Based on three years of work on shifting the higher education system in the U.S. ( in the end we touched over 30 institutes and 150 educators in colleges and schools with no budget before we closed shop), it represents how to go about shifting big systems like education, healthcare, and even organizations
1. ⓒ Rana Chakrabarti 2018. All Rights Reserved.
SHIFTING EDUCATION
How to intervene large systems
Via Stuart Rankins/ Flickr
2. “If you want to truly understand
something, change it
-Kurt Lewin
3. A BRIEF HISTORY
• 2016 - set out introduce design-thinking in
classrooms across the United States.
• 2017 - created tools & pedagogy and trained over
100 educators in 20+ universities.
• 2018 