Education, Design Thinking and the Value of Story

I had an experience this week that was a stark contrast to any kind of planning I have encountered in education. It was in that moment that I realized why we are so often unable to find truly innovative and satisfactory solutions to challenges within our schools. We’re not just working in school systems designed for a previous era, we’re also using problem-solving strategies and tools designed for a previous era.

I am part of a group at University of Toronto's Rotman I-Think initiative exploring how we might create capacity for Integrative Thinking in teacher education. Our first meeting took place guided by some very skilled facilitators who understand the principles of design thinking - something that I have only begun to explore in depth this year.

Typically when planning happens in schools - as I have experienced it, this may not be the case everywhere - we come together in a rush; state the problem, suggest solutions and then select. Part of this has to do with the nature of schools. We are social workers, educators, supervisors, coaches, volunteers, administrators and crisis intervention workers rolled into 1. We are also constrained by insufficient personnel and limited budgets.  Decisions are limited by the series of official policy binders that come down from above - we have shelves full of them. Board officials are accountable to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry is accountable to the Premier and our elected representatives.  Our elected representatives work under the scrutiny of the ever fickle media who shape stories. The next election is always within sight. Unions who work hard to protect working conditions, salaries and benefits negotiate contracts that limit how schools can be structured and who can work in them. Parent perceptions impact our choices. Finally, our professional development days which could be used to allow in-depth conversations that lead to thoughtful well-structured solutions have disappeared. (Buried under all this weight are the children).  This means that our work is often reactive. A situation arises and it must be dealt with. Often, though, our solutions are unsatisfactory and frequently, whatever strategy is selected is never implemented or poorly implemented because we are faced with the next 'crisis'.

I came to the realization this week that how we approach solution finding is part of what is limiting our ability to move forward. Because we work under these enormous pressures we enter into conversations with solutions already in mind. We have no framework for exploring whether or not we are even solving the right problem, nor the tools for devising appropriate and effective solutions. Our approach leads to hits and misses.

Problem Exploration

Integrative and Design Thinking work very differently. Planning begins with the belief that until a complex problem has been fully explored any suggested solutions are premature and may even limit one's ability to find innovative solutions. Central to all of this is the ability to recognize assumptions and conclusions so that the actual problem that needs to be solved can be discovered. What Design and Integrative Thinking provide are very flexible tools to engage in this process. Finally, any solutions found must be built on a foundation that is human-centered. Solutions must meet the needs and goals of those who will be impacted by the solution. To find a human-centered solution, Design Thinking begins with story and that is where we began.

We were asked to share two personal stories one positive, one negative about our experiences as learners from any point in our education - formal or informal. As each person told his or her story, listeners were asked to "notice what we noticed". Once a story was finished we shared our observations which were gathered on chart paper. It was here that I once again saw the benefits of something Richard Messina refers to as "idea diversity". Different people notice different things which brings a richness to the extraction of information. Finally, once all the observations were visible we were asked to look for patterns.

The group leaders were trying to find out what creates a valuable educational experience. No assumptions were made ahead of time of what that might be. Through the human-centered stories valuable information emerged. Finally, by identifying patterns in the stories, the group could begin to create a model of what a valuable educational experience looks like.

On the drive home that evening I pondered how much time we waste circling around solution finding because we don't have training and strategies for this. When I first brought Integrative Thinking into my classroom, it was because I felt it provided a toolkit for effective inquiry. I now see that it is essential that educators, administrators and policy makers become Integrative and Design Thinkers if we are to move beyond merely implementing innovative practices here and there, and instead design a school system that meets the needs of the current era. We can't design an appropriate system if we are still using the problem solving approaches and planning tools of the previous century.