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Table of Contents
Table of Contents 1
Introduction 4
Survey: Let us know how you are using Course To-Go 5
Welcome & Course Capsules 5

Welcome to the Course 5
Course Flow 5
Course Capsules 6
Unit 1 Capsule: Meet Design Thinking (Watch video on Youtube) 6
Unit 2 Capsule: Design Thinking for Students (Watch video on Youtube) 6
Unit 3 Capsule: Design Thinking for Schools (Watch video on Youtube) 7
Introduction to Design Thinking & Logistics 8

Introduction to Design Thinking 8
Flare and Focus 8
Why Teach Design Thinking to Students? 8
Taking the Course with Colleagues 9
Social Media 9
Unit 1: Meet Design Thinking 11

Sanjay Sarma: Thought on Design at MIT 11
Assignment Overview & Step 1: Select Your User 11
Unit 1 Assignment: Be a Designer 11
Step 1: Select Your User (Discover) 13
Discover - Amos Winter & Step 2: Conduct User Interview 13
Amos Winter: Connecting with Users 13
Amos Winter: Advice for Conducting an Interview 14
Step 2: Prepare for & Conduct Interview (Discover) 14
Focus - Blade Kotelly & Step 3: Select Specific User Problem 15
Blade Kotelly: Finding Design Opportunities 15
Advice for Finding Problems 15
Step 3: Select Specific User Problem (Focus) 16
Imagine - Kevin Robinson & Step 4: Generate and Evaluate Ideas 17
Kevin Robinson: Applying Design Thinking 17
Kevin Robinson: Advice for Ideation 17
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Ideation Session 17
Step 4a: Generate Ideas (Imagine) 17
Step 4b: Evaluate Ideas (Imagine) 19
Prototype - Yasmine Kotturi & Step 5: Prototype Your Solution 19
Yasmine Kotturi: Visual and Physical Prototypes 19
Advice on Prototyping 20
Step 5: Prototype Your Solution (Prototype) 20
Try - Meredith Thompson & Step 6: Get User Feedback & Iterate 21
Meredith Thompson & Justin Reich: Playtesting 21
Advice for Collecting User Feedback 21
Step 6: Get User Feedback & Iterate (Try) 21
Reflect & Share - Mitchel Resnick & Step 7: Reflect & Peer Feedback 22
Mitchel Resnick: Learning Through Creating 22
Advice on Reflection 23
Step 7: Reflect 23
Unit 1 Readings & Resources 24
Unit 2: Design Thinking for Students 25

Unit 2 Assignment: Design Thinking with Students 25
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School 27
BBCPS: Getting Started With Design Thinking 27
BBCPS: Framing a Design Activity 27
Step 1: Select Your User & Implementation Scenario (Discover) 28
Step 2: Understand Your Users (Discover) 29
Step 3: Identify Key Insights (Focus) 30
The Meadowbrook School 30
Meadowbrook: Interdisciplinary Design Thinking 30
Meadowbrook: Starting Small 31
Meadowbrook: Spotlight on a Design Thinking Project 32
Step 4: Brainstorm Learning Activities & Select Promising Idea (Imagine) 32
NuVu 33
Supporting Creative Learning 33
Prototyping and Iteration 33
Step 5: Activity Plan (Prototype) 34
Andrew Sutherland: Considering Students as Users 35
Step 6: Get User Feedback (Try) 35
In Conversation 36
Considering Design Work in Schools 36
Challenges 36
Step 7: Reflect (Reflect & Share) 36
Unit 2 Readings & Resources 37
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Unit 3: Design Thinking for Schools 39
Unit 3 Assignment: Design for Change 39
BPS Experience Lab and Agncy: Approaching Problems with Design 40
BPS Experience Lab: Redesigning Schools 40
Agncy: Designing for Complex Systems 41
Step 1: Considering Change 41
In Conversation: School Change & Improvement 42
Step 2: Research (Discover) 42
Amelia Peterson, Nichole Pinkard & Activity 43
Amelia Peterson: Human-Centered Systems Design 43
Optional Activity: Visualize Your Systems 44
(Optional) Nichole Pinkard: Designing for Change 45
Step 3: Thinking About Needs (Focus) 45
Step 4: Brainstorm Solutions (Imagine) 46
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School: Problem Solving with Design 47
Meadowbrook School: Implementing Design Thinking 48
Step 5: Develop Action Plan and Peer Feedback (Prototype) 48
Step 6: Share Action Plan & Iterate (Try) 49
Bob Vieth: Bringing Design Thinking to Schools 50
(Optional) NuVu and Beyond 50
Step 7: Reflect (Reflect & Share) 51
Readings & More 52
Activity: I Used to Think, But Now I Think 53
Glossary 54
Course Links 56
Featured Schools & Organizations 56
Other Resources 56
About the Team 56

MIT Course Staff 56
Credits 58
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Introduction
This document is a minimally-formatted version of Design Thinking for Leading and Learning, a
massive open online course (MOOC) by the MIT Teaching Systems Lab that originally launched
on the edX platform. The text is basically the same as the edX course, but when helpful, we
have removed material that is relevant only to the MOOC learning experience.
To save your own copy of this document, click "File" and then select either
"Download as..." or "Make a Copy..."
We’ve released this content under the Attribution 4.0 International License - aka “CC BY 4.0.”
This license allows the free sharing and adaptation of the course content, as long as the user
gives appropriate credit to the originator (MIT Teaching Systems Lab), provides a link to the
license, and indicates if changes were made to the content. This license means that you have
the ability to copy and redistribute the course content in any medium or format and the ability to
remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use. We
hope you will adapt, revise, reuse, and share the content here in the ways that make the most
sense considering your professional goals.
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Notice that Aria included the image title, the author/originator of the work, the source (in this
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Survey: Let us know how you are using Course To-
Go
Surveys help us continue to improve the experience of future learners. Please complete this 4-
minute survey to help us.
Click here for survey.
Welcome & Course Capsules

Welcome to the Course
Watch video on Youtube
To begin, instructor Justin Reich defines design thinking. He explains that the changing future of
schooling and learning reveals two key questions that will serve as overarching, framing
questions for this course:
● How do we prepare PK-12 students to be as successful as possible in a future that
requires creativity, problem-solving and communication?
● How do we enable passionate school leaders to re-envision the role of schools in
preparing kids for the future?
Justin then gives an overview of the course.
Course Flow
We are pleased to welcome all sorts of participants, including teacher leaders, department
heads, coaches, librarians, principals, superintendents, and others. This course is designed to
give you the opportunity to engage with the material in the way that makes the most sense for
you.
Justin explains three possible pathways for engaging with the course after the first two weeks of
Unit 1:
● Pathway 1 is a great fit for those who want an equal balance of design thinking for
learning and design thinking for leading. You spend two weeks on Unit 2 and then the
next two weeks on Unit 3. You put an equal amount of effort into both assignments.
● Pathway 2 is for those who are eager to learn more about sharing design thinking with
students. You focus on Unit 2 video content and assignment, and will explore Unit 3 as
time allows.
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● Pathway 3 is for those who feel most excited about using design thinking for systemic
change. You focus on Unit 3 video content and assignment, and will explore Unit 2 as
time allows.
Course Capsules
To introduce you to the course content, we've provided three course capsule videos, which are
designed to give you a sense of the material for each unit. Use these videos to help plan your
pathway through the course.
Unit 1 Capsule: Meet Design Thinking (Watch video on Youtube)

Unit 1 Overview
● This unit will introduce you to design thinking through the perspective of designers at
MIT. First, our instructor Justin Reich will talk about the design process used in his
group, MIT's Teaching Systems Lab (TSL).
Unit 1 Assignment
● In this assignment, you'll take on the role of a designer as you apply the design thinking
process to an everyday problem for someone you know. This design project is meant to
expose you to the different stages of the design thinking process, as well as introduce
you to a few key design skills that you will continue to develop in Units 2 and 3.
Unit 2 Capsule: Design Thinking for Students (Watch video on Youtube)

Unit 2 Overview
● In this unit, you will hear from schools at various stages of presenting design thinking to
students.
Unit 2 Assignment
● Using the school videos as inspiration, you will design an opportunity for students to
engage with the design thinking process in a low-intensity, 15-30 min design activity.
The Unit 2 assignment is not about helping students to master the design thinking
process; it’s about getting into the designer mindset and exploring ways to bring design
thinking into the classroom.
Unit 3 Capsule: Design Thinking for Schools (Watch video on Youtube)

Unit 3 Overview
● This unit will introduce you to how design thinking can be applied to large, systemic
educational challenges.
Unit 3 Assignment
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● In this assignment, you will use the design process to address a challenge you and your
colleagues experience within your school or organization. This assignment requires you
to identify and explore a systemic challenge, imagine new solutions, and develop the
foundation of an action plan to drive change.
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Introduction to Design Thinking & Logistics
Introduction to Design Thinking
Justin gives an overview of the design thinking process that he and colleagues use in their work
at the MIT Teaching Systems Lab (TSL).
During the interviews and examples presented in this course, or in your own exploration, you
might hear different terms used for each stage of the design thinking process. Justin explains
why we are using our specific vocabulary.
Flare and Focus

A useful way to think about the design thinking process is as alternating periods of expanding
and narrowing your scope of thinking with respect to a specific problem. Justin explains the
"flare" (expansion) and "focus" (narrowing) of the design thinking process.
Think about when you have created something. In your creation process, was there one phase
where you tried to broaden your thinking? When did you know it was time to focus on a
particular idea and develop it?
Why Teach Design Thinking to Students?

