DESIGN THINKING, SUSTAINABILITY AND SPANISH:Applying Design Thinking in an Interim Course

“In many American children’s stories (and other stories too), the characters live “happily ever after”. “Sustainability is the art of the ‘ever after,’ the art of assuring that people in the future will have what they need to lead fulfilling lives.” (Jim Farrell)

TODAY….

I will share the experience from an interim course were I used Design Thinking to get students into a different learning mode by:

Inviting them to work collaboratively Encourage them to unleash their creativity Promoting a culture of experimentation

While exploring the topic of sustainability in Latin America

And develop advanced oral communication skills in Spanish (ORC)

A LITTLE EXERCISE TO START

Redesign the work bag/backpack for St. Olaf faculty and / staff

Interview one member of your group about what he/she needs to bring to work (5-7 minutes)

TIPS: Ask open ended questions Dig! Try to get to the bottom of your ‘user’s’ issues Do not try to offer solutions Listen

BUILD A PROTOTYPE (10 MINUTES)

Use the materials inside the paper bag to build a prototype

Use the information you gathered from the interview as INSPIRATION

Use the rules of brainstorm as you build your model

RULES FOR BRAINSTORMING

Defer Judgment (“yes, and….”)

Build on the Ideas of Others

Encourage Wild Ideas

Be Generous with Your Ideas

Stay Focused on the Topic

One Conversation at a Time

Be Visual

Go for Quantity

WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING? An iterative, systematic and structured approach for

tackling problems and produce innovative solutions.

It is….

human-centered intentional collaborative optimistic experimental

Evolved from design

Expanded into other areas

THREE PHASES

Action:ExperimentBuildLearn

Inspiration (empathy):Uncover user needs

Ideation: Generate Ideas

DESIGN THINKING AT ST. OLAF

Number of initiatives and groups who have been experimenting with the idea of how we could use methodologies such as DT in the liberal arts context:

Activities related to the 2012 Theme "Innovation in the Liberal Arts”

"bloom”

Creative Learning Community http://pages.stolaf.edu/creativelearningcommunities/

Faculty initiatives in their own classes supported by the Provost’s innovation fund

WHAT MOTIVATED ME TO TRY DESIGN THINKING IN A SPANISH CLASS? Why we do what we do, in community, in this

physical space? (as opposed to on-line courses) Culture that promotes “crossing” academic

boundaries (Conversation programs, EIN, learning communities, IGS)

Existing models that promote experimentation with pedagogies and content (interim, summer, CILA)

Spanish majors increasingly coming from the social sciences and sciences

Companies that talk about hiring “T-shape” individuals

Sustainability as an important, timely, and ‘accessible’ topic

Introduce students (seniors) to Design Thinking

MY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Sustainability Member of Environmental Conversations Group 2012-13 Readings suggested by Jim Farrell “Sustainability Across the Curriculum” Workshop 2013 Faculty mentors and cheerleaders (Paul Jackson)

Design Thinking Sabbatical year (2011-2012)

“Discovered Design Thinking” Read “Change by Design” Visited Stanford d.school Visited IDEO Took 3-day Design Thinking workshop with stoke.d The Gymnasium

2012 “Innovation in the liberal arts” Took part in activities Invited to become part of the lead group

SPANISH 274: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN THE SPANISH SPEAKING WORLD

Topic: Sustainability in Latin America Elective for Spanish majors GE: ORC 4 hours of class each day (including lunch) Classroom as “Design Thinking” Lab

SPAN 274: CURRICULUM

Readings about culture and civilization of Latin America Readings about Sustainability Presentations about Sustainability (Paul Jackson, Dave Van Wylen,

Kelly Meza Prado, Matthew Rohn) Movie “Even the Rain” Novel “La loca de Gandoca” by A. Rosi Design Thinking Workshop Assessment:

Sed de saber (TED-style talk) Presentations and round tables on Culture and Civilization of Latin

America Oral and written assignments on readings Cuando me topo con la sostenibilidad (photograhic project) Mural on “La loca de Gandoca” Sustainability Summit Design Thinking Challenge (oral and written activities) Project Pitch (Poster and presentations)

THE CHALLENGE

How might we promote sustainable practices in the food and livestock industry in Latin America?

Five interdisciplinary teamsSelection based on: year, major(s),

concentration(s)extracurricular activities

INSPIRATION: DEVELOP EMPATHY FOR “USERS”

Cultural ‘texts’Readings on SustainabilityPresentations

20 Interviews “Voices” from Latin America andthe USA

Visits to Bon Appétit(Randy Clay) St. Olaf Campus(Pete Sanberg)

THE INTERVIEWS

Why? To develop empathyfor our participants/’users’To search for inspiration with respect to initial challenge through their “voices”To discover “areas of opportunity”

Who? 20 interviews1. Vegetarian Student from

Venezuelan2. Director of

“Sustainabilities”3. Uruguayan Professor of

Social Science and Agriculture

4. Director of movie “Bananaland”

5. Student from the Bahamas who studied in Costa Rica

6. Community Organizer from Colombia

7. Argentine activist who promotes sustainable practices in local communities

How? Teams of two. One interviews, the other takes notes Open ended questionsLook for “good quotes”

MARCELAPROFESSOR OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE

UNIVERSIDAD DE LA REPÚBLICA DEL URUGUAY.

Developed a program for professionals and academics to investigate sustainable development that is socially just, and economically viable.

