Reflecting back on this design thinking journey one word stands out, patience. This process has taught me a lot of different things and skills however through each step of the process I had to have patience. I am a very structural thinker and am not always very good at thinking conceptually. I like to get things done and fix problems the minute I identify them. However, design thinking requires conceptual thinking and deep analysis. The process does not want thinkers to come up with a quick fix. The process requires users to take time and process what they observe around the identified problem. Design thinking is also a creative act which requires the users be both reflective and intentional (Design Thinking for Educators, 2013).
When I chose my problem I had several ideas about how it could be fixed before even beginning my research, however, those ideas did not turn out to be part of my solution at the end. Having the patience to observe the problem, learn about what others say about the problem, and synthesizing all that information to find common principles is all crucial to the process. Therefore, I can say with confidence I this journey has been very enlightening and taught me how to think differently around problems that arise within my classroom or really in my life.
Now having experienced the design thinking process and crafting/ sharing my solution I feel both proud but also empowered to take on new roles at my school. Before beginning this masters program I felt like I was a good teacher, however I never saw myself as leader at my school and never felt confident during observations or during cross collaboration unit meetings. However, this process has given me the confidence to admit I don’t always have the answers to all problems, but that I can try to figure out how to solve them. While the design thinking process takes time, it also creates stronger solutions to problems and gives the user confidence that they understand the problem.
Going forward, I am now confident that I can begin trying out my solution within my classroom and hopefully help others do the same. Several of the deliverables I created have already been used within my classroom and grade level. After speaking with my principle, I am planning on sharing my learning unit plan with our staff next year during work week. I am also going to be offering time each month to meet and discuss technology integration with elementary classrooms. My hope is that, teachers who would like more help and guidance around technology integration will at the least gain some ideas or a starting place from me sharing my solution. This next school year will truly be a time for me to test my solution and refine my solution. Testing will also be an another opportunity to build empathy through observation which I am hopeful will yield unexpected insights(An Introduction to Design Thinking, 2010). I don’t think my design thinking process is over yet because I know there will be some parts of it that don’t exactly work as I thought they might.
One part of my solution I am going to be working on is making my learning template more user friendly. I added in some directions for each section, however, I think those could be refined and explained further. If my solution is going to be hopefully used with other teachers I need to make sure that it is user friendly and that anyone who comes across it can understand how to use it. Being the creator of the document it makes sense to me, but parts of it might not make sense to others. I also would like to add to my technology tool kit more resources and the SAMR level they could be used for. Due to the vast amount of different technology tools available, this tool kit will be a work in progress for a while.
There are several problems I could explore with the design thinking process such as: How to assure all students affective needs are being met? Or How to best support my multilingual students in developing vocabulary? Or How might our school promote more family involvement? These are just a few possible areas that could be explore through the design thinking process and I am confident that I now have a better understanding of how this process can be used to help me solve future problems as they arise.
References
An Introduction to Design Thinking Process Guide. (2010) [PDF]. d.school. https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ih-materials/uploads/Introduction-to-design-thinking.pdf
Dam, Rikke. (2022). The 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process. The Interaction Design Foundation, www.interaction-design.org.
Design Thinking for Educators.(2013) [PDF]. IDEO. https://education.uky.edu/nxgla/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2016/11/Design-Thinking-for-Educators.pdf
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