Designers from MIT featured in this unit and educators included elsewhere in the course give
their reasons for why students should learn design thinking.
● Mitchel Resnick, MIT

● Rachel Shuler, Meadowbrook School (Weston, Massachusetts, USA)
● Blade Kotelly, MIT
● Jason Lee, Agncy (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
● Saba Ghole, NuVu Studio (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
● Jonathan Schmid, Meadowbrook School (Weston, Massachusetts, USA)
● Diane Horvath, Blake Middle School (Medfield, Massachusetts, USA)
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Sharing Your Work
We encourage learners to think about how they can share & get feedback on their work in our
courses. Perhaps you have a colleague, friend or professional learning network who would like
to see your work. Perhaps you’d like to share on a blog, or on Twitter, perhaps using the course
hashtag #dtllmooc (tag us - @MoocsTSL!). In each assignment, we’ll discuss places where you
might like to share with peers, colleagues or users.
Taking the Course with Colleagues

We believe that your learning experience in Design Thinking for Leading and Learning will be
especially powerful if you can take the course with other colleagues from your school or learning
organization. We’ve created the Design Thinking for Leading and Learning Facilitator’s Guide
with two goals:
1. to help you make the most of taking the online course with other colleagues.
2. to help you bring content and experiences from the online course to life in your own
schools.
A learning circle is a peer-facilitated, face-to-face group of learners who are all partaking
in the course. The way in which your learning circle engages with the course is entirely up to
you. It might be that members of your group watch certain videos on their own time and discuss
those videos in-person. Maybe your group does assignments together each week. Your learning
circle should interact with the course in the ways that seem most valuable and productive. The
Facilitator's Guide has ideas and strategies for working collaboratively, including:
● Suggested schedules for meetings throughout the course

● Questions to prompt discussions about course content
● Strategies for making assignments and activities more collaborative
● Tips from a former learning circle facilitator
ACCESS THE FACILITATOR'S GUIDE HERE.
Social Media
Social media have created powerful new tools for school leaders to form informal communities
of practice with educators around the world. As you proceed through the course, we encourage
you to share your learning in whatever online networks you participate in.
For those of you who are active on Twitter, we encourage you to follow us on @MoocsTSL, and
share what you are learning in this course using #dtllmooc. We have also created a course
Facebook page @DTLLMOOC for Facebook users to be able to connect and converse with one
another. One advantage of participating in these networks is that they allow you to make
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connections that can persist beyond the end of this course. They also allow you to share your
learning in this course with your local community and other networks.
As always, whenever you share on social media, be thoughtful about how your posts will be
received by colleagues and community, and be sure to follow local and regional norms, rules,
and guidelines.
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Unit 1: Meet Design Thinking
This unit will introduce you to design thinking through the perspective of designers at MIT. First,
our instructor Justin Reich will talk about the design process used in his group the MIT Teaching
Systems Lab (TSL). Then you'll hear from MIT professors, instructors, and members of TSL
about their design work. They'll also provide advice for a specific stage of the design process to
help you with your assignment. This unit is meant to serve as a foundation for your upcoming
work in Units 2 and 3.
Key Takeaways
● Familiarity with the design process and key terms
● Opportunity to try on the designer mindset
● Introduction to why design thinking is useful for students and educators
● Idea of what designers do and the kind of problems they’re interested in
Sanjay Sarma: Thought on Design at MIT

Dr. Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, discusses what makes design
unique at MIT.
Assignment Overview & Step 1: Select Your User
Unit 1 Assignment: Be a Designer

In this first assignment, we want you to take on the role of a designer and complete a design
project. This first assignment asks you to apply the design thinking process to an
everyday problem for someone you know. It is meant to expose you to the different stages of
the design thinking process, as well as introduce you to a few key design skills that you will
continue to develop in Units 2 and 3. As with any new skill, the more you practice the design
process, the better you will become.
What You’ll be Making

You'll center your project for this assignment around ONE of the following experiences:
● Morning OR bedtime routine

● Hosting a party or event
● Preparing for a trip
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You'll produce a low-fidelity prototype in response to the user problem you have
identified, as well as other documents/materials that show your thought trajectory and
your progress through the various steps. This assignment is not about creating the best
prototype ever and producing the perfect solution. It’s about getting into the designer mindset by
trying some of the things that designers do.
Your Process
This assignment will be split into multiple steps and interspersed with video content that
will provide guidance. You’ll have two weeks to complete all steps.
We recommend that you keep track of your work for each step. You could do this in a virtual
folder or a physical one. Each step is mapped onto a phase of the design process we're using
for this course.
● Step 1: Select Your User (Discover) (5 minutes)

● Step 2: Prepare for & Conduct Interview (Discover) (20-25 minutes)
● Step 3: Select Specific Problem (Focus) (10-15 minutes)
● Step 4: Generate & Evaluate Ideas (Imagine) (20 minutes)
● Step 5: Prototype Your Solution (Prototype) (10-15 minutes)
● Step 6: Get User Feedback & Iterate (Try) (15-20 minutes)
● Step 7: Refine & Reflect (25+ minutes)
● Unit 1: Readings & More
Deliverable
Your deliverable (in the format of your choice) will include the following (More information
is available in Step 7):
● General information about your user.

● Your interview questions, notes and key takeaways
● User problem, expressed concisely
● Images and description of your brainstorming process and the solution idea you selected
● Your original prototype and description of additional iterations
● Your feedback session questions, notes, key takeaways and reflections on ways to
iterate your prototype
● Your reflections on the design thinking process
Sharing Your Work

We encourage learners to think about how they can share & get feedback on their work in our
courses. Perhaps you have a colleague, friend or professional learning network who would like
to see your work. Perhaps you’d like to share on a blog, or on Twitter, perhaps using the course
hashtag #dtllmooc (tag us - @MoocsTSL!). For each assignment we’ll suggest a couple of
places to share your work.
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Step 1: Select Your User (Discover)
Find a user for your design project. A "user" is a person or group of people designers
design with and for.
Choose someone you can interview for 15 minutes (partner, child older than 6 years old,
colleague, friend, family member, etc.). The interview can be done virtually, but we
recommend that you conduct it in person. This will allow you to get a good sense of facial
expressions and emotions.
Pick one of the following experiences to be the impetus for your design project and the subject
of the interview:
● Morning OR bedtime routine

● Hosting a party or event
● Preparing for a trip
We’ve chosen these because they are familiar experiences, can provide lots of rich details, and
contain potential challenges to explore. We'll provide guidance regarding sample interview
questions in the next step of the assignment.
For now, just make sure that your user is happy and excited to be interviewed and that
he/she has availability, considering your schedule. Assure your interviewee that you will not
share identifying information. You’ll refer to your interviewee using terminology like the following:
“Female, 18 years old.” You’ll conduct the interview in the next step of this assignment.
Discover - Amos Winter & Step 2: Conduct User Interview
Amos Winter: Connecting with Users

Amos Winter, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT,
introduces us to his research group, the Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Lab. He
describes their work in developing countries (0:32). He then gives his thoughts on why using the
design process is like being a detective (1:43) and his approach to teaching design to students
at MIT (4:20).
Amos engages with users by partnering with them and respecting their knowledge (1:20). When
you have worked on a past project or initiative for the benefit of others, how have you partnered
with or respected the knowledge of the beneficiaries?
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Amos Winter: Advice for Conducting an Interview
Key Takeaways
● Go in with as few preconceptions of the user and context as possible.
● Engage with the interviewee from the perspective of "I'm designing with you"
instead of "I'm designing for you."
Step 2: Prepare for & Conduct Interview (Discover)

Learn about an experience from your user's point of view. Begin by brainstorming lots of
questions that might help you learn more about the user's motivations and problems related to
the experience you’ve chosen.
From this large list, select 4-5 of your best open-ended interview questions. These questions will
help steer your interview, but remember to be flexible and ready to adjust as the conversation
progresses. If your interviewee mentions something unexpected or interesting in a response, it
might be a rich path to explore.
● Make sure to also pay attention to facial expressions, tone of voice, and other body
language as these often lead to unique insights about your user.
● Take notes during the interview and any additional thoughts immediately afterwards. We
recommend using this template. Check out our example interview using the template.
As Amos Winter says, “You want to go [into the interview] with as few preconceptions as
possible." A few other tips using the morning routine option as an example:
INTERVIEW TIP EXAMPLE (using morning routine)
Avoid asking questions that Avoid: “Isn’t it stressful to get ready in the morning?
reflect a personal bias so you How could it be easier?”
get a genuine answer from
your user. Better: “Tell me about getting ready in the morning.
How would you describe your emotions or attitude?”
Focus on specific moments or Avoid: “What do you usually eat for breakfast?”
experiences.
Better: “What did you eat for breakfast today?”
Ask the interviewee to walk “Imagine you’re preparing breakfast. Walk me

you through their experience. through that experience.
Solicit stories and emotions. “Can you tell me about a time when you felt really
rushed to get ready for work? What was that like?”
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Dig into “pain points” the user “You said that it’s hard sometimes to pick out clothes
mentions. and get ready in time. What part of picking out clothes
is especially challenging?”
Ask “why” often and as a “Why do you pack your breakfast in the morning?”
follow-up to questions in order Potential response: “I don’t have time to sit down and
to learn more.
eat.”
Follow-up questions: “Why is eating breakfast
important to you?”
Focus - Blade Kotelly & Step 3: Select Specific User Problem
Blade Kotelly: Finding Design Opportunities

Senior Lecturer in MIT's School of Engineering Blade Kotelly discusses how design can improve
users' lives by finding solutions for gaps (0:53). He then discusses the ten-step design process
he uses while teaching at MIT (3:49). You can find more information about his ten-step design
process here.
Blade explains that generally "the less obtrusive a solution is, the more natural it feels...the
more powerful the solution can be" (3:39). Can you recall a product or experience (virtual or
physical) that solved a problem for you in a unobtrusive and effective way? Consider why that
solution was powerful.
Advice for Finding Problems

Key Takeaways
● Focus on the motivations and values of the user.
● Consider both what the user has identified as problem spaces as well as
problems that resonate with you.
Step 3: Select Specific User Problem (Focus)

Identify insights from user interview to select specific problem. In your interview, your user
provided information in response to your questions. Now it is your job to use that information
to identify specific problems your user has. This is often one of the most challenging steps
in the design thinking process.
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1. Take out your notes and your completed Interview Template. Reflect on the interview
and what you learned about your user. What stood out to you?
a. What are some specific problems that the interview revealed?
b. Think about gaps in the user’s experience, meaning areas where the user could
benefit from a solution.
c. Consider areas for exploration that especially resonate with you.
d. Key takeaways are what designers often call these revealed problems, gaps, and
areas for exploration.
2. Write at least five key takeaways on sticky notes (or just small pieces of paper).
a. Make sure all of the information is in front of you.
b. Cluster sticky notes with similar ideas on them to look for patterns or recurring
threads.
c. Check out the takeaways from our example interview. You can use the
same template to organize your thoughts.
3. From these takeaways, identify specific problems your user has.
4. Select one specific problem you want to design a solution for using one or more
of the following criteria (or others that you come up with) to make your selection:
most urgent, most interesting, most unexpected, time, materials, desired outcomes, etc.
5. Capture that problem in a problem statement. Example: User’s food gets cold on her
way to work.
Imagine - Kevin Robinson & Step 4: Generate and Evaluate Ideas
Kevin Robinson: Applying Design Thinking

Kevin Robinson, Product Owner in MIT's Teaching Systems Lab, discusses his interdisciplinary
background in applying design thinking (0:13). He then talks about the TSL's approach to
ideation (1:04).
In your professional and personal life, you have likely had situations where you have had to
generate several ideas in response to some sort of challenge. How did you come up with ideas
that were promising and appropriate considering the context?
Kevin Robinson: Advice for Ideation

