Tag: Design Thinking
How Do You Track Learner Belonging? Here’s a Tool to Try!
I’m pretty excited for this tool. This was co-developed with my thinking partner Shawna Parkinson. So, big credit to her for this initial big-picture idea. Why Belonging? We’ve been working with teachers at Mason High School to create a stronger sense of belonging. It’s a big school. Last year, students were online or masked up in-person. […]
High Quality Student Data in the Arts
What data is most useful – and actionable – to the arts educator?
Empathy Mapping to Put the Learner At the Center
I recently created a quick video introducing Mason High School teachers to the idea of empathy mapping. Empathy mapping is a tool that designers use to focus on the end-user of their designs. In this case, I see teachers as designers. An empathy map helps a teacher get into the headspace of their students. It […]
Brainstorming with Jamboards
I try to be a purposefully creative thinker in everything I do. In fact, sometimes I’m stuck in my head way too much. I love a good brainstorming activity to help get those ideas out of my head and into the world. Sometimes those ideas aren’t workable. Other times they are. I don’t know, however, […]
Taming Tensions through Design
This think piece was co-written by Allison Zmuda, Eric Chagala, and myself. It was originally posted on LearningPersonalized.com. While the disruption to school has been difficult, disheartening, and exhausting, there also are flashes of possibility, imagination, and curiosity to design again rather than return to an old design that was built for a different time. […]
Are You Up for a Design Challenge? Wicked Problems for Post-Pandemic School Redesign
This think piece was co-written by Allison Zmuda, Eric Chagala, and myself. It was originally posted on LearningPersonalized.com. The new liberal art of design thinking is turning to the modality of impossibility… what many people call “impossible” may actually only be a limitation of imagination that can be overcome by better design thinking. This is […]
Ignite Your Vision at Mason High School
InnovateK12 is a national cohort of innovative schools that was started inside Minnetonka Schools in Minnesota. Most of the districts participating in that cutting-edge program are creating design challenges with their staff. Potentially, InnovateK12 gives voice to teachers and certified staff such as maintenance, paraprofessionals, food service workers, and bus garage employees. In a nutshell, […]