?? Cann innovation be taught?? If so, how might you go about it? Is there an Innovation Curriculum out there already? If so I'd love to see. Any suggestions, feedback or ideas would be hugely appreciated.

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Teaching as Inquiry through a Design Thinking Lens

This week I was lucky enough to be invited to be a Learning2 Leader at Learning2 Asia - a fabulous practitioner led conference that was developed by an innovative group of educators frustrated by the conferences they had available to them. Learning2 is now spreading across the globe with upcoming meet ups in Johannesburg, Milan and Ecuador. For my extended sessions I looked at  how Teaching as Inquiry can be used a mechanism for leading change. As a result of attending the NoTosh edition of Google Teacher Academy last year in Sydney, I decided to combine what I knew worked about Teaching as Inquiry with what I picked up at GTA last year, resulting in what I think makes perfect sense - Teaching as inquiry through a Design Thinking lens.

Below is an outline of my workshop activities. Much thanks to Ewan, Tom and Hamish (NoTosh) for their generosity in sharing many of these ideas and resources.

Intro and PPT Presentation 

Link to slides

• Introduction to Teaching as Inquiry and Design Thinking
• Why we need to evolve our practice?
• How we can you use Teaching as Inquiry to become “adaptive experts”?

Professional Reading: Spiral of Inquiry

Phase One: Focusing Inquiry (Immersion) 

Key questions
What do we know about each student's:

• prior learning
• ethnicity/culture (Who are you? Where are you from?)?
• linguistic background/languages spoken?
• interests/hobbies/community involvement?
• aspirations/goals (both student and family/community)?
• skills, knowledge (including prior cultural knowledge) and understandings?
• expected levels of progress in your learning area/class?

Activity - Drawing the issue

Select one group of students you teach (may be a class or a group within a class)
Using the data and the questions above create a visual map of what you know about your learners and their needs - feel free to use any combination of words and images.
Identify an issue that is important and therefore worth spending time on.

Activity - Think, pair, share brainstorm

Think about your issue, get together with a partner and discuss and brainstorm all of the possible aspects of the issue. Try to challenge one another

Activity - Hexagonal Thinking

NoTosh website - Hexagonal Thinking

Phase Two: Focusing Inquiry (Synthesis)

Activity - How Might We questions

NoTosh Website - Explanation of template

Phase Three: Teaching Inquiry (Ideation & Prototype) 

Key Questions
Knowing what I do about my students:

• what themes/contexts/texts will connect with their lives, experiences and prior knowledge, including their prior cultural knowledge?
• what learning outcomes are important and relevant for them?
• what period of time will they need to meet these outcomes?

Knowing what I know about 21C skills:

• what skills are important?

Activity - 100 ideas in 10 minutes

NoTosh Website - Come up with great ideas
Sinner Man by Nina Simone (10 min song)

Activity - Prototyping

Select one idea, prototype and present

Activity - Idea Gallery and Rose, Bud, Thorn (if time)

Putting up your How Might We question on your screen and write out and place your prototype (the teaching strategy or intervention you are going to trial) on your keyboard. Move around the room, reading ideas and giving Rose, Bud, Thorn feedback.

Two PD Video - Rose, Bud, Thorn

Phase Four: Teaching and Learning (Testing)

This is the phase where you would trial the strategies with your class.

Phase Five: Learning Inquiry (Reflection)

Activity - Discussing ways you could collect post inquiry data (quantitative AND quanlitative)

Padlet - Workshop (feel free to check out the ideas shared at the workshop)

Reflection Activity - World Cafe

Activity - World Cafe

What will you take away from today's learning?
How do you see teaching as inquiry being used to lead change? Potential challenges/opportunities?

World Cafe Website

Resources & Links

Teaching as Inquiry NZC Website
NoTosh Website (Design Thinking Resources)
Using Teaching as Inquiry to guide an elearning action plan (video)
Teaching as Inquiry at Epsom Girls Grammar School (video)
Teaching as Inquiry: A mechanism for leading meaningful and manageable pedagogical change

Planning Templates

E-learning Action plan 2011
E-learning Action Plan 2012
Blank Teaching as Inquiry Planner

Extension activity: Thinking about the “why”

Collaborative Activity - Online Jigsaw Reading Activity Looking at the Research about

Teaching as Inquiry (feel free to use this with your colleagues).

