Design Thinking: Spring 18: Class 3: How Might We & the Power of Possibilities

Welcome to Class 3!  Where we use empathy to transition ourselves into the world of possibilities and the omnipresent question, "How might we . . . ?"

What does, "How might we  . . . ?"  mean.  It's a way of framing possibility.  Take a look at this link to Google's Design Sprint Kit page on "How Might We?"  (Note: Something we will keep hammering this semester -- the skills you are learning in this class are the same one's used by super powerful multinational companies like Google and by small businesses just starting up.  Design thinking is used everywhere.)

Here's a very short video from IDEO.org, the non-profit arm of IDEO -- one of the most influential design firms in the world.  This video captures the thinking about HMW very well.

How Might We from IDEO.org on Vimeo.

This week, we'll be participating in a few different activities, having a few different conversations, creating a few different pieces of evidence to show our understanding 'How Might We . . ." as well as its relationship to empathy and point of view.

We'll start with a conversation about language.  Compare and contrast the words below, considering their denotations as well as their connotations.  (Here's a video to help.)

FLVS English 3- Denotation and Connotation (Lesson 1.04) from Mr. Falzone on Vimeo.


How _____ we . . . ?

SHOULD

WOULD 

CAN

WILL

DO

MIGHT

Let's put it into context, though.  Get into teams of four.  You have a task.  Retrieve a zip snip from the Success & Innovation Center and bring it back here in less than 10 minutes.

Here are the creative constraints.

Teams of Three or Four

One team member covers their eyes.

One team member covers their mouth.

One team member covers their ears.

One team member keeps their hands behind their back.

5 minutes to brainstorm a plan. 

3 minutes to select a course of action.

GO.  When you return, we will examine your degrees of success, your strategies, and how you went about the task.

FIRST MAJOR WRITING ASSESSMENT

After the debrief, we will assign your first major writing assessment: A Design Story of Empathy.   Storytelling is a

Creative Constraints and Expectation.

Prompt: Tell the story of an individual using empathy to solve a problem.

Show the conflicts this individual faces in the problem.

Demonstrate the extent to which you understand empathy as a tool for meaningful problem solving.

The story may be a piece of fiction of any genre or creative non-fiction about you or someone you know.  The goal is to tell a great story.

Use one or more of the following storytelling elements/devices to enhance your piece

• Dialogue
• Point of View
• Symbolism

1st Submission Draft for Feedback:  Due FRIDAY, FEB 9.

A rubric is on its way in time for  Class 4. 

Class 4 we will be having our first collaborative conversation (listening and speaking; language standard assessment), watching part of a documentary about Nike shoe design, and then having a writer's workshop to help you with your story.

Design Thinking: Spring 18: Day 2: Empathy: Empathy Caution

Today we'll be continuing to look more at the reasons why empathy is so important AND read some other perspectives -- reasons why we should be careful about replacing reason and intention with empathy.

Start by reviewing Soul Pancake's empathy "parking ticket experiment" from last class.

Then watch these two videos regarding how we define and think about empathy.  You'll be comparing these two and finding the common threads and interesting outliers between them.

This one, from RSA Animates, uses an excerpt from a Brene Brown presentation as its language.   It provides an analogy to make sense of the difference between empathy and other feelings -- such as sympathy and pity. 

And this one, from LifeHacker, explains why empathy is so important.

In groups of 1, 2 or 3, turn each of those two videos into what we call a literary 3x3: 3, 3-word, sentences that summarize each video.   They don't have to be grammatically correct -- they need to be purposeful and meaningful and accurate.  Maximize verbs.  Minimize helping words.  

For example, I might break down the parking ticket experiment video as:

Researcher tests happiness

Fake tickets issued

Empathy sympathy tested

Now, do the same for each of the videos and e-mail your literary 3x3s to both Ms. Audy and me.  

This should give you a starter sense of empathy.

NEXT . . . Empathy Caution.  

In groups of 1, 2 or 3, select one of the two articles pressing back against a focus on empathy.  (Skim each quickly before choosing the one you most want to analyze; you'll be more successful if you've at least chosen a piece that appeals to you in some way.)

Then, work with your group to  LEGO the ARTICLE.  Design a LEGO model of how that article does its work.  What is the case it makes?  How does the author build that case?  What sort of evidence? Arguments? Points?  What do you notice about the author's language?  

We want you to think about the writer as a designer, the audience as the user.    Break it down.

Then, last step, you have to get on FlipGrid on your own and explain the thinking behind your group's LEGO design.  How is that article designed?  Provide evidence that you understand the article, the points the author is making AND how the article is designed.  

You'll be assessed on both your reading analysis AND your speaking skills, so bring your power game to the work.  This is your first reading assessment of the class.

Design Thinking: Spring 18 : Day 1: Empathy: Joy FlashLab

For our first day of class, we did a deep dive right into the world of empathy -- the core principle behind a design thinking mindset.

Over the next semester, we will learn to become design thinkers.  This visual is here to help you understand the difference between a design, a design process, and design thinking.  It may not make a ton of sense to you here on day one -- and over the course of the semester -- heck, the first quarter -- it will. 

Design is a fusion; design process is a pathway; design thinking is a mindset #dtk12chat #fetc #designthinking #edchat pic.twitter.com/TVz71FVATh

— Dan Ryder (@WickedDecent) January 24, 2018

We completed a flashlab, which is just a name for a quick, rapid fire design experience.

We'll be tackled this big ol' question:  "How might we bring joy to others?" following Mary Cantwell's DEEPdt design process.  We'll be using DEEPdt  all semester long to practice empathy fueled, human centered problem solving. 

Your creative constraints for this challenge: 
1 manila folder. 
4 paper clips. 
Tape, scissors, markers, colored pencils

DISCOVER.  What brings joy/what takes joy away.
EMPATHY.  Interview a partner.  What brings them joy?  What takes their joy away?  Ask for a story.
EXPERIMENT.  Doodle possibilities. Make. Make. Make.
PRODUCE. Deliver a prototype.  Get feedback.  Bask in the joy.

Then we watched a video featuring an empathy experiment.  (We didn't quite get to the end, so we'll be diving back into the last couple of minutes during Class 2.)

There wasn't any homework to complete for Class 2 -- and there won't be homework every night in this class.  You CAN expect one assessment a week -- sometimes it will be a writing piece, other times a recording, a creative product, a presentation, a number of different things. 

We will get into semester expectations during Class 3.  Ms. Audy and I would like us to focus on the thinking around empathy first -- and THEN dig into the plan for the semester.