Systems

A major part of design thinking projects is to mentor learners to reinvent system at home, school, community and beyond. On this page, we focus on redesigning systems, and on a companion page, the creation of an invention. The difference between the two concepts is the end product: either a new system or way of doing something, or an actual invention that might be a device, an app, a new program of artificial intelligence, or a product we can sell in a new business venture.

Systems surround us all. Some of the ways we get things done work pretty well and others get in our way but we keep doing them because that's always the way they have been done. And then, children or teens of any age, if asked, start to notice the bothersome systems, and if challenged, just might come up with major ideas that actually make a difference. Digital learning leaders can, if they are observant, introduce possibilities for change to the instructors they partner with. No matter whether the system seems trivial, makes a bit of difference, or whether it is a systematic problem of national importance, learners can use the steps of design thinking to envision, create, test, and actually get new ideas working for the benefit of others. It does not take much encouragement to get learners noticing systems and thinking about what they might change:

• My sister hogs the bathroom every morning, making me late to school some mornings.

• Why does it take so much time to get logged into computer programs and databases?

• Why are there such long lines in the cafeteria so that by the time you get your food, there is hardly time to eat it?

• Why doesn't the city fix the potholes in the streets?

• Why are there always long lines at voting during elections?

• Why are there high levels of lead in our drinking water?

• Why does everyone seem to put up with racial inequity, glass ceilings, and white collar criminals who seem to always get off?

Poised with a group of learners who get excited about transforming systems, we introduce them to design thinking models. Here is a version used by Stanford University in their very popular design thinking course:

You can also sample a quick introduction to design and design thinking here: http://www.theagileelephant.com/what-is-design-thinking/

There is also a tutorial for using design thinking to create a learning experience titled the Umbrella Creation tutorial at: https://sites.google.com/view/umbrellacreation/home

When the digital learning leader and instructor are partnering with a group of learners, both individuals ansd small groups of learners might be working on different systems. Sometimes businesses might present the same systems project to competing groups in order to compare proposed solutions and perhaps combine them to create an even better system. When there are multiple efforts going simultaneously, the mentoring adults can help by emphasizing the process that is going on. Individuals and groups can assemble for progress sessions at regular intervals to report out what is happening, compare the process across projects, share ways to confront obstacles, encourage each other, and critique what is happening. While the design model above looks linear, they will need to loop back and forth to fill in or change direction as needed. The mentors can be a huge asset as they observe what is going on and reach out a hand to steady the ark at times.

There are many opportunities tohelp the learners make progress and the digital learning leader needs to document these not only for case studies as a part of the portfolio but to gain critical expertise for both self and our instructor partner. Here are a few ideas:

• During the empathy phase, how will they collect data? Do they have interviewing skills? Do they really understand the system that is currently in place? What research will they need to do?

• During the ideate phase, how does a group arrive at major ideas when there are so many divergent ideas floating around? How does one herd a bunch of cats?

• So they have a prototype and can test it. What are the unintended consequences? Do those consequences make the new system worse than the original?

Finally, after such an experience is all over, add a Big Think as a metacognitive look back. One idea might be to have them search Google Images for design thinking models. After they collect a number of them, ask small groups to do a compare/contrast and in a Google Drawing, make their own design thinking model. Have a major collaborative discussion: what did I learn? How did I learn? What did we learn? How did we learn? So what? If we tackled another system redesign, what would we do differently?

Here is a guide to systems thinking targeted at adults but very useful for students who have a bit of experience in re-designing simple systems: https://knowledgeworks.org/resources/education-changemakers-guidebook-systems-thinking/