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Kevin Robinson gives us advice on ideating, also referred to as brainstorming, in the imagine
phase.
Key Takeaways
● Don't limit yourself to a particular solution up front.
● Don't judge your ideas and don't think that your solution ideas must be
immediately perfect.
Ideation Session
Kevin Robinson and Justin Reich give us an example of what an ideation session might look like
at TSL. They then show how they evaluate their ideas (2:38).
Step 4a: Generate Ideas (Imagine)

Now that you’ve identified a specific user problem, you are ready to begin brainstorming solution
ideas. This requires your brain to shift from focusing to flaring. Aim for a variety of ideas that are
both practical and creative. The more ideas you come up with and can choose from, the better!
One way to flare your ideas from a problem statement is to rephrase it as an open-ended
question. Designers often use the phrase, “How might we...” to open up their minds to
lots of options. There are many ways to rephrase a problem statement into an open-ended
“How might we…” question. The phrasing will impact the direction your brainstorming goes.
For example - Problem statement: User’s food gets cold on her way to work.
How Might We…:
● How might we help our user enjoy her food while it’s warm?
● How might we help our user keep her food warm on her way to work?
● How might we provide warm food for our user at work?
______________________________________________________________________
Giving yourself a limited time to brainstorm helps get your creative juices flowing. Remember,
there is no such thing as a bad idea at this stage! You can always go back and add more ideas
later and remember that your idea will change as you prototype and try it out.
As Blade Kotelly said: “When you start moving from the research to the design phase, the most
important thing to do is to not worry about getting it right. You're not gonna necessarily come up
with a great answer right at the beginning.”
Set the timer for 5 minutes. Brainstorm as many ways as you can to solve the user’s
problem. You may want to use this template.
A Few Tips
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● Record ideas on sticky notes.
● Use both words and images.
● Go for quantity. The more ideas, the better.
● Don't judge the quality of your ideas.
● Consider both physical and digital solutions.
● Think beyond just products. Consider, services, experiences, and strategies.
● Borrow elements of solutions that already exist and think about how they can be
applied to your user's context.
● You don’t need to focus on a full solution concept. You can think about features or
elements of a solution that would help your user and then combine separate ideas.
● What’s the worst possible solution you can think of? It can sometimes be useful to
think this way, as it can help you discover facets that are especially important for a
solution to be effective.
● What’s one solution that seems especially crazy? Thinking this way encourages
creativity and you may be able to apply some elements of these wild ideas into a more
practical solution.
● See an example of brainstorming here.
______________________________________________________________________
Take a look at your collected ideas. Arrange your desk (or virtual work surface) so that you
can see all of the ideas together. Do you have at least 7 ideas? If not set, set the timer for 5
more minutes.
Once you've generated your ideas, it's time to look at them holistically! Click Next to go
to Step 4b.
Step 4b: Evaluate Ideas (Imagine)

Arrange your ideas so that you can see all of them together. Now, do the following:
● Organize similar ideas into a group. Groups could be based on: type of solution (ex:
digital solution), solution element (ex: involves heating device), or another category that
makes sense to you
● Did you think of a solution that you think already exists? What features would you keep?
How could you improve the existing solution? *For the sake of this project, do not worry
about checking all of your ideas to see if they currently exist.*
● Could some of your ideas be combined and work better? Are there certain ideas that
would seem better if a particular aspect were removed?
● Designers often identify insights about their users which help them create more
empathic and innovative solutions. An insight is a unique quality about a user that
informs a design decision. What insights have you learned about your user that might
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help you determine which solutions seem like the best to move forward with? Example:
In my interview I discovered that my user loves to eat eggs for breakfast. I should
consider this as I design my solution.
● Consider different criteria to help you sort through your ideas: Which is most creative?
Most realistic? Most efficient? Use any criteria that seems helpful to you.
Select one idea that seems especially promising; you’ll use this idea to create low-fidelity
prototypes in the next step of this assignment.
Take a picture (or screen capture) of your brainstorming process and write down your
solution idea as concisely as possible.
Prototype - Yasmine Kotturi & Step 5: Prototype Your Solution
Yasmine Kotturi: Visual and Physical Prototypes

Former Research Fellow at MIT's Teaching Systems Lab Yasmine Kotturi defines various types
of prototypes: sketches (2:09), storyboarding (2:41), paper prototyping (2:52), wireframing
(3:13), and physical prototyping (3:31). She then shows us an example of storyboarding and
paper prototyping from her work in the TSL (4:07).
Have you had the opportunity to interact with a prototype for a product or experience? Perhaps
you saw an early version of software or maybe you tried one version of a service. (Example:
Perhaps your supermarket piloted a new home delivery service.) What did you learn from the
prototyping experience as a whole?
Advice on Prototyping
Key Takeaways
● Even low-fidelity, unpolished prototypes can communicate ideas to your user and
help you get good feedback.
● Restrict yourself from adding too much detail during early prototypes so that you
think more high-level.
● Have fun!
Step 5: Prototype Your Solution (Prototype)

Build a model of your solution to effectively communicate your idea to your user. Your prototype
should give your user enough information about your solution idea or a specific element of your
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solution idea so that they can provide feedback for further iteration. This feedback is vital to
ensuring that your solution idea truly addresses the problem you’ve identified. You will share
your prototype with your user in Step 6 (Try).
There are many types of prototypes and you should consider which format best communicates
your solution idea to your user. We recommend using a sketch, a storyboard, or a simple
physical prototype. Remember, these early prototypes are low-fidelity and should be done
simply and quickly. Designers often go through dozens of iteration cycles (going back and forth
between prototype and trying with users) as they develop their solutions.
For this assignment, we hope you have the opportunity to go through at least one
iteration cycle: build a prototype, try the prototype with your user in Step 6, and then
make some improvements based on user feedback.
To build a prototype of your solution idea, consider the following:

● What part of your solution idea is most important to share and try with your user?
You can prototype one important feature of your solution or the whole thing. You’ll share
your prototypes with your user in the next stage.
● What is the best way to communicate your idea to your user in order to get
feedback? Consider sketches (see example), storyboards (see example), wireframes,
simple physical prototypes (if you have relevant materials around, as well as the time
and inclination).
● A prototype is a draft of your idea and it will change over time. Don’t spend a lot of
time on your first prototype (5-10 min max!) or worry about making perfect. Create
something that your user can provide feedback on to help you determine your next
step in developing the solution.
Try - Meredith Thompson & Step 6: Get User Feedback & Iterate
Meredith Thompson & Justin Reich: Playtesting

Research scientist at the Teaching Systems Lab Meredith Thompson and Justin Reich discuss
the importance of playtesting with real users when developing TSL products. They consider the
challenges of helping designers get useful information when sessions are limited in terms of
time (1:00) and optimizing the session by having goals (2:03).
Advice for Collecting User Feedback

Key Takeaways
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● Ask open-ended questions that focus on the testers' experience, rather than just
asking about specific details of the prototype.
● Don't wait until something is perfect to share it with someone else.
Step 6: Get User Feedback & Iterate (Try)

Before you reach back out to your user and share your prototype, brainstorm a list of
questions you have about the solution idea. What do you want to learn about your prototype
concept? What feedback will be most helpful to you as a designer? Focus your questions on
the user’s reactions to your solution idea, as opposed to the feasibility of the solution. Potential
questions for your user include:
● What specific elements of this solution work well? Why?
● What specific elements of this solution might need improvement? Why?
● Would you consider using this solution? Why or why not?
● What do you find intuitive about this solution versus confusing?
● How might you improve this solution idea?
● What facets of the solution do you want to know more about?
If your user is willing and gives their permission, record the feedback session. Take notes. We
recommend using this feedback template. Check out our example feedback session
using the template.
Feedback Tips
● Begin by sharing the problem you identified from the user interview.
● Next, explain that you’ve created a prototype, or first draft, of a solution idea. You are
seeking honest, constructive feedback on this draft so you can improve it. Remind them
that they are a partner in this design process.
● Give your prototype to the user. Allow your user to examine your prototype at their own
pace and, ideally, without interruptions (2-3 minutes). As they engage with the prototype,
record their reactions and questions. You may be tempted to explain your design
decisions at this point, but try not to.
● Take 1 minute to describe your solution idea in a little more detail, only after the
participant has had a chance to examine it. Ensure your user has a basic understanding
of your solution idea. Avoid going into every facet of the design.
● Ask your user prepared feedback questions and take notes.
______________________________________________________________________
After you’ve finished your testing session, clean up your notes and highlight comments or
thoughts from the user feedback session that you find to be especially important. Identify key
feedback takeaways that you can use to iterate and improve your prototype.
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Based on the feedback you received, what are the small edits you would make to your
prototype? Would you make any major changes? If you have time, apply 1-2 pieces of your
user feedback to improve your prototype. If you have less time, simply make some notes
about how you would improve your next prototype.
Reflect & Share - Mitchel Resnick & Step 7: Reflect & Peer
Feedback
Mitchel Resnick: Learning Through Creating

Director of MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group Mitchel Resnick introduces us to his group's
approach to creative learning (1:12) and explains why he believes children can benefit from
learning how to use the design process (2:28).
Mitchel is inspired by the playful, creative way children learn in kindergarten. Think back to your
own experiences in school and beyond. When did you have a learning experience that you
would define as playful and creative? How did you feel about learning that way?
Advice on Reflection
Mitchel Resnick talks about the importance of reflection both throughout and at the end of the
design process.
Key Takeaways
● The best way to learn about the design process is to do it, then step back and
reflect.
● Don't just think of what went wrong, but consider why it went wrong.
Step 7: Reflect
Reflect on using the design process with an emphasis on incorporating user feedback into
another prototype iteration. As a capstone of your work, you will produce a reflection on Unit 1.
If you would like to share with others, we recommend that you create a deliverable that
summarizes your work from Unit 1.
Reflect
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First, gather all of your notes and artifacts from this design project. To view all assignment
steps, click here. Then write a paragraph (or make a short video, or reflect in a different way that
is equivalent) that addresses the following:
● What was it like to design a solution for someone? Focus on the process. For example:
What was it like to interview someone and learn about a challenge from their point of
view? What was it like to go back and forth between flaring and focusing? What was it
like to design a solution for someone else, get their feedback on your idea and then
iterate it?
■ What did you enjoy most about the design project?
■ What was most challenging about the design project?
■ If you could do the design project a second time, what would you do
differently?
■ What do you think about the design thinking process now that you’ve
been through it? Share any realizations or comments.
Share
To sum up (and, we hope, share) your work in Unit 1, create a deliverable in the format that you
find to be most useful or relevant. Feel free to use graphics, or even video, if you find it to be
helpful. Remember that you have already done almost all of the work for this deliverable
already. Please make sure to include the following:
● Information about your user. Be general and do not provide identifying information
(example: Colleague, female, 36)
● Your interview questions, notes and key takeaways
● User problem, expressed concisely
● Images and description of your brainstorming process and the solution idea you selected
● Your original prototype and any additional iterations, shared in a way that makes sense
for the format. Include a brief explanation of two or three aspects of your design that are
unique to the user
● Your feedback session questions, notes, key takeaways and reflections on ways to
iterate your prototype
● Your reflections on the design thinking process (see above for the questions you should
answer)
Unit 1 Readings & Resources