In this activity you will be reading and attempting to summarise some key pieces of research about Teaching as Inquiry. Each group will be given a piece of research to focus on. You may like to divide the reading up between you, or choose to all read then discuss.

When you are ready to write up your key points or summary notes, use the Google Form link below for your piece of research.

When writing your notes, consider the following the questions:

• What are the key messages in this reading?
• What are the opportunities or pros of Teaching as Inquiry?
• What are the challenges related to using Teaching as Inquiry?
• What can schools/teachers do to make Teaching as Inquiry more effective?

Research Papers/Reports
ERO Report - Directions for Learning: The NZC, Principles and Teaching as Inquiry May 2011
ERO Report - Teaching as Inquiry: Responding to Learners July 2012
Learning Media Report - Coherence and Inquiry as Key Dimensions for Sustainability of Professional Learning
Teacher Professional Learning and Development BES Summary by Helen Timperley
Teaching as Inquiry: Understandings and Challenges Towards a Professional Being By Justine Driver
Lit Review 15-38
Learning from the QTR&D Programme by Lorna M. Earle Chapter 6 Collaborative Inquiry in QTR&D 44-62


Google Doc for Jigsaw Activity - feel free to make a copy and share!

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So what are you doing differently this year in your classroom (and/or school)?

Source

Whether you did a formal inquiry into your teaching practice last year or simply taught some kids and did some some stuff, one truth will remain - there are a number of things you need to change about your teaching and/or learning environment this year.

As my ancient buddy Heraclitus once stated (admittedly didn't hear him first hand, but am choosing to trust my sources), "the only constant is change". Now this is most certainly true of our world, society and most work places, but unfortunately bar a change of names on your class roll this often not the case in the classroom. I acknowledge change is challenging and many of you work in environments where change feels glacial at best, however that needn't bother any of us as change starts with you! Whether you are in a dynamic environment where everyone is striving for "adaptive expertise" or feel like you are a lone nut in a school where the status quo (which may well produce excellent academic results) is protected, there is nothing stopping you leading the charge, even if it is only in the safety of your most likely four walls of a classroom.

The chances are if you are the sort that reads this blog, you are already thinking about change, if so, I would love to hear your plans, if not, here are some scenarios and ideas of areas you might like to address and change up this year:

Scenario One: My kids results results were disappointing last year.

I start with this as this is often the data your HOD and SLT look at, and if you are teacher senior secondary it is the sort of thing that might have bummed you out when NCEA exam results were published in the holidays. The obvious thing to do is when you have your new cohort is to ensure that you know their learning needs in specific areas and ensure you address these through careful differentiation and UDL strategies (that we will discus more thoroughly later), however I suggest you do something different - address the personal elephant in the room. One thing I did a few years back when I was briefly HOD at AGGS was to get all of us to actually look more closely at ourselves. As teachers we be can very quick to look at student data and identify their potential strengths and areas that need greater support, but how often do we really do that to ourselves.

Here's the process: hunt out as many years class results of your own that you can get your hands on (even if you don't have the hard evidence I am sure you can work this out with some brutally honest reflection), now look at it closely and as objectively as possibly - which areas do your students tend to do well in and which do they do 'comparatively' suck at. At this point you need to quiet your internal defence mechanism that tries to blame the kid's weaknesses, socio-economic status and exam/assessment writer's flaws and be  really honest - are there some parts of the curriculum or subject that you teach that you don't like? Are there areas that you are weaker at, so gloss over, in comparison to the areas you LOVE and indulge in like a pig in mud. I bet, if you are REALLY honest, there is one or two areas where it's actually you who is a but sucky (for me it was on always Unfamiliar texts in English....big yawn...and I sucked). Next step, declare it, either in a quiet chat to someone you see as a support person or even better (if you have the team culture that makes this safe) share it as a group. Be sure to call the bullsh#tters who say their only flaw is caring too much or working too hard. If you are doing this as a group, once you have declared your area that needs addressing, get everyone to declare an area or two of success and choiceness - you can then use this as a way to find in-school mentors, and people you can bribe with coffee until they spill their secrets and resources. If you don't have team approach you can still sniff out those that love the stuff you love less and connect with them - coffee dates work well, classroom observations even better.

