Design Thinking for Social Change

I have been working with students, in the K12 space and in Higher Ed, since 2014 on projects for Design Thinking for Social Change. To help facilitate this, I hold Boot Camps PAN India. The primary focus of these Boot Camps is to give students an understanding of the design cycle, through a practical programme. The participating students are encouraged to solve real-world authentic problems by innovative design thinking. They, then, document their progress, as they follow the design cycle and arrive at a feasible solution. Thereafter, the students implement the solution; and evaluate it, following thorough testing. We all, then, gather once a year to celebrate the learning with each other via Digital Story Telling.

This initiative was? selected by the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Competition (CTIC) at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) to be converted into a case study. CTIC is dedicated to promoting foundational research that will shape and reshape the way legislators, regulatory authorities, and scholars think about technology policy, intellectual property, privacy, and related fields.

The concept of design thinking draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be; and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user. A design mindset is not problem-focused, but solution focused; and action oriented. It involves both analysis and imagination.

Many schools-Mayo College, Ajmer, Birla School, Kalyan, The Shri Ram School, Maulsari, Pathways, Noida, Silverline Prestige School, Ghaziabad, The Heritage School, Gurgaon, Shiv Nadar Schools, etc. have taken part in these Boot Camps over the years and their prototypes can be read about here.

Some testimonials for the programme that I have been executing-

“I would like to say a huge thank you in return from Pathways School Noida. Although they didn’t make the final, our students learnt an enormous amount in a process, which in itself was fascinating. We loved the transparent, democratic nature of the whole activity, the space it gave to students to recognise that their opinion mattered and that they were partial architects of the flow of events. Needless to say the event itself brought out creativity, demanded rigour and was a challenge to higher order thinking. Your team really deserves applause for the smooth organisation and for bringing together so many schools from across the country in this fascinating area."

-Dr Shalini Advani, Director, Pathways School, Noida

“I wish to congratulate the team for bringing together experts from different fields on a common platform for the benefit of schools.”

-Ms. Pooja Thakur, Principal, Junior School, The Shri Ram School, Maulsari

As I prepare for my Open Workshop scheduled on April 29, 2023 to discuss the ways educators can incorporate DT in their teaching-learning processes, I invite you to explore this fascinating area of inquiry, problem solving and innovation. Fill in this Google Form if you are interested in exploring DT with me!