We recommend choosing one reading that looks engaging and relevant, and skimming,
perusing, or glancing at the others.
● Anderson, Catherine and Carla Viviana Coleman, et al. March 8, 2017. "From the
Mundane to the Divine, Some of the Best-designed Products of All Time." The
Conversation US, Inc.
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● Kahl, Melanie. October 1, 2012. "Recasting Teachers and Students as Designers."
MindShift. KQED
● Lahey, Jessica. January 4, 2017. "How Design Thinking Became a Buzzword at School."
The Atlantic.
Stanford University, notably the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, has been an important
proponent of design thinking in education. We recommend looking at the following:
● Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit © 2012 IDEO LLC. All rights reserved. - This is
free once you sign up.
● Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. 2011. "bootcamp bootleg."
Other resources:
● Abstract: The Art of Design. 2017. Netflix Original. [1 season, 8 episodes].
● Helvetica. 2007. Directed by Gary Hustwit.
● How I Built This. 2016-Present. NPR podcast featuring entrepreneur interviews with Guy
Raz.
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Unit 2: Design Thinking for Students
Now that you are familiar with the design process, you'll see how design thinking can be
applied in a classroom context. In this unit, you will hear from schools at various stages
of presenting design thinking to students. While Benjamin Banneker Charter Public
School is just starting to share design activities with students, the Meadowbrook School
has incorporated design thinking into entire content units, and NuVu's entire curriculum
is framed around two-week design projects. (Note: NuVu is not subject to as many
constraints as typical schools and often partners with more traditional schools.) Using
the school videos as inspiration, you'll develop a low-intensity design activity for
students.
Key Questions:
● Why do schools choose to use design thinking? How do they teach design
thinking to students?
● How do schools respond to challenges and concerns regarding
incorporating design thinking?
Unit 2 Assignment: Design Thinking with Students

Overview
In this unit, you will see how a variety of schools incorporate design thinking into the classrooms
at different levels of intensity. Some teachers teach students one stage of the process, while
other teachers frame entire units around design thinking. This assignment puts you in the
role of an educator. You will identify an opportunity for students to learn about design
thinking and plan a 15-30 minute learning activity. Ideally, you will then implement your
activity plan and reflect on how it went. Note that the Unit 2 assignment is not about helping
students master the design thinking process; it’s about 1) getting into the designer mindset
yourself and 2) exploring ways to bring design thinking the classroom.
What You’ll Make

Choose one of the following two options for your learning activity:
● Rethink existing curriculum so students engage with content using one of the stages of
the design thinking process.This option is best-suited for those who work with students
and have experience teaching particular curriculum. Example: For this activity, I want my
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7th grade science class to investigate food webs (meaning an interconnection of food
chains) in an ecosystem through the lens of the Imagine stage.
or
● Create an activity that helps students practice a design skill that is independent of
curriculum. Example: My after-school robotics club students will explore the Discover
stage.
Your Process
The multiple steps of this assignment will walk you through the process of creating your
learning activity. The steps will be interspersed with video content that will provide
inspiration. Remember that you have choice and flexibility regarding how you approach Units 2
and 3. We encourage you to engage with the material in the way that is most useful for you.
● Step 1: Select Your Users & Implementation Scenario(Discover)

● Step 2: Understand Your Users (Discover)
● Step 3: Identify Key Insights (Focus)
● Step 4: Brainstorm Learning Activities & Select Promising Idea (Imagine)
● Step 5: Activity Plan and Peer Feedback (Prototype)
● Step 6: Get User Feedback (Try)
● Step 7: Reflect (Reflect & Share)
Deliverables
Deliverable 1: Prototype Activity Plan (Step 5) will include the following

● Completed “How Might I..." statement from Step 1
● 2-3 sentence overview of the activity
● Context of the activity
● Flow of the activity
● Student instructions and materials
● What does awesome look like?
● What criteria would have to be met to make this activity successful?
More information available in Step 5
Deliverable 2: Revised Activity Plan and Reflection (Step 7) will include the following
● Your reflection on this design cycle
● "How Might I..." statement from Step 1
● Concise summary of discovery process, including key insights from your user
● Images of your ideation process and explanation of why you decided to move forward
with the idea you chose
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● "Final" (at least for this course) version of your Activity Plan
● Summary of your Prototype and Try stage in one or two paragraphs (or the equivalent in
a different format)
● Describe at least two changes that you made to your Activity Plan based on feedback
More information available in Step 5
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School
BBCPS: Getting Started With Design Thinking

The Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) is an
example of a school in the beginning stages of incorporating design thinking into their
curriculum. It serves students in kindergarten through 6th grade. In the summer of 2016, a few
educators from Benjamin Banneker went to a Redesign EDU workshop at the MIT Edgerton
Center. From there, the partnership between MIT and Benjamin Banneker grew to include
professional development from Bob Vieth (former Edgerton Center K-12 Project Coordinator)
and Blake Sims (former Edgerton Center Design Thinking Curriculum Coach).
In this video, you will visit Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School and hear what design
thinking means to them (1:03). Benjamin Banneker educators will discuss their concerns about
the design process and ways the process complements the work they already do (3:09).
As you watch the video, keep the following question in mind. Feel free to reflect in a journal,
blog, or whatever format your prefer.
● Teachers Virginia Simon and Aolani Evelyn both mention the importance of letting
students take ownership of their own work. In your school or organization, how often do
students take control of their learning? Consider how this might change the role of a
teacher.
BBCPS: Framing a Design Activity

Blake Sims (former Edgerton Center Design Thinking Curriculum Coach) talks us through how
educators at Benjamin Banneker incorporated the Prototype stage of the design thinking
process into an existing unit about biographies. Teacher Virginia Simon and Literacy Coach
Molander Etienne share their thoughts about what was exciting about experimenting with design
thinking (2:55) and what was challenging (5:51).
As you watch the video, keep the following questions in mind. Feel free to reflect in whatever
format your prefer.
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● How might you bring design thinking back to colleagues at your school or organization?
Can you anticipate concerns your colleagues may have?
Step 1: Select Your User & Implementation Scenario (Discover)

Choose your students, the stage of the design thinking process, and if relevant, the content
area. To begin this design challenge, consider which of the “How might I…” questions is
most intriguing and feasible to you.This will be the problem you use for this assignment.
Option 1: How might I teach [content area] to [group of students] by using [a stage of the
design thinking process] in an engaging way? Note: This option is best-suited for those who
work with students and have experience teaching particular curriculum.
● Example: How might I teach what worms need to survive to my 2nd graders by using
the Imagine stage in an engaging way?
● Example: How might I teach my 9th grade Learning Support Students to identify
obstacles and challenges in exam preparation by using the Discover stage in an
engaging way?
Option 2: How might I teach [group of students] about [a stage of the design thinking
process] in an engaging way?
● Example: How might I teach high school, after-school robotics club students about
the Prototype stage in an engaging way?
Pathways to students who you can design for and with:
● Are you a practicing educator, administrator, or other staff member who works in
a school, or other educational environment? Your users could be your students (from
your class, advisees, after-school club, etc.).
● Are you a parent of a school age child, or do you know a parent? What about a
student in your family (like a cousin, niece, or nephew)? You could make
generalizations based on this student.
● Do you know a teacher, principal, or someone else who works with school age
children? This person can help illuminate the student perspective.
● One additional pathway is to use the student profiles we have provided. Obviously,
these are limited in many ways. You only have the information we provided and it’s not
possible dig further into certain aspects of the “student” experience and background.
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Note: We hope you’ll be able to talk with students as part of the assignment. Some participants
may be able to consider the perspectives of a few students, while others may only be able to
consider one. Designers would not normally use information from just one user to design for a
group. However, for the sake of simplicity, this may be necessary for this assignment. It's okay
to create something that is more general; worry less about trying to tailor your activity to many
different individual needs.
Step 2: Understand Your Users (Discover)

It’s time to learn more about your users so your learning experience will be engaging to them.
We want this phase to be more open-ended than in the last unit. Interviewing is just one
of many ways to learn about your users. The way you learn about your context will vary
depending on your target students and feasibility of interviewing.
In the way that is most appropriate for your particular situation, learn about what would be an
appropriate, engaging, and powerful learning experience for your users, as well as
opportunities and constraints. We highly recommend that you interview a student as part
of your Discover process. This student can serve as a representative user. Refer to the
Discover section of Design Process Tips for a refresher on good interview practice. If you are
using one of the student profiles, generate interview questions that you might have asked. If
possible and relevant, look at student work and surveys.
If you are interviewing, draft 5-7 interview questions to help you understand the
following:
● What does your user value as a learner? Examples: our student might value
incorporating art into projects, or they might value using technology. What are some
complaints that they currently have about their classroom experience?
● Does your user have any ideas or preconceptions about the content you've
chosen? Examples: You might find out that your student feels intimidated when asked
to generate several ideas in response to an assignment prompt.
● What about opportunities and constraints? Examples: What is your student's
reading level? Does the classroom have lab equipment? Is it a small class of students or
a large one? Does every student have a laptop or tablet device?
*Please note that designers usually do not extrapolate research conducted with only one user to
make generalizations about a larger group. However, for the sake of this course, you will be
using insights from your one interview to design an activity for a class. You'll keep in mind your
one particular user, but you'll also remember that there will be other people involved, meaning
you can't tailor the activity too much to the single user.*
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Step 3: Identify Key Insights (Focus)
Take a look at your notes post-interview (or post reading the student profile) and identify
some key insights that seem especially important. These user insights will be important as
you develop your lesson idea. Think about the following:
● What stood out to you in terms of learner values, preconceptions, opportunities and
constraints?
● Is there anything that seems particularly important or unimportant?
● Did the discovery process reveal anything surprising?
● Was there something the user (meaning the student) said that especially resonated with
you?
Reflect the key insights in a way that will allow you to synthesize the information. You
may want to put all insights on sticky notes (could be real-life or virtual) and arrange them in a
certain way. Perhaps all of the information about what the learner values is put in one corner of
a large piece of paper. If you need more guidance, check out the Focus section of the Design
Process Tips.
The Meadowbrook School
Meadowbrook: Interdisciplinary Design Thinking