Scenario Two: My kids did okay/great/awesome, but if I'm honest, they were a bored and/or stressed (or maybe you were bored and/or stressed too) 

and/or

I am in a school where I have little autonomy and don't feel like I have much freedom to plan what I want.

First up, kids doing okay or even excellently academically is not an excuse to rest on your laurels and say "I nailed it!". High five yourself for sure, but this should simply free you up to focus on what other areas you need to change, iterate and evolve in your practice. Whether you are in a school where autonomy is limited or somewhere where you can do as you wish, the following are a range of innovations you might like try on for size. As with anything I suggest you wrap a teaching as inquiry approach around your personal change, ask yourself "What is important (and therefore worth spending time on), given where my students are at?" This will ensure you are not you are not just innovating for innovation's sake, that you are trialling these strategies because they meet your students needs in some way. And don't just limit yourself to strategies where there is lofty research and evidence base to prove their worth. Hattie is only talking about the sh#t that's been happening for years anyway, if we have any hope of NZ being the world leaders in education we need to stop looking solely in the rear-vision mirrors, instead put those headlights on full beam and look forward. I mean, Edmund Hillary didn't sit around waiting for the evidence that scaling Mt Everest would be choice for his career, he just cracked on and did it.

So what are some new strategies/approaches you could try?

• Teach your kids about 'growth mindset' and 'grit' - we talk about this a lot as teachers and how we need have a growth mindset, but do you actually teach this to your students?? In a post I did last year as part of the #hackyrclass series I provided this definition - 

Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference.

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.

Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports. It enhances relationships. When you read Mindset, you’ll see how.

Source: http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/

You might also like to teach your students about the idea of 'grit' or as TED Talker Angela Lee Duckworth puts it: grit (according to her) not ability is the key to success.

• Introduce design thinking - Whilst it might be easy to write off design thinking as just another passing fancy of us educators that reckon we are all super cutting edge, it is important to recognise that design thinking has been around for ages and is not going anywhere, what feels flash in the pan for us is actually a well proven approach that we can use as teachers to iterate our planning and more importantly a skill we can share with our learners to ensure they really do become life long learners (and innovators). I have a full explanation of design thinking in a post from last year, where I included this definition:

What is Design Thinking?

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO

Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.

Design thinking is a deeply human process that taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional, and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols. Nobody wants to run an organization on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an over-reliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as risky. Design thinking provides an integrated third way".

Source: http://www.ideo.com/about/

• Turn your classroom into a maker space - So why do we need to thinking about makerspaces? Because making things is choice, is fun and makes learning memorable. I bet if you reflect on your favourite experience as a learner, it most likely involved actually making something. Personally I think all teachers and all classes should be looking to develop one. The reason I think this is simply - they develop 21st Century Skills (particularly critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and problem solving) and provide students with opportunities to engage in constructivist/deep learning. Look at our New Zealand Curriculum and I also see many opportunities within a makerspace environment to engage in effective pedagogy and for students develop a wide range of competencies. In a post I did last year, I provided the following definition (and a whole lot of ideas and resources):

What is a Makerspace?

Makerspace describe a makerspace as community centres with tools. Makerspaces combine manufacturing equipment, community, and education for the purposes of enabling community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone. These spaces can take the form of loosely-organized individuals sharing space and tools, for-profit companies, non-profit corporations, organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities or libraries, and more. All are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community, and education, and all are unique in exactly how they are arranged to fit the purposes of the community they serve.

