The Benefits of Connecting~Investing your Time.

In 2013 I was fortunate to be part of the Design Thinking (DT) team where projects were implemented throughout my school. I felt very fortunate to be given this opportunity and appreciate the innovative projects my school implements. I was encouraged to learn from David Price (@DavidPriceOBE) on engaging students and Project Based Learning (PBL) by attending an informative two-day workshop. While I had some knowledge of DT, I felt I needed to learn more. So I read journal articles, got on Twitter and also contacted Diane (@dianedarrow). An innovative educator, Diane had taught my daughter in kindergarten (USA).

A few phone calls and inspiring discussions later, (Aus-USA) Diane and I had put together some ideas. Then I had the opportunity to go to ISTE13 in San Antonio. I would say it was one of my best educational experiences. Before I left for the US, Brad (@bcurrie5) & Scott (@scottRRocco) kindly asked me to co-moderate an extension of #satchat with Holly (@MrsHollyEnglish) and Jason (@jaysongraham99). #SatchatOC has been an incredible experience and I've connected with many innovative educators from around the world. While at ISTE13, I met many more including Jimmy (@casas_jimmy), Daisy (@daisydyerduerr) and Jerry (@cybraryman1). Talk about supportive resourceful educators!

The first day of ISTE13 I walked into the key note presentation-Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) with a Canadian I had just met. He sits down and comments about how he's surrounded by Aussies. There, sitting next to him was Cameron (@cpaterso) whose knowledge and experience is something to admire. Cameron has since connected me with TeachMeet Australia (www.teachmeet.net) where I have met many dedicated educators such as Matt (@mesterman) and Jeannette (@7Mrsjames), who I now call friends.

ISTE13 clarified my thoughts that teaching and student learning had ventured onto an exciting path. Some educators had already taken that path, others were looking for directions to it and some didn't know this path even existed. I attended Diane's DT workshops and in one sat with Julie Lindsay (@julielindsay) who is a global and innovative educator (Flat Connections Projects). I can honestly say that ISTE13, those who presented and those I met, inspired me to take that path with more conviction. Diane suggested a book to help explicitly teach the process of Design Thinking. It is designEd http://www.lulu.com/shop/maureen-carroll/designed/ebook/product-20497202.html. She also recommended a Stanford MOOC where I spent my Sunday mornings learning about DT (8 Weeks). This provided the framework and confidence I needed to implement DT into my classroom.

In Term 3, I integrated DT into an established HSIE unit, People and their beliefs, while also explicitly teaching the process. I believe it's important to introduce the concepts such as interviewing skills and working collaboratively through mini-lessons. Throughout this unit, student engagement was evident and skills such as designing, collaborating, creative thinking, questioning and their ability to reflect significantly developed. I believe you need to front load and establish the process before applying DT to a unit. The most important and significant thing I learnt was that my students generated the 'Needs Statement' not from their interview questions but by a simple comment one girl made while playing with my students. Her comment generated a wonderful insightful discussion and I have to thank my friend, Helen (@MrsMorgani) for connecting our students. It was amazing to hear one student explain the meaning of 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. The needs statement they generated was applied to their chosen topic-Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or Indigenous Beliefs. Best of all, EMPATHY was the basis of this unit.

Thanks to John (@johnqgoh), I've since attended #PLSM13 run by Bianca @biancaH80 & Lee @waginski who continue to introduce PBL to many classrooms. I have asked others about the difference between Genius Hour, Design Thinking and PBL and from my understanding, in PBL, teachers design the driving question. In DT, students create a 'Needs Statement' by interviewing the stakeholders or researching a teacher-given topic. In Genius Hour, students have the freedom to choose the topic and generate their own questions.

I am eager to be journeying further down this path and if I can, lead others to this path. The time I've invested in connecting, whether it be on Twitter or at TeachMeets, motivates me professionally. On a personal note, I've meet some great people who share my passion. I have included twitter names because these people have inspired and influenced my teaching. For this, I sincerely thank them!

Appreciatively,
Andrea



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