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Innovating to Build and Support an Inclusive DiscoverDesign Community

Supporting high school teachers through a toolkit introducing DiscoverDesign and the design process

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In the past year CAF not only overhauled DiscoverDesign.org in response to student, teacher and mentor feedback, we also conducted an extensive analysis of the patterns of participation of our users. This evaluation, combined with data from Chicago City of Learning (CCOL), provided benchmark data that informed the development of this proposal. Two opportunities emerged from this analysis:

1. With access to data about our users we can begin to be more strategic about targeting teachers and schools as an intervention strategy to create access to design thinking for young people who otherwise might not have the opportunity to develop this skill.

2. Existing users most often integrate DiscoverDesign directly into their classroom teaching plans. This is a powerful opportunity because it ensures ongoing exposure for students and a high degree of retention once a teacher becomes part of the community. However, it is challenging for prospective users to understand DiscoverDesign features, the ways the design process supports state, local and national standards and how to most effectively integrate DiscoverDesign into classroom practice.

In short, we need tools to support teachers to integrate DiscoverDesign into their current classroom teaching.

Lead Organization:
Chicago Architecture Foundation

Partner Organizations:

Project Goal:
CAF will partner with Convergence Design Lab to develop an onboarding "Toolkit" to make it easy and effective for CAF to train and support educators to use DiscoverDesign and integrate it into their classroom syllabi. Convergence is an ideal partner because they “draw on the principles of human-centered design and connected learning to help schools and organizations better achieve their purpose using a future-forward approach to learning experience design that is centered on the authentic needs of the learner. Toolkit and Resources Based on teacher feedback at conference presentations and workshops we anticipate the toolkit will provide content such as: • Orientation to the design process & design thinking • Introduction to DiscoverDesign features (including assistance with creating an account, managing classes, and creating or remixing design challenges) • Presentation on how DiscoverDesign aligns with local, state and national standards. • Case studies and templates for integrating the Design Process into standing syllabi. • Tips and tools for providing effective feedback on student work. • Recommendations for working with mentors. In 2017 we will work with three existing educator networks with schools across the city: Career and Technical Education CPS schools, LEAP Innovation, CS4ALL at CPS. We will work with these networks to implement our toolkit, refine our onboarding methodology and begin to expand our user base. Once we have a toolkit and onboarding protocol in development we will: • Offer three trainings for teachers. • Establish a dedicated “help desk” for participants. • Create a fall “meet up” for Chicago DiscoverDesign users that enables participants to share work and build capacity for using the design process with underserved students.

Project Tags:
2017 Round 1 RFP, School-Hive Connection, Ultimate Onramps

Project Portfolio