Innovating to Learn: Using Design Thinking in Public School Districts to Bring Rigor to Creativity.

Abstract

There will always be a high demand for innovation in public education. Demographics of our schools will continue to shift and industries, and technological advances will continue to demand different skills and knowledge. Public school districts can no longer see innovation as a “nice-to-have:” innovation is essential for preparing students for an increasingly complex and dynamic future. At the same time, innovation can be uncomfortable and even terrifying, disrupting the status quo and forcing district professionals to embrace risk-taking with few incentives or rewards. In this capstone, I explore the value of design thinking -- a promising, disciplined approach for organizational change that can help districts discover innovative practices for promoting student learning. Given that design thinking is becoming increasingly popular in the K-12 education sector, this capstone is timely; however, there is still much confusion about what design thinking is and application has been inconsistent, making it difficult to evaluate and understand design thinking’s potential for impact. Through my strategic project, I describe my role in demystifying design thinking to make it more attractive and accessible to public school districts. My analysis highlights the need for districts to embrace design thinking as a way to change district culture and not merely an approach for generating ideas. Whether the ideas generated succeed or fail, design thinking creates new problem-solving capabilities for organizations and improves districts’ ability to serve students in more creative and innovative ways.