Makerspaces represent the democratization of design, engineering, fabrication and education. They are a fairly new phenomenon, but are beginning to produce projects with significant national impacts.

Source: http://makerspace.com/

• Let your kids go free range - I believe self-direction and developing student agency and efficacy is the fundamental shift all educators need to make to become more future-focused in their practice. In a sense we want step away from our 'caged' classrooms to develop increasingly 'free range learners'. Even if your school is not embracing of free-range approaches, there is a lot you can do in your classroom. In a post I wrote last year (yep, last year was very good year ;) I shared the following definition and a whole lot more thinking about this topic. 

Free range learners who are:

• Free to choose how they learn
• Free to choose where they learn
• Free to choose how they process their learning
• Free to choose how they evidence their learning
• Free to experience learning that is relevant and responsive to their needs not our limitations

This does not mean the teacher becomes redundant, quite the opposite as they are challenged to provide authentic relevant contexts for learners, with just enough 'enabling constraints' to ensure that our little chickens don't accidentally cross the road...in heavy traffic. Our roles need to change from teacher, to facilitator and ultimately to learning activator. Providing triggers and opportunities to learners to develop the relevant skills needed for their world (whilst somehow pleasing those pesky bloody UE requirements....universities of NZ...you have a lot to answer for in relation to slowing progress).

• Practice and teach the concept of 'mindfulness' - mindfulness, like design thinking might be easily written off as the next edu-fad, but personally, in a world where the pace of life and the amount of time we spend online, I believe mindfulness is simply a means to maintain balance. In terms of what mindfulness is, I like the infographic below. And this is not just for students, I have shared my journey towards increased mindfulness here (very much a work in progress).

Source: http://mindfulnessinschools.org/mindfulness/

Scenario Three: We have just introduced BYOD and I am sh#tting myself.

Fear not. BYOD is choice. It is not a destination, marker of modernity or an effective pedagogy (in and of it's self), it is simply access to a whole lot of approaches that can vastly improve student outcomes, engagement and autonomy (if used well). My main suggestion is that you actually make it about the students making the most of BYOD, not the teacher. You will achieve this by simply letting go a bit and letting students choose how they record their learning and share their learning and by ramping up your level of vigilance - don't be sitting at your teacher desk wondering why kids are distracted by the technology and access to cat videos. You need to be present (if you have to sit, sit behind them) or even better - amongst them! And you need to ensure their learning is interesting and relevant to them! Because if it isn't, a more interesting distraction is just a URL address away. Many moons ago, I made this wee EdTalk and this wrote this blogpost to provide a few simple ways STUDENTS can be the ones making the most of BYOD.

Claire Amos: Ten tips for BYOD from EDtalks on Vimeo.

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#GTASyd14 - It's Google Teacher Academy, but NoTosh you know it

Google Teacher Academy, Sydney 2014

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney, completing two days of workshops run by the NoTosh team and a group of fabulous GTA mentors. It was a jammed packed two days where delegates were taken through the design thinking process so as to realise our 'Moonshot Thinking' and make a plan for changing up education and us all to take our aspirations for education and multiply them by 10.

My Moonshot

So what did we do?

The first day was mainly about taking us through the design thinking (see NoTosh explanation of design thinking here) phases of immersion and synthesis, so as to explore and define our 'Moonshot thinking' - this was basically an issue or opportunity we saw for implementing change in education. We used strategies such as hexagonal thinking to connect/arrange our thinking about our issues and ideas before we then tried to capture our moonshot plan within a writing frame. We then adjoined to lunch in one of the many Google staff lunchrooms - a spectacular canteen, located in the 'penthouse' location atop the habour side building. After lunch we got to hear from a range of GTA mentors about how they used a range of Google tools and apps in and beyond their classroom, loosely connecting these to the design thinking process by linking them to the concepts of creativity and curiosity. The day then was rounded out with an inspirational talk from muru-D co-founder Annie Parker who shared her insights into the awesomeness that is the world of start-up incubators and accelerators.