The Meadowbrook School of Weston (Weston, Massachusetts, USA) has incorporated design
thinking throughout the school in a variety of ways. In addition to the eurekaLab, a makerspace
where students build design projects, teachers can plan a small activity around a phase of the
design thinking process (as defined by Meadowbrook) or build a unit around the entire process.
Students from pre-kindergarten through grade 8 attend Meadowbrook.
In this video, educators from Meadowbrook explain why they want to share design thinking with
students (0:22) and the specific design process that they use (2:26). They then discuss possible
challenges that may arise from using design thinking in the classroom (3:50).
As you watch the video, keep the following questions in mind. Feel free to reflect in a journal,
blog, or whatever format your prefer.
● What does your school value? How might those values compare or contrast with
characteristics of the design thinking mindset?
● Does your school or classroom tend to assess the process or the final product? What
might a classroom look like/feel like/sound like if the final product didn’t matter as much
as the process? What challenges might arise?
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Meadowbrook: Starting Small
EurekaLab Coach Susan Fisher explains the purpose of the eurekaLab and shares her thoughts
for coaching Meadowbrook teachers through designing low-intensity design activities.
As you watch the video, keep the following questions in mind. Feel free to reflect in whatever
format your prefer.
● Does your school have a makerspace? How integrated is your makerspace into other
areas of the school?
● If your school doesn’t have a makerspace, what might a makerspace look like at your
school? What role would it have?
Video Key Takeaways

● It's okay to break down the process and do one piece at a time.
● Design thinking is not meant to be a rigid formula. Make adjustments to
the process to fit your students and your context.
● Don't forget the user! Remember to keep a mindset of empathy
throughout the process.
Meadowbrook: Spotlight on a Design Thinking Project

Meadowbrook School teacher and Middle School Science Chair Rachel Shuler walks us
through the Bird Project, a multi-month project that asks sixth graders to design a way to teach
junior-kindergartners about local bird species. The Bird Project is an example of a high-intensity
design project that encompasses all stages of the design thinking process: Understand, Define,
Imagine, Prototype, and Try. Rachel also gives general advice for planning design thinking units
(5:44).
As you watch the video, keep the following question in mind.
● What existing units in your curriculum lend themselves to a design thinking project?
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Step 4: Brainstorm Learning Activities & Select Promising Idea
(Imagine)
Let’s think about different and exciting ways you could present design thinking to your students.
Revisit your "How Might I..." statement. Do you need to make any adjustments to the stage
of the design process you'll be focusing on or the content area based on your experience in the
Imagine stage?
If you need inspiration in preparation for brainstorming, consider looking over the
examples of design activities provided by Stanford’s d.school here and other examples
in the videos throughout this unit.
Now set a timer for 10 minutes and generate at least five different low-intensity ways to
bring design thinking to your users. Keep in mind the insights about your user that you
identified during Focus.
Your activity should incorporate active learning. Consider brainstorming techniques you learned
in Unit 1, using sticky notes to display your ideas, making sure that you aren’t judging your ideas
for quality, but valuing quantity instead.
Be sure to capture your brainstorming process with pictures!
Select your most promising idea to carry into the next stage based on insights from the
interview (or student profile), as well as your own interest and enthusiasm. If you need
help brainstorming or evaluating your idea, see the Design Process Tips.
Example: The user I interviewed likes working in small groups with her peers. While I generated
some ideas that didn't include group work, I decided to pursue the idea that does.
NuVu
NuVu (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) is a school for middle and high school students that
operates on a studio model of two-week, multidisciplinary design projects. It is important to note
that NuVu is not subject to as many constraints as typical schools and often partners with more
traditional schools.
Supporting Creative Learning

In this video, educators and students from NuVu share the iterative design process at the core
of students' studio experience and how the role of a coach differs from that of a teacher (2:23).
They then talk about why a strong critique culture helps students develop a designer mindset
(4:15).
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As you watch the video, keep the following questions in mind.
● In your classroom, how are you like a teacher and how are you like a coach? Which role
do you prefer? What might it look like/feel like/sound like to be more of a coach than a
teacher?
Prototyping and Iteration

Andrew Todd Marcus (a coach and Chief Academic Officer) and Sam (student) share the
process of prototyping and iterating students use when developing projects. Andrew and Saeed
Arida (Founder) explore how students learn about both critiquing and reflecting on their own
projects as well as others' (2:37).

● Do you ask your students to critique each other? How do they feel about being critiqued
or revising their work? How might you help them be more comfortable with critique?
Step 5: Activity Plan (Prototype)

In Step 5, you will first develop an Activity Plan. We encourage you to share with a colleague or
peer and ask for feedback (in addition to the user feedback you’ll gather in Step 6). Your Activity
Plan will be your prototype for this unit. We invite you to take a look at some sample Activity
Plans from previous learners (Exam Prep and Worm Homes). The examples are not intended to
be templates; please use the format that works for you. For more help with prototyping, refer to
the Design Process Tips.
As you create your activity plan, make sure to include the following:
1. Your “How might I….?” question from Step 1. Be sure to note if it’s evolved as you’ve
worked.
2. 2-3 sentence overview of the activity. What are your students learning? How does the
design skill being practiced fit with the content? Why is this activity a good way to
practice the design skill?
3. Context of the activity. Where will this activity take place? In a classroom? In a class
garden? What steps will students have completed prior to this activity? What background
knowledge should they have when beginning this activity, if any?
4. Flow of the activity. What will the facilitators and students do and for how long?
5. Student instructions and materials. Will students receive a handout or worksheet? Will
you need to provide instructions? Do you need a paragraph or two of background, a
short video, or presentation to get the students started? Maybe students will need
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markers or other art supplies. It may not be possible to create all instructional materials;
if needed, summarize the student instructions and/or materials in a paragraph.
6. What does awesome look like? What criteria would have to be met to make this activity
successful? What do students who are engaged in and excited about the activity look
like and sound like? Will you at some point try to assess student understanding of the
specific skills or content? How does that assessment factor into your vision of
awesomeness? Also think about implementation of the activity-- what is an awesome
experience from the facilitator's perspective?
7. Notes. Do you have any concerns that you would like to mention or address? Is there
anything else about the activity that you need to explain?
Sharing: If you’re able to share your prototype with a peer or colleague, think about what kinds
of questions you have for them. When you share, we recommend that you explain your
questions, and then let them review your prototype without interruption before seeking
feedback.
Andrew Sutherland: Considering Students as Users

Andrew Sutherland is the founder and CTO of Quizlet, an online learning tool that provides
study tools and games. In this video, Andrew talks about the challenges of designing learning
activities for students (1:43), prototyping and collecting user feedback (3:16), and how Quizlet’s
design strategy adapts to its ever-changing users’ needs (5:28).
Step 6: Get User Feedback (Try)

1. If possible, test your design activity by implementing it with students! Remember that
even as you facilitate the activity, it’s still important for you to make observations and think about
opportunities for improvement. Take notes on how your students respond to the design thinking
elements of the activity and what the facilitator experience is like.
An alternative to testing the activity with real users is to share your activity plan with people who
work with kids. Depending on how long the activity is, consider asking them to try the activity out
themselves and provide feedback.
2. Ask follow-up questions to your user or others after the activity. We encourage you to
develop your own questions, but have provided a few examples:
● What do you think works well in this activity and why?

● What might need improvement? Why?
● What changes would you make?
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● Is there anything confusing about the content? Were the instructions clear?
● What questions do you still have?
Also reflect on your experience as a facilitator. What went smoothly? When were you having
the most fun? What frustrated you? What do you wish had gone differently?
Turn feedback into action. Synthesize the feedback you received from your user or others.
Identify key feedback takeaways that you can use to iterate and improve your activity plan.
Based on the feedback you received, what are small changes you would make to your activity
plan? Would you make any major changes? Improve your prototype, meaning your activity plan,
based on the feedback you have received.
Refer to the Try section of Design Process Tips for a refresher on this stage.
In Conversation
Considering Design Work in Schools

Justin Reich and Blake Sims talk about how the design process maps on to activities students
currently do in school.
Challenges
Justin Reich and Blake Sims continue their conversation about design thinking in the classroom,
focusing in this video on challenges teachers may face. They address the challenge of not
having enough time in the classroom (beginning of the video) as well as how to assess design
thinking projects (2:02). They then talk about the changing role of a teacher (4:11).
● Blake and Justin discuss the challenges of time and assessment. Are these concerns
that you share? Are there other concerns that come to mind?
Step 7: Reflect (Reflect & Share)

It’s time to consider your design project holistically. In Step 7, you will first reflect on your Activity
Plan and the design process. If you would like to share with others, we recommend that you
create a deliverable that summarizes your work.
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Reflect
First, gather all of your notes and artifacts from this design project. To view all assignment
steps, click here. Then write a paragraph (or make a short video, or reflect in a different way that
is equivalent) that addresses the following:
● What surprised you about creating a design thinking activity for students? What was
most challenging?
● What would you do differently?
● What comes next? Is it related to design thinking?
● If you've created an activity/lesson plan for students previously, how did you feel about
using the design process this time?
● You used the design thinking process for the Unit 1 Assignment. Compare and contrast
your reflections in Unit 1 with your thoughts now.
Refer to the Reflect & Share section of Design Process Tips if needed.
Share
find to be most useful or relevant. Feel free to use graphics, or even video, if you find it to be
helpful, and share with colleagues, peers or larger networks. Remember that you have already
done almost all of the work for this deliverable already. Please make sure to include the
following:
1. Your completed 'How Might I..." statement.

