Upper School Design Thinking

In November and December, many Upper School students received some exposure to design thinking through three different activities.

Community Service: How Might We Re-Envision Community Service at Parker?

Parker has a well established community service program within its Upper School, wherein all students have a requirement to attain hours each year in service to the community. As part of our work on the strategic plan, the call was made to do some reflecting and possibly re-look at components of how our community service program is set up at the school. I partnered with our Upper School principal, ASB advisor, and our Director for community service to involve our students in this process.

In November and December, we facilitated a design thinking process with our community service board and our ASB student leadership group. The design challenge was: How might we design a four year community service program that provides a meaningful experience for all Parker students?

The students dove into the work wholeheartedly, and they produced some very creative and inspired thinking about how the program might be re-envisioned. While some suggestions are outside the bounds of feasibility, there were many kernels of ideas that might form part of a newly envisioned program for students. Students creatively built four-year programs with sequential and logical components, and even looked at how to expand the program to attain more interest from students.

For this particular process, we limited the "notice" component to having the students analyze what was work and what was not working with the current program - this way they had a foundation from which to work when they engaged in the brainstorming component. In all, these sessions were very productive and students were highly engaged in the conversations. When students found out that their input would be used in our larger process, they were keen to continue their involvement as we moved down the path of re-examining community service.

The most broad exposure came via a two-part design thinking exercise that was undertaken in the newly formed "House" groups. Our Upper School students are divided into smaller groups with a faculty advisor (or advisors). There are also two students in each House who serve as House Leaders. We have our Asst Head of Upper School and one of our Deans guide the House program, and they came to me earlier in the year to ask if we might consider using a couple of House sessions to introduce the concept of design thinking to students. Their thinking was that the House Leaders and advisors would meet with me, and we would walk through the steps of the process. After that, the house leaders and advisors would then deliver the same experience to their respective groups.

To keep things within our limited time and scope, we engaged in an activity that was perhaps less realistic but which would engender greater interest from the students. The design challenge: How might we create the ultimate student center at Parker?

While engagement from the House Leaders was high during both of the initial sessions, feedback and observations from the broader implementation demonstrated that the challenge was perhaps a bit too "out there" in terms of feasibility, which led to reduced buy in from the greater student body. While it was great to have the venue to at least gain some traction with the process with our students, some re-thinking about how to expose students to this manner of thinking will need to happen. From conversations with students, it appears that they would prefer a smaller team setting and a more realistic opportunity to apply the process. Since the design thinking seminars with our ASB and community service board groups went very well, it looks like these more targeted or focused opportunities present a better mechanism to help students learn at the Upper School.

If you are interested in more details about the processes and/or feedback, feel free to contact me. I don't know of an organization that ever hits 100% success when implementing new things - and so we are continuing to learn how to implement as we go. If our learning can help your process move better, we're happy to be of help.

Consultation Sessions with Parker Thomas for Faculty Members

We brought Parker Thomas back on site for two days in early December. The purpose of his time on our two campuses was two-fold. One, for him to have the opportunity to review some of the early efforts of our faculty to implement design thinking and provide some feedback. Two, and more important, he was to meet up with teaching teams to talk about potential lessons or ideas on how to integrate design thinking into their classes.

At the Lower School, the faculty eagerly signed up for sessions with Parker - in fact, we had to add time to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to meet with him. Feedback following the visit demonstrated that he was extremely helpful to all of the teams. Teams brought in lesson ideas and collaboratively worked through the process of how design thinking might be applied in the lesson. Following each session, teaching teams walked away with concrete possibilities and a pathway by which to implement the lessons. Given that this year is a "learning together" year for faculty, it was commendable that the Lower School faculty so eagerly pushed to move forward with implementation. In talking with teams after Parker's visit, they are eager to have him back and talk about other lessons that might involve design thinking.

A few Middle and Upper School faculty also met with Parker during his visit. The individuals with whom he consulted reported back that their time with him was immensely helpful and also opened their ideas to potential with design thinking in their area, while teaching teams felt the time was a bit difficult as they did not focus on a particular unit or lesson in the conversation. We will be bringing Parker back to meet with our Lower School teams again as we got a universal request from that division for more consultative time. We will open up time with Parker for those who wish to "opt in" from the other divisions if they wish to do so. Feedback from all divisions will be solicited during an upcoming steering committee session so that we are sure to meet the learning needs of all divisions as we move into the spring months.