Hexagonal thinking

On the second day we continued to explore the design thinking process to develop our moonshot plan, moving through ideation, prototyping and feedback. To encourage ideation we partook in the 100 ideas challenge where we tried to come up 100 ideas to help realise our plan in 10 minutes. We then selected three ideas - one we considered a safe bet, one we considered our darling or favourite and one that epitomised moonshot thinking. This was followed by a silent gallery where we could survey and feedback on the others' thinking. Then it was time to hear from Google Educational Evangelist Suan Yeo and a Google Programmer whose name escapes me. This was followed by a decent chunk of time to work independently in hope of entering the implementation phase, where we could start putting our plan into action, with celebratory party poppers being let off to highlight any GTA peeps that reached the display phase and put their moonshoot thinking into some kind of action. We ended the two days with a mentor group award ceremony to celebrate our new Google Certified Teacher status.

Officially certified

So what were the highlights?

NoTosh taking over the reigns was definitely a highlight for me. Tom Barrett and Hamish Curry leading us through the design thinking process was fabulous, their tools and strategies supporting each phase, encouraging both depth and rigour. The location and 'being at Google' was awesome as well, and whilst there was no slide (disappointing), there was a spectacular jungle relaxation room and monorail carriage serving as an office within an office to be experienced. In terms of presentations Annie Parker was a stand out - I loved her passion and also love the whole incubator concept and culture (in fact it is something we need to do more of in senior secondary school - I would love to explore the idea of making the whole final year of formal schooling an incubator model for students). The main highlight as always was the people - it was awesome to meet Tom and Hamish in person and lovely to spend a little more time with Google's Suan Yeo and Adam Naor as well. Then of course there was also our team - Team < x >. This was the team I worked with in the lead up to GTA and will continue to work with over the coming months as we develop our moonshot plans. I loved the conversations we had and look forward to ongoing discussions with them - Chris Harte is proving a great mentor, getting the balance of warmth, humour and challenge just right.

Team < x >- photo by Tom Barrett

And what were the challenges?

This was the first outing of the NoTosh led Google Teacher Academy and whilst it was (based on what I have about past Google slam type GTAs) definitely a big step in the right pedagogical direction it was not without it's challenges. I felt like we could have had the whole vision for the new NoTosh GTA articulated a little more clearly up front - I got the sense that some delegates were disappointed at the lack of Googliness - maybe someone like Suan explaining the reframing up front might have helped?? Timing was also a challenge - attempting to immerse in short bursts was challenging at best and bloody frustrating at worst. Whilst we did have immersion activities provided in the weeks leading up to the GTA it was hard to engage when still immersed in other things like teaching. This did improve on the second day, which meant we did get a little more time to dive deep...ish. The mashing up of NoTosh and Google was a little like oil being blended with water at first, with the workshops going from design thinking to Google slam sessions and back to design thinking again. Whilst we did use google apps throughout I did wonder if the NoTosh resources could have highlighted how and which Google tools might best support each phase of the design thinking process? I also wished we could have tried on some Google glasses and heard from Adam Naor about chromebook developments - surely this is what 'being at Google' is all about? 

Still, when all is said and done it was an awesome experience. It was a treat to be immersed in the NoTosh Google Teacher Academy prototype and I have no doubt that with a little feedback, ideation and further prototyping the implementation of NoTosh Google Teacher Academy London and Amsterdam will be all kinds of awesome. 

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Hack Your Classroom - Week Three: Introduction to Design Thinking

Source: http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/

What is Design Thinking?

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO

Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.

Design thinking is a deeply human process that taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional, and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols. Nobody wants to run an organization on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an over-reliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as risky. Design thinking provides an integrated third way.

The design thinking process is best thought of as a system of overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of orderly steps. There are three spaces to keep in mind: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Inspiration is the problem or opportunity that motivates the search for solutions. Ideation is the process of generating, developing, and testing ideas. Implementation is the path that leads from the project stage into people’s lives.

Under this system, IDEO uses both analytical tools and generative techniques to help clients see how their new or existing operations could look in the future — and build road maps for getting there. Our methods include business model prototyping, data visualization, innovation strategy, organizational design, qualitative and quantitative research, and IP liberation.

