Educators as Designers: Continuing Education Program Will Change How Teachers Address Professional Challenges

Edutopia Offers a Free Online Design-Thinking Workshop for K-12 Teachers as part of the Department of Education's Connected Educators Month

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Edutopia, produced by The George Lucas Educational Foundation, today launched a free five-week long online workshop, titled "Design Thinking for Educators Workshop," to empower educators to use design thinking to address challenges in their schools and professional lives.

The design thinking workshop was developed in collaboration with IDEO, the global design and innovation firm, and Riverdale Country School, a pre-K through grade 12 independent school in New York City, whose faculty is exploring the use of design thinking. Design thinking is an approach to addressing complex challenges where practitioners consider the people and environments they're designing for as inspiration for developing new, innovative solutions. 

The design process includes five key steps:

• Discovery;
• Interpretation;
• Ideation;
• Experimentation;
• and Evolution.

Many organizations including Fortune 500 companies, healthcare providers, social entrepreneurs and the public sector have taken a design-based approach to transforming their operations, better serving their communities, and creating new products, services and experiences.  

The workshop, which includes collaborative design challenges and weekly online brainstorms, is part of Edutopia's contribution to this August's Connected Educators Month (CEM), part of the U.S. Department of Education's Connected Educators initiative. CEM will feature a month-long series of online events and activities intended to boost educator participation in online communities and networks, and provide opportunities for educators to learn and solve problems in education through online collaboration and learning environments. Edutopia is one of more than 60 major national education organizations, communities, and companies committed to participate. Please visit connectededucators.org for more information.

"Strong online communities and networks, at their most effective, foster collaborative problem solving and the co-creation of new knowledge, and design thinking provides a powerful guiding framework for enabling that," said Karen Cator, Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. "Problem solving in education needs to be informed by a clear picture of reality on the ground but also with an openness to distinctively different ways of approaching problems. Design thinking offers a process to better understand the environment and develop novel solutions in an iterative, cost effective, and inclusive way."

"Edutopia is committed to bringing innovation to education, and design thinking is an approach that's of real interest to our community," said Cindy Johanson, Executive Director of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. "We're thrilled to collaborate with IDEO and Riverdale Country School to offer a K-12 teacher online workshop centered around design challenges that can improve the learning process."

The five-week online workshop will introduce educators to the principles of design thinking. The first four weeks will feature videos on the different steps of design thinking, as well as design challenges and online community brainstorms to help participants collaboratively learn the processes and methods of design. During the fifth week, participants will identify and plan to tackle a design challenge in their own schools. 

The workshop, which is launching at edutopia.org/design-thinking-for-educators, begins today, July 30, and ends on Aug 31. All content will be available on-demand to complement educators' schedules.

Educators across the globe are beginning to use the approaches in the toolkit to proactively address persistent challenges in new ways. Recently, educators at Riverdale Country School embraced the methods of design to help streamline a redesign of the school's first grade literacy program.

"I draw on design process all of the time now in thinking about
almost every system you can imagine, from how to archive student records to how to involve parents in our new student assessment strategies," said Karen Fierst, a learning specialist at Riverdale Country School and part of the first grade literacy program redesign team. "Investing time and energy in learning a versatile approach to tackle old challenges and to bring new ideas to fruition will pay us back manifold, no matter the educational setting you're in or the magnitude of your challenge."

"The design process has helped me see that I have a responsibility to be a change agent for teaching and learning," said Meg Krause, a fifth grade teacher at Riverdale Country School. "I don't need to have all the answers or be perfect, but I need to be willing to try new things, dare to dream big, and be patient as I experiment with the designs that emerge in the process. Design thinking has given me the tools and empowerment to create meaningful educational change."

"Educators are designing every day – from lesson plans to interactions with students to solutions for their schools" said Sandy Speicher, Education Lead at IDEO. "Design thinking is really about having a set of methods by which you can intentionally design new solutions that help you achieve new outcomes, and feel inspired and energized in the process."

Check out Designthinkingforeducators.com for video interviews with educators using design thinking in their schools.

About Edutopia
Edutopia is produced by The George Lucas Educational Foundation, a private operating foundation dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by documenting, disseminating, and advocating for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students to thrive in their future education, careers, and adult lives. As one of the world's leading sources for change-makers in education, The George Lucas Educational Foundation spreads the word about ideal, interactive learning environments and enables others to adapt these successes locally. Edutopia.org contains a deep archive of continually updated best practices, from classroom tips to recommendations for district-wide change.  To find and share solutions, visit Edutopia.org, find us on Facebook (facebook.com/Edutopia), and follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/Edutopia).

SOURCE Edutopia