2. The "final" (at least for this unit) version of your Activity Plan. Explain at least two of your
choices in the format that works best for you. Help participants understand why you're
excited about this activity and how user insights inspired your design.
3. A summary of your Discover process. Make sure to include key insights from your user.
4. Images of your ideation process. Explain why you decided to move forward with the idea
you chose.
5. A summary of your "Prototype" and “Try” stage in one or two paragraphs (or the
equivalent in a different format). How did you figure out the best flow for your activity?
Did you test with users? Generally, how did it go? Describe at least two changes that
you made to your Activity Plan based on feedback.
6. Your reflections on the design thinking process (see "Instructions" above for the
questions you should answer).
Unit 2 Readings & Resources

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● Cooper, Jennifer. September 30, 2013. "Designing a School Makerspace." Edutopia.
George Lucas Educational Foundation.
● Passanisi, Jody. August 21, 2016. "Design Thinking in the History Classroom." Future of
History. MiddleWeb.
● Schwartz, Katrina. March 4, 2013. "What Does 'Design Thinking' Look Like in School?"
MindShift. KQED.
● Stevens, Anne. June 26, 2013. "How to Apply Design Thinking in Class, Step by Step."
MindShift. KQED.
An additional resource:
● Edited by Gabriella Santa-Donato. August 15, 2015. "Design Thinking Projects and
Challenges." The K12 Lab Wiki. Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.
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Unit 3: Design Thinking for Schools
This unit will introduce you to how design thinking can be applied to large systemic educational
challenges. You'll hear from designers who work with the Boston Public Schools district and
from school leaders at Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School, which is just starting to share
design activities with students, the Meadowbrook School, which has incorporated design
thinking into entire content units, and NuVu, whose entire curriculum is framed around two-week
design projects. (Note: NuVu is not subject to as many constraints as typical schools and often
partners with more traditional schools.) These school leaders will share how they view design
thinking in their schools beyond the classroom. As you learn about their experiences, you will
design your own action plan for your school or organization.
Key Questions:
● What is the role of leadership in bringing design thinking to schools?
● How can design be applied to complex systems and sticky educational
problems?
● What is the impact of using design thinking to guide change?
Unit 3 Assignment: Design for Change

This assignment requires you to identify a systemic challenge, imagine new solutions,
and develop a plan for the future. We encourage you to engage with various stakeholders,
with students as your primary users, to prototype and test ideas with colleagues, and to
continue work on your action plan after the course is over.
Your Process
As in Units 1 and 2, the multiple steps of the assignment will be interspersed with video content.
However, in Unit 3, the videos are not intrinsically linked to each step. Instead, the interspersing
is designed to help you have a comfortable flow between active work and video viewing.
Remember that you have choice and flexibility regarding how you approach Units 2 and 3. We
encourage you to engage with the material in the way that is most useful for you.
● Step 1: Considering Change (Discover)

● Step 2: Research (Discover)
● Step 3: Thinking About Needs (Focus)
● Step 4: Brainstorm Solutions (Imagine)
● Step 5: Develop Action Plan (Prototype)
● Step 6: Share Action Plan & Iterate (Try)
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● Step 7: Reflect & Share
Deliverables
Deliverable 1: Prototype Action Plan will include the following (you can find more information in
Step 5):
● Challenge & User Need
● Solution Idea
● Action Steps & Impact
● Help Needed
● Indicators of Success
Deliverable 2: Revised Action Plan and Reflection will include the following (you can find more
information in Step 7):
● A reflection on this design cycle
● List your top two ideas from your ideation process. Explain why you chose one over the
other top candidate
● Share the "final" (at least for this course) version of your Action Plan. Explain at least two
of your design decisions in the format that works best for you. A complete Action Plan
includes the following: A brief explanation of the Challenge & User Need, a summary of
your Solution Idea, a list of Action Steps & Impact, a description of Help Needed, and a
few Indicators of Success
● Summarize your “Try” stage in one or two paragraphs (or the equivalent in a different
format)
● Describe at least two changes that you made to your Action Plan based on feedback or
taking action
BPS Experience Lab and Agncy: Approaching Problems with

Design
BPS Experience Lab: Redesigning Schools

The Boston Public Schools (BPS) Experience Lab (now called the Education Lab) uses human-
centered design to address systemic educational challenges. Former BPS Experience Lab Co-
lead Jaclyn Youngblood discusses the importance of designing for the user and emphasizing
experimentation and iteration (0:47). Jaclyn then leads us through the work the lab has done
with the district's Food and Nutrition Services (1:51) and shares lessons that the lab has learned
(5:22).
As you watch this video and the video Agncy: Designing for Complex Systems on the next
page, keep the following questions in mind.
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● Think about district-level or systemic-level problems your community is faced with. Who
would you define as the “users”? (Users are also called stakeholders.) How does your
community collect user feedback? Does it iterate based on that feedback?
Agncy: Designing for Complex Systems

Agncy is a design consultancy that combines human-centered design with systems thinking to
solve complex problems of structural inequality. Executive Director Augusta Meill and Former
Executive Design Director Jason Lee first discuss the importance of balancing the needs of the
system and the individual (0:51). They then talk about their work with a large, urban school
district, explaining their research and analysis process (2:55) and how they translate insights
into next steps (4:48).
Step 1: Considering Change

It’s time to select an important and difficult challenge related to making change in your school or
other organization.What issues are you passionate about tackling within your system? Take
about 5 minutes to brainstorm about what you would change in your school, district, or
other educational organization if you could. Then consider the following criteria as you
select the challenge you’ll move forward with:
● What is the impact on student learning if this problem is solved? Students will be
one of your primary stakeholders, meaning you should consider them as primary users.
Change in schools is only meaningful if it affects the day-to-day lives of students. You
should be able to explain how your challenge relates to making changes that will matter.
● Is this challenge important to other people besides you? You will have an easier
time getting help and support from others if your challenge is something that others care
about. Consider issues that affect multiple levels of a system. Does your school or
district have designated issues they plan to tackle in the upcoming years? What issues
concern your community? Consider aligning your challenge to match up with those
issues.
● Is your challenge manageable in scope? Ideally, your challenge is large enough to be

worth investing substantial thought and energy, but not so large as to feel impossible.
Aim for a challenge that could keep a community of educators busy for 1-3 years in
order to make substantial improvement.
Explain your challenge concisely and clearly, ideally in one sentence.
Example: As an educator, I know that having one short conference with the parent(s) of my
students is ineffective because I often see anxiety on the student side and uncertainty on the
parent side.
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In Conversation: School Change & Improvement
Justin Reich and Blake Sims discuss introducing school staff to design thinking (beginning of
the video) as well as the benefits of using design for sticky systemic problems (3:57).
● Think about the last initiative that you or your organization was involved in. Consider
what that process of change might have looked like if the design process had been
used. How would rapid prototyping and iteration have changed things?
Step 2: Research (Discover)

Let’s think about which stakeholders your challenge affects and how it affects them. Look into
ways other schools and organizations have responded to your challenge.
Make a list of stakeholders besides students who are impacted by the challenge you
want to address. Jot down a few notes regarding their role and how they are affected.
Example: Returning to the challenge of parent/teacher communication, stakeholders may

include: parents, teachers, students, support staff.
Think about how students and one additional user/stakeholder from your list are affected
by your challenge and research their perspective. There are a variety of ways to come to
understand your stakeholders, including interviewing, looking at reports or documents they have
created, surveying, or simple, informal conversations. Gather your information and highlight
key insights. How does each stakeholder see the problem differently? What additional
concerns do they have? What is their role, considering this particular challenge, and what are
their goals? What specific functional tasks are they trying to achieve? How do they feel about
this challenge?
Example: To tackle ineffective communication between teachers and parents, I looked at

archived annual surveys given to parents. Parents are frustrated when they find out about
issues with their children “too late”. I also sat down informally with one student who dreaded
parent-teacher conferences because she wouldn’t have a chance to explain herself and another
student who felt parent-teacher conferences were irrelevant to her because she never got in
trouble.
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Next, do some research on how other schools or organizations have handled this or a
similar challenge. You might start with websites like Edutopia or KQED MindShift. Look at
schools or organizations that are similar to yours in context. What works in a small, urban
private school might not work in your large, suburban public school. The design thinking process
is a great tool to help you identify what is transferable and ways to adapt elements that don’t
align. The goal for this research step is to get some idea of what has worked, what hasn’t
worked, and why.
If you need more guidance, check out the Discover section of the Design Process Tips.
Amelia Peterson, Nichole Pinkard & Activity
Amelia Peterson: Human-Centered Systems Design

Ph.D. Candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Amelia Peterson studies the
experiences of educators using human-centered systems design. She shares an example of the
design process used by schools to understand student experience called the Spirals of Inquiry
(1:57). She then gives advice for how to handle the difficulties of juggling the multiple purposes
and stakeholders of school systems (5:19).
● Amelia talks about the importance of bringing various stakeholders into the design
process. She specifically mentions involving parents. What are parents’ role in the
“system” of your school? When do they find out about new programs and how? What
responsibilities or leadership positions do they have? At which stage in the design
process would you bring them in?
Optional Activity: Visualize Your Systems

Amelia Peterson asks, "Can you see your system?" Changing one element of a complex system
inevitably affects other elements, including those that may not be readily obvious. We'd like to
give you an opportunity to visualize both your system as well as the assumptions you might be
making about your system.
Loopy is an interactive tool for simulating systems created by Nicky Case. In this activity,
you will use Loopy to model certain relationships in your system. Remember that as you create
relationships between elements in your system, you are necessarily making assumptions.
Your assumptions might be based on evidence such as research or personal experience, but
they are still assumptions, not absolutes. Despite this simplification, we think this tool is a helpful
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way to visualize how to think about relationships within your school or organization and to
realize the large impact of small changes.
● First, explore one of the Loopy examples and the model created by course staff. Feel
free to make changes to these examples. (Remember, the example created by course
staff reflects the particular assumptions of the individual designer.)
● To get started with your own model, click "Try Out Loopy" on the homepage.
● There's a toolbar on the left side of your screen. Using the erase tool, erase everything
on the screen to start with a clean slate.
● Think of two elements in your system whose relationship you'd like to explore.
These elements should be quantities that can increase or decrease. You might ask
yourself how the number of parent-teacher conferences affect student test scores or how
the amount of unstructured time for students affects student engagement. If you need
help getting started, choose from our examples:
● Level of student or parent engagement

● Length of school day
● Hours of homework
● Amount of unstructured time for students
● Number of professional development days
● Ratio of students to iPads or laptops
● Time for teacher planning
● Using the pencil tool, draw a circle on the left side of the screen, and label it with one of
your quantities (Quantity 1). On the opposite side of the screen, draw another circle and
label it with your second quantity (Quantity 2).
● Now you will work your way from one quantity to the next by defining relationships
between various elements in your system. Start with Quantity 1 on the left side of the
screen. Ask yourself what other element in the system might affect Quantity 1.
Use the pencil tool to draw another circle, then draw a line between the two circles
representing the relationship between them. If Quantity 3 increases when Quantity 1
increases, make the relationship positive. If Quantity 3 decreases when Quantity 1
increases, make the relationship negative. Be conscious of which direction your line is
going.
● Keep asking yourself what affects each quantity until you've connected Quantity 1 to
Quantity 2. To keep things simple, limit yourself to 5 or 6 circles total.
● Now look at your diagram as a whole. Can you draw any more connections between
circles?
● Once you're happy with your relationships, it's time to find out how various quantities
affect each other. Press Play, and try increasing one quantity. What happens to the
other quantities in the system? Now decrease the first quantity and see what happens.
Reflect on your experience. What surprised you about modeling your system? What
assumptions did you make, and how confident were you about them? How would you improve
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this model if you had more time? If you're able to, share your model with a peer or with a user.
Do they agree with your assumptions?
(Optional) Nichole Pinkard: Designing for Change