All of IDEO’s work is done in consideration of the capabilities of our clients and the needs of their customers. As we iterate toward a final solution, we assess and reassess our designs. Our goal is to deliver appropriate, actionable, and tangible strategies. The result: new, innovative avenues for growth that are grounded in business viability and market desirability.

Source: http://www.ideo.com/about/

If you want to learn more, you could do the Stanford Design Think Crash Course here:

For me personally, my interest in design thinking as a learning design model was born out of a visit to Nueva School and meeting Design Thinking guru Kim Saxe. At Nueva School Saxe has taken the D. School design thinking model and has re-visioned it as a learning design model which sees students undertake inquiry in a way that insures they have an empathetic real world context. Below is a copy of her model and an excerpt from my blog post following my visit.

Source: http://designthinking.nuevaschool.org/dt-diagram

Nueva School is passionate about Design Thinking and Design Engineering. They have a Design Thinking Institute and Innovation Lab led by Kim Saxe. To me, this aspect of the school was the key to its success. It was also the aspect of the school which in a sense really exemplified what the NZC is all about. Students in this space developed Key Competencies. Their focus on real world learning and focus on empathy meant that it covered the Values and Principles as outlined in the NZC as well. The Design Thinking process they use has been developed by Kim Saxe, based on the Stanford model. It is a inquiry model and thinking process, not unlike the one used in our Technology curriculum. It is however a process that can be used across the curriculum. The real point of difference (for me at least) was the inclusion of empathy in the cycle. A great example of this was the 6th grade Health Innovation programme where students work with a person with health issues, identify needs of health care. Whilst students are not expected to find cures, they do focus on the human experience and identify issues that may have solutions. In one example given, a number of students happened to be working with people with similar illnesses and discovered that each suffered as a result of having to work through a number of different treatments to find which one suited needs, the students identified that if the patients had been informed of all choices up front and able to choose, this could have prevented much of the "trial and error" the patients experienced. 

The focus on empathy and social action is woven throughout the curriculum at Nueva. Students don't just take "Business Studies" they instead learn and explore Social Entrepreneurship. They also learn a language of choice throughout using this as a platform for exploring world issues and social action on global level. Students learned about the country of their language and even engaged in a longterm in depth inquiry around designing and building an Eco house in the country they were focusing on. In the final year of the middle school, all students then spend two weeks in that country, one with a host family and the other exploring the country itself.

Inquiry was everywhere at Nueva. All students engaged in inquiries for each of the subjects, with much of the final two months of the school year being dedicated to inquiries in preparation for their "culmination" presentations which (I think) were basically an opportunity for students to present and celebrate their learning. Another core value of the school is collaboration and "collective knowledge", therefore presentations may be in groups or individual depending on how the learning took place.Students also engaged in a passion project in Middle School. The project was based on something the student is passionate about and also betters the world (that component is optional but 2/3s still opt in).Students have a mentor outside of the school and the project is very much based in the "real world". Students also participate in self-initiated projects that they engage in at lunchtime.

Source: HPSS Learning Design Model

At HPSS we, in a sense, began with the Stanford and Nueva School design thinking model, then the 'Specialised Learning Leaders' went through a process of 'deconstructing' or 'hacking the NZC' looking for the learning design model that existed within it. From this process the above learning design model was born. Visually it looks somewhat similar to the Nueva School design thinking model (and it was inspired in part by this) but look more closely and you will see that all of the words are actually pulled from the New Zealand Curriculum.

For me it is key to creating a more student directed model of teaching and learning, encouraging a way of teaching that is about students actively seeking knowledge rather than passively rote learning screeds of information. 

So how do you see design thinking aligning with how you you approach inquiry? Is inquiry central to your teaching practice? 

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Edutouring 2.0 - Learning by Doing and Design Thinking at Nueva School

Nueva School is a private California School that provides a constructivist education for gifted students. That said, what they actually provided was a programme that could (and should) be offered to any student. The school's motto is to "learn by doing, learn by caring" with students engaging in project based learning, integrated and thematic studies and as much real world learning as possible. Across the programmes students apply a Design Thinking process that insure learning is built around inquiry. 