“Traditional development increases production and profitability…the goal is sustainable rural development”

“Optimize production, not maximize production”

“No one eats organic meat here, it is exported”

SYNTHESIS

1. “Download” interviews into ‘post-it’ notes. 2. Analyze data3. Discover patterns or “areas of opportunity”4. Share your findings 5. Formulate brainstorming questions

(SOME) AREAS OF OPPORTUNITIES

Balance health with sustainable practices in a limited diet

“Quinua travels great distances, but I need the protein”

Reduce the physical and mental distance between production and consumption

“A person should have the determination to kill and prepare animals if they want to eat them”

Offer local food at a reasonable price“When I am spending my own $ on food…cost is the most important factor”

BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS

HOW MIGHT WE…?

Improve access to sustainable food? Promote sustainable individual eating habits? Educate communities on the difference between

sustainable and healthy? Make local food a viable option? Influence large corporations so that they become

more sustainable? Promote conscious consumption in our own

community? Increase awareness of origin and ‘real’ cost of food? Increase access of healthy and sustainable food to

more communities? Decrease waste in our own community?

THE IDEATION PHASE: GENERATE FRESH IDEAS

•3 sessions in 2 days•Mixed groups•One moderator per group•Rules for Brainstorming•15 minutes per question•Voting at end of each session

Brainstorming Hundreds of new ideas

Sele

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n o

f b

est

SOME IDEAS THAT EMERGED…

“The more you know”…TV Public announcement ads

Reality show where Byoncé Becomes an organic farmer

“Hire a farmer”

Food labels with “real cost”Of food

Vertical gardens on

Buildings’ walls

THE ACTION PHASE: “BUILD TO THINK, AND BUILD TO LEARN”

Working on prototype“Stav Stickers”

Getting feedback“Oles a la granja”

FROM IDEAS TO ACTION: ONE EXAMPLE

How might we incorporate local food so that it is a viable option?

“Make bigger gardens at St. Olaf”

“Gardens on the rooftop of every building”

“Greenhouses that grow tropical food to make it local”

Prototype “The aromatic roof—an herb garden on the Roof of Regents”

THE “PITCH”: MAKING THE CASE

A FINAL THOUGHT FROM A SENIOR…

“A lot of classes now are kind of depressing…the more I learn things, the more disenchanted I become with so many parts of the world, just because I realize how much more complicated things are…I now feel that all of these things are so much bigger than any of us or what we can possibly do, but then I feel like, wow, we are just a bunch of twenty-year-olds [and] have this capacity to do this in another language over a month and even generate these really cool ideas that could potentially be implemented here”

ADDITIONAL STUDENTS’ REACTIONS

On creativity: “I feel it has been so much time since we were forced to be creative”

On group work:“I feel that when you hear the word ‘group projects’ you immediately are like…[made weird face]…but Design Thinking was so effective that everyone was involved, we got everybody’s ideas, and we worked collaboratively in a way that was actually productive and meaningful”

ON STUDYING SUSTAINABILITY IN LATIN AMERICA

“I think something that was really cool about having the focus on Latin America in this class was that I don’t think about sustainability outside of my own environment very often, and so thinking of like how they do it in Hispanic countries in Latin America it is something I wouldn’t have thought about it, if we didn’t’ touch that at all and than I think it really influence [me] in terms of getting the things back to this place, because you could have a class based on just sustainability in the United States and St. Olaf, but you know, I don’t think we would had known what sustainability meant in other places that I think it helped influence our thoughts here”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

http://www.openideo.com/challenge

https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/613e8/Creating_Design_Challenges.html

http://www.cooperhewitt.org/conversations/2011/09/09/ready-set-design

http://dschool.stanford.edu/

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/how-to-design-breakthrough-inventions-50138327/

BIBLIOGRAPHY USED IN THE COURSE Barruti, S. (2013). Mal Comidos: Cómo la industria alimentaria Argentina nos está matando. Buenos Aires,

Argentina: Espejo de la Argentina Planeta. Brown, T. & Katz, B. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires

innovation. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Fletcher, K. & Grose, L. (2012). Gestionar la sostenibilidad en la moda: Diseñar para cambiar. China: Blume. Fox, A.A. (2011). Latinoamérica: Presente y pasado. Binkowski, D. (Ed. 4). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Education. Galeano, E. (1994). Úselo y tírelo: El mundo visto desde una ecología latinoamericana. Buenos Aires,

Argentina: Grupo Editorial Planeta. Kelley, D. & Kelley, T. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. New York,

NY: Crown Business. Marcote, P.V. & Mira, R.G. (2009). Sostenibilidad, valores y cultura ambiental. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones

Pirámide. Mendivil, E.O. (2013). Educación ambiental para la sostenibilidad: El medio ambiente y su relación con la

ecobionomia y la sostenibilidad. Lexington, KY: Instituto Mediterráneo Publicaciones. Robèrt, K.H., Broman, G., Waldron, D., Ny, H., Byggeth, S., Cook, D.,… Missimer, M. (2012). Manual de

sostenibilidad: Planeando estratégicamente para la sostenibilidad. Suecia: El Instituto de Tecnología de Blekinge.

Rossi, A. (2009). La loca de Gandoca. San José, Costa Rica: Legado. Svampa, M. (2013, Marzo-Abril). Consenso de los commodities y lenguajes de valoración en América Latina.

Nueva Sociedad, 244, 30-46. United Nations. (2004). La sostenibilidad ambiental del desarrollo en Argentina: tres futuros. Santiago, Chile:

Gallopín.

In addition to: “Even the Rain” directed by Icíar Bollaín Readings from Latin American Press, “Geomundo” (Spanish version of National Geographic), and other

materials from web searches