Former DePaul University Associate Professor (now at Northwestern University) Nichole
Pinkard (founder of Digital Youth Network (DYN)) explains how the organization’s focus has
been designed and redesigned to match its changing needs. In particular, she explains DYN’s
challenge to meet evolving needs such as creating a broad social network of community
resources for their users (1:21). She also reflects upon the organization’s initial mistakes, which
eventually led them to adopt a more iterative and incremental Scrum-like framework (3:22). By
taking an iterative approach, the organization learned to quickly adjust to changing stakeholder
needs and focus on smaller, achievable milestones.
Step 3: Thinking About Needs (Focus)

A need is a specific and meaningful functional, or emotional goal of your stakeholders. Different
stakeholders have different goals, tasks, and pain points within a broader challenge. Trying to
understand and articulate these deeper needs is a key step in developing an effective solution.
User needs can become a lens through which you can frame a problem. In this step, you’ll craft
a problem statement the reflects a user’s (or users) needs.
To find user needs, start by interpreting the data you gathered in your research phase. What
does your user value? What do they think and believe? What might they be feeling that
motivates certain behaviors or decisions?
Example: Talking with students revealed they felt they had no role in parent-teacher
conferences. Also, both the students and a few parents believed the conferences were just
about addressing student problems, not the student as a whole.
Now take a few minutes (less than 10 minutes) to translate your observations into two or
three needs statements, at least one per stakeholder. Use verbs to frame your needs
statement instead of nouns, so that you are not prematurely thinking about solutions.
One way to craft a needs statement is to use this template:

User/stakeholder needs to _______________ because/so that/in order to _______________
(insight).
Example: Annual surveys reveal that both parents and teachers think that current parent-
teacher conferences are ineffective. After conducting research, we realize that certain needs of
students and parents are not being met:
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● Parents need to receive information in a timely manner so that they feel informed about
what is happening in the classroom to take action and prevent or mitigate larger issues.
● Students need to play a role in the conference so that they feel involved and invested.
When you read the needs you generated, are there common needs among your stakeholders?
What needs are urgent and significant pain points? Choose one of those needs to focus on.
Reframe this need into a "How might we..." statement. This will serve as your problem (or
you might think of it as an opportunity) that you'll bring into the "Imagine" stage.
Example: How might we include students in parent-teacher conferences so they feel involved
and useful in the process?
If you need more guidance, check out the Focus section of the Design Process Tips.
Step 4: Brainstorm Solutions (Imagine)

It can be intimidating to just start considering ways of addressing the need you identified. We
recognize that there won't be a quick fix. Stay in a mode of possibility and exploration as you
start to brainstorm solution ideas. The goal in this step is to generate solutions for the problem
you identified and choose one that is especially promising.
● Start your brainstorm by envisioning what an awesome solution would look like. If
you had unlimited resources and support, what would you try?
● Remember your work in the Discover phase. Did you come across a strategy in your
research you think you could adapt?
After you have a few ideas, stop and consider criteria for choosing a solution idea to
move forward with. Remember that while others may have thought about addressing a need
like yours, they likely are situated in a different context and working within a different system.
Take the time to really think about the context you're working in and the unique
constraints and opportunities of that context. Write down at least two constraints and at
least two opportunities that come to mind when you think about the need.
Example (context is a large, urban public school):

● Constraints: There is very limited time in calendar to lengthen parent-teacher meetings.
Parents and teachers are very busy.
● Opportunities: The school is using a learning management system that has some
communication features not currently in use.
What other criteria might influence your decision?
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● These criteria will vary depending on the context and situation. Some questions you
might ask include: What solution seems particularly efficient? What solution best fits user
needs? What idea could quickly be piloted?
● Look at all of your solution ideas together and evaluate them using your criteria. Don't
forget to factor in your own interest and enthusiasm! You're more likely to take action
and work towards addressing the need if you’re passionate about the solution idea.
If you need more guidance, check out the Imagine section of the Design Process Tips.
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School: Problem Solving with

Design
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) serves
kindergarten through 6th grade. Executive Director Sherley Bretous shares why she wanted to
bring design thinking to Benjamin Banneker and how she envisions design thinking might help
solve school-level problems (beginning of the video). She then shares her advice for bringing
people on board (2:51).
● Banneker’s culture of trust and respect was important because design thinking requires
people to learn from failure. Does your school or organization have a culture that
encourages students and staff to learn from failure? How might you facilitate that
culture?
Meadowbrook School: Implementing Design Thinking

The Meadowbrook School of Weston (Weston, Massachusetts, USA) serves students in pre-
kindergarten through 8th grade. Former headmaster Steve Hinds and Director of Innovation and
Technology Jonathan Schmid describe how they brought design thinking to the Meadowbrook
School, emphasizing the importance of teacher collaboration and ownership (1:09). They then
talk about the response from students and parents (2:46).
● Steve and Jonathan share how incorporating design thinking has impacted their
community. What aspects of design thinking would you like to impact your community?
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Step 5: Develop Action Plan and Peer Feedback (Prototype)
It is time to move forward down the path of change! Your Action Plan will allow you to share
your ideas and get feedback on them in Step 6. Think of it as foundation that you can also
continue working on after this course is over.
We recommend that your Action Plan be expressed in 1-2 pages or the equivalent in
another medium. Take time on formatting and proofreading so that it is shareable with others.
Your Action Plan prototype should include the following components:
1. Challenge & User Need: Make sure this is expressed concisely. Include students’
needs and the needs of another stakeholder.
2. Solution Idea: Summarize the solution idea you're moving forward with and why it's
particularly promising. How does it address user needs? How does it best use your
school or organization’s resources?
3. Action Steps & Impact: Design thinking encourages a bias toward action. As soon as
possible, we want you to engage in the iterative process of trying things out, reflecting
and adjusting, then trying again.
■ List one or two steps you can take towards implementing your
solution in the next four weeks. This step might look like presenting
your solution idea at a faculty meeting or conducting stakeholder surveys.
■ Then, list three steps you will take in the future to really make this
solution idea work.
■ For each of the steps, explain the potential impact in your
community. Example: If you share your solution idea at a staff meeting,
one possible impact is that a colleague offers to help you.
4. Help Needed: It's very difficult to change things by yourself. Consider what kind of help
you would need to make change in terms of people as well as other assets, like time,
space, or equipment. Example: You know you'll need a letter of support from your
department head in order to make changes to your school's parent communication
policy. You also know that you will need your principal to make an hour of time available
for teachers to go to a professional development session about the new policy.
5. Indicators of Success: Imagine one year has passed since you put your solution idea
into place. How do you know that things are going well? What indicators could
demonstrate that your solution is effective? Example: Every year parents take a survey
about their satisfaction with various school policies. This year more parents said that
they felt happier with the way teachers communicate.
If you need more guidance, check out the Prototype section of the Design Process Tips.
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Step 6: Share Action Plan & Iterate (Try)
Get additional feedback from a trusted colleague (or if possible, a stakeholder). Apply that
feedback to make your Action Plan better. Take a step from your Action Plan.
We encourage you to engage in the Try phase in two ways. We want you to share your Action
Plan with a colleague, then adjust your plan based on feedback you received from your
colleague and from your peers in the course. We also want you to take at least one of your
initial steps of your Action Plan, reflect on your experience, and adjust the plan as needed.
1. Sharing your Action Plan:

What do you want to know about your Action Plan? Generate a list of questions you
have for your tester beforehand. Let your tester react to the Action Plan without
interrupting them. Record your observations or any questions they have. Then ask your
planned feedback questions. Important questions you might consider asking include:
■ What do you think works well in this Action Plan and why?
■ What might need improvement? Why?
■ What changes would you make?
■ Was my explanation of my solution clear? Is the scope of this too large?
Too small?
■ Does this solution seem realistic and reasonable considering our context?
■ What questions do you still have?
2. Trying out an initial step:

Before you take the first step, record what you expect to happen. For example, if you are
presenting your solution idea at a staff meeting, what do you expect the concerns to be?
Who do you expect support from?
After you’ve tried the step, reflect on what actually happened. What is the difference
between what you expected and what happened? How does what happened affect part
of your Action Plan? Has part of your solution idea changed? Are there more steps or
steps in a different direction that you might need to take? Are you adding people or
resources to the “Help needed” section?
3. Once you’ve gotten feedback, apply that feedback to improve your prototype, meaning
your Action Plan.
If you need more guidance, check out the Try section of the Design Process Tips.
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Bob Vieth: Bringing Design Thinking to Schools
Former K-12 Program Coordinator for the MIT Edgerton Center Bob Vieth gives advice for
overcoming possible barriers to introducing design thinking to schools (1:22) and provides an
example of a small way to help students practice design (4:46).
● Bob talks about allowing students to redesign the classroom. Try to think outside the box
for opportunities to redesign existing structures or spaces whose design you’ve taken for
granted. Spend five minutes brainstorming ways to redesign one of these structures or
spaces.
(Optional) NuVu and Beyond

NuVu (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) is a school for middle and high school students that
operates on a studio model of two-week, multidisciplinary design projects. It is important to note
that NuVu is not subject to as many constraints as typical schools and often partners with more
traditional schools.
NuVu founder Saeed Arida and co-founder Saba Ghole talk about the overarching vision for
NuVu (0:36), the importance of design as a mindset, not a formula (3:23), and how the design
studio model of NuVu might be incorporated into more traditional schools (4:35).
● After engaging with the design process and hearing the experience of other educators,
how would you define the designer mindset? What are the characteristics of a designer
that you think are most important?
● Saeed says that design thinking often appears outside of a student’s schedule, for
example after school. When and where can students already engage in design thinking
in your school or organization? How might you integrate design thinking into the daily
schedule?
Step 7: Reflect (Reflect & Share)