Nueva School has been open for 45 years and has traditionally been an elementary and middle school only (same as a full primary in NZ), however they are just about to launch Nueva High School so as to provide a complete educational journey for their students.Students take a range of seemingly traditional subjects such as Maths, Science, Technology (IT), Literature Studies, Humanities and PE. They also take Design Engineering which seemed comparable to the equivalent of all NZ Technology subjects being integrated in a single monster Technology course delivered in a Maker Space (woot!).

I have to declare at this point - I loved this school. Particularly as it was the first school on this tour where they approached technology (and actually the whole curriculum) in a way that I relate to - this school wasn't an Apple school, they weren't a school that put the technology up front all. This school was about outcomes for learners. Technology (in its widest sense) was a tool to be used when it makes sense, as the Principal said - don't try to fit a square peg into a round hole. 

This didn't mean technology wasn't being used, it was, a lot. All students used MacBooks, they also had an incredible iLab which struck me as the ultimate "maker space" with 3D printer, laser cutter, desktop computers, sewing machines, glue guns, paints and a range of hard technology tools and work spaces. Work tables were on wheels to allow quick rearrangement of spaces. 

Nueva School is passionate about Design Thinking and Design Engineering. They have a Design Thinking Institute and Innovation Lab led by Kim Saxe. To me, this aspect of the school was the key to its success. It was also the aspect of the school which in a sense really exemplified what the NZC is all about. Students in this space developed Key Competencies. Their focus on real world learning and focus on empathy meant that it covered the Values and Principles as outlined in the NZC as well. The Design Thinking process they use has been developed by Kim Saxe, based on the Stanford model. It is a inquiry model and thinking process, not unlike the one used in our Technology curriculum. It is however a process that can be used across the curriculum. The real point of difference (for me at least) was the inclusion of empathy in the cycle. A great example of this was the 6th grade Health Innovation programme where students work with a person with health issues, identify needs of health care. Whilst students are not expected to find cures, they do focus on the human experience and identify issues that may have solutions. In one example given, a number of students happened to be working with people with similar illnesses and discovered that each suffered as a result of having to work through a number of different treatments to find which one suited needs, the students identified that if the patients had been informed of all choices up front and able to choose, this could have prevented much of the "trial and error" the patients experienced. 

The focus on empathy and social action is woven throughout the curriculum at Nueva. Students don't just take "Business Studies" they instead learn and explore Social Entrepreneurship. They also learn a language of choice throughout using this as a platform for exploring world issues and social action on global level. Students learned about the country of their language and even engaged in a longterm in depth inquiry around designing and building an Eco house in the country they were focusing on. In the final year of the middle school, all students then spend two weeks in that country, one with a host family and the other exploring the country itself.

Inquiry was everywhere at Nueva. All students engaged in inquiries for each of the subjects, with much of the final two months of the school year being dedicated to inquiries in preparation for their "culmination" presentations which (I think) were basically an opportunity for students to present and celebrate their learning. Another core value of the school is collaboration and "collective knowledge", therefore presentations may be in groups or individual depending on how the learning took place.

Students also engaged in a passion project in Middle School. The project was based on something the student is passionate about and also betters the world (that component is optional but 2/3s still opt in).

Students have a mentor outside of the school and the project is very much based in the "real world". Students also participate in self-initiated projects that they engage in at lunchtime.

In summary, this was (to me anyway) genuine 21st Century teaching and learning in practice. Forget the fact that it is pitched at gifted students (it needn't be) or the fact that it is private (this could easily delivered in any public NZ school) - this school put their learners at the centre, put inquiry at the centre, put social action at the centre and they provided educators that worked alongside learners as facilitators of knowledge rather than teachers. 

We could all afford to do a whole lot more learning by doing and especially learning by caring. 

Websites:

http://www.nuevaschool.org/

http://nuevadesigninstitute.org/

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