In Step 7, you will first write a reflection on your Action Plan development process. If you would
like to share with others, we recommend that you create a deliverable that summarizes your
work in this unit.
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Reflect
First, gather all of your notes and artifacts from this design cycle. To view all assignment steps,
click here. Write a paragraph (or make a short video, or reflect in a different but equivalent way)
that addresses the following:
● Did you feel it was helpful to use the design process to address your challenge?
● How do you feel about your solution idea? Do you plan to work on it in the
future?
● You worked on a design project in Unit 1. Compare and contrast your reflections
in Unit 1 with your thoughts now.
Refer to the Reflect & Share section of Design Process Tips if needed.
Share
find to be most useful or relevant. Please make sure to include the following:
1. A list of your top two ideas from your ideation process. Explain why you chose one
over the other top candidate.
2. Your "final" (at least for this course) version of your Action Plan. Explain at least
two of your design decisions in the format that works best for you. Help participants
understand why you're excited about this solution. A complete Action Plan includes the
following: A brief explanation of the problem/challenge/need, a summary of your
Solution Idea, a list of Action Steps & Impact, a description of Help Needed, and a
few Indicators of Success.
3. A summary of your Try stage in one or two paragraphs (or the equivalent in a different
format). If you shared your Action Plan with a colleague, what did he or she think about
it? Describe at least two changes that you made to your Action Plan based on feedback.
Summarize your reflection on taking an initial step toward change. Describe at
least one or two changes you made to your Action Plan based on taking this step.
4. A reflection on this design cycle. See above for the questions to answer.
Readings & More

● Bill, David. August 4, 2014. "8 Tips and Tricks to Redesign Your Classroom." Edutopia.
George Lucas Educational Foundation.
● Mongeau, Lillian. February 23, 2015. "Steps for Applying Design Thinking to Build and
Evolve Schools." MindShift. KQED.
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● Schwartz, Katrina. August 28, 2015. "Can Design Thinking Help Find New Solutions to
Old Problems?" MindShift. KQED.
● Author unknown. February 27, 2017. "Redesigning Family Engagement in Education."
University of Washington, College of Education.
An additional resource:
● TED. Re-imagining school playlist. (Note: We thought these ideas and projects might
inspire future design efforts.)
Activity: I Used to Think, But Now I Think

As we near the end of the course, it's helpful to reflect on how this learning experience has
impacted you.
Use the following prompt to organize your thoughts:

I used to think ____________, but now I think ___________.
If helpful, include some additional explanation. Maybe your thoughts and feelings changed
based on your experiences with one of the assignments, etc.
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Glossary
Use this Glossary to refresh your understanding of key terms.
design constraints: what you cannot change about a problem
design freedoms: the naturally occurring things in your environment that you can use
to your advantage; opposite of design constraints
design thinking process: an iterative process to develop innovative solutions to ill-

structured, sticky problems that is messy, contingent and contextual; includes problem
finding and problem solving; encourages alternating periods of expanding and
narrowing scope of thinking around a specific problem
designer mindset: an optimistic belief that problems can be addressed by engaging

users and developing solutions through an iterative process
discover: the design process stage in which designers begin to unpack a problem by
understanding the people, context and challenges to generate understanding and
empathy; part of problem finding
focus: the design process stage in which designers use information to identify
boundaries around a challenge in order to find a problem that is actionable and can
anchor subsequent design work; part of problem finding
imagine: the design process stage in which designers brainstorm a wide range of
possible solutions, evaluate those ideas, and choose one solution to move forward into
the prototyping stage, part of problem finding and problem solving
insight: unique qualities about a user that inform design
low-fidelity prototype: a prototype that is somewhat unpolished, or may not have

all desired features, usually made in order to quickly produce the prototype and
test concepts.
need: a specific and meaningful, functional, or emotional goal of your stakeholders; a

lens through which you can frame a problem
problem: a challenge or difficulty that requires a solution
prototype: 1) an artifact or draft of a solution (sketch, model, device, draft, storyboard,

wire frame, etc.) which a user can interact with that articulates the designer's hypothesis
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2) the design process stage in which designers begin the iterative process of building
solutions; part of problem solving
reflect and share: the stage in the design process in which designers reflect on the
design process as a whole both on their own and by presenting to others, leading to a
better understanding of a user or context and potentially requiring designers to rethink
whole problem from the beginning; part of problem solving
sketch: a type of low-fidelity visual prototyping
storyboard: a series of panels that express how a user will implement your solution
try: the design process stage in which designers test their prototype with their user to
identify areas for improvement in the next iteration; part of problem solving
user: the person or group of people designers design with and for
wireframe: a mock-up of a digital solution
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Course Links
Featured Schools & Organizations
● Agncy (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)

● The Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School (Cambridge, Massachusetts,
USA)
● The Boston Public Schools (BPS) Experience Lab (now called the Education
Lab)
● The Meadowbrook School of Weston (Weston, Massachusetts, USA)
● The MIT Edgerton Center (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
● NuVu (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
Other Resources
● MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group

● Design Thinking Projects from Standford's d.school
● Loopy (Interactive tool for simulating systems created by Nicky Case)
● Digital Youth Network (DYN)
About the Team

MIT Course Staff
JUSTIN REICH - INSTRUCTOR
Justin Reich is the director of the Teaching Systems Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, a research scientist with MIT Open Learning, and an assistant professor in the MIT
Department of Comparative Media Studies. He is also the co-founder of EdTechTeacher, a
professional learning consultancy devoted to helping teachers leverage technology to create
student-centered, inquiry-based learning environments. He writes the EdTechResearcher blog
for Education Week, and his writings have appeared in Science, The New Yorker, The Atlantic,
Educational Researcher, the Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, the Christian Science Monitor,
and other publications.
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ELIZABETH HUTTNER-LOAN - INSTRUCTOR
Liz is a Digital Learning Lab Fellow with the MIT Office of Digital Learning. She develops and
manages massive open online courses (MOOCs) pertaining to education and educational
technology. She enjoys engaging with learners all over the world and creating meaningful online
educational experiences. Previously, she was an Instructional Developer for the Gordon-MIT
Engineering Leadership Program. While at Gordon-MIT, she collaborated with the company
AMD to create a text-based simulation related to engineering leadership. Prior to her time at
MIT, Elizabeth worked at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
ALYSSA NAPIER - INSTRUCTOR

Alyssa recently graduated from MIT with a B.S. in Chemistry and now develops MOOCs for
educators in Eric Klopfer's Scheller Teacher Education Program/Education Arcade Lab and
MIT's Teaching Systems Lab (TSL). While an undergraduate, she worked with MIT's Institute
Community and Equity Office to develop programming to strengthen the MIT community and
bring awareness to issues of race. She also worked with TSL director, Justin Reich to research
whether participants in politically-charged MOOCs engage in deliberative discourse.
BLAKE SIMS - SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERT

Blake is a dynamic educator and entrepreneur dedicated to providing unique learning
experiences that challenge and inspire middle and high school students. Her teaching
experience in Chicago Public and internationally, along with her work at Harvard Graduate
School of Education catalyzed her into a career that instills 21st century skills into the next
generations of leaders, thinkers, and entrepreneurs. Through her education startup epiic
solutions Blake works with students, schools, business leaders, and start-ups to create
researched-based design-thinking and entrepreneurship curriculum.
KELLEY HIRSCH - INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

Kelley develops MOOCS for educators, school leaders, and administrators. She has previously
developed small private online courses with Harvard Business School Online, and has created
in-person and digital learning experiences for museum visitors of all ages. She holds a B.A. in
Classical Archaeology and Art History from Macalester College and an Ed.M. in Technology,
Innovation, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
ABIGAIL MACHSON-CARTER - INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

Abby develops MOOCs for educators in MIT's Teaching Systems Lab (TSL). Previously, she
developed universally-designed teaching tools at CAST.org, and created in-person and online
writing courses at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She holds a B.A. in Latin American
Studies from Pomona College in California, an M.F.A. in creative writing from UMass Boston,
and a graduate certificate in instructional design from UMass Boston.
back to top 55
Credits
Video Producers: Garrett Beazley and FreshCognate (Aimee Corrigan, Denez McAdoo,
Daymian Mejia, Doug Pietrzak)
Key Team Members at MITx: Sarah Davis, & Shelly Upton
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Welcome & Course Capsules 5

Introduction to Design Thinking & Logistics 8

Unit 1: Meet Design Thinking 11

Unit 2: Design Thinking for Students 25

About the Team 56

Welcome & Course Capsules

Justin then gives an overview of the course.

Unit 1 Capsule: Meet Design Thinking (Watch video on Youtube)

Unit 2 Capsule: Design Thinking for Students (Watch video on Youtube)

Unit 3 Capsule: Design Thinking for Schools (Watch video on Youtube)

Flare and Focus

Why Teach Design Thinking to Students?

● Mitchel Resnick, MIT

Taking the Course with Colleagues

● Suggested schedules for meetings throughout the course

ACCESS THE FACILITATOR'S GUIDE HERE.

Sanjay Sarma: Thought on Design at MIT

Assignment Overview & Step 1: Select Your User

Unit 1 Assignment: Be a Designer

What You’ll be Making

● Morning OR bedtime routine

● Step 1: Select Your User (Discover) (5 minutes)

● General information about your user.

Sharing Your Work

● Morning OR bedtime routine

Discover - Amos Winter & Step 2: Conduct User Interview

Amos Winter: Connecting with Users

Step 2: Prepare for & Conduct Interview (Discover)

INTERVIEW TIP EXAMPLE (using morning routine)

Ask the interviewee to walk “Imagine you’re preparing breakfast. Walk me

Focus - Blade Kotelly & Step 3: Select Specific User Problem

Blade Kotelly: Finding Design Opportunities

Advice for Finding Problems

Step 3: Select Specific User Problem (Focus)

3. From these takeaways, identify specific problems your user has.

Imagine - Kevin Robinson & Step 4: Generate and Evaluate Ideas

Kevin Robinson: Applying Design Thinking

Kevin Robinson: Advice for Ideation

Step 4a: Generate Ideas (Imagine)

Step 4b: Evaluate Ideas (Imagine)

Prototype - Yasmine Kotturi & Step 5: Prototype Your Solution

Yasmine Kotturi: Visual and Physical Prototypes

Step 5: Prototype Your Solution (Prototype)

To build a prototype of your solution idea, consider the following:

Meredith Thompson & Justin Reich: Playtesting

Advice for Collecting User Feedback

Step 6: Get User Feedback & Iterate (Try)

Mitchel Resnick: Learning Through Creating

Unit 1 Readings & Resources

Unit 2 Assignment: Design Thinking with Students

What You’ll Make

● Step 1: Select Your Users & Implementation Scenario(Discover)

Deliverable 1: Prototype Activity Plan (Step 5) will include the following

Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School

BBCPS: Getting Started With Design Thinking

BBCPS: Framing a Design Activity

Step 1: Select Your User & Implementation Scenario (Discover)

Pathways to students who you can design for and with:

Step 2: Understand Your Users (Discover)

The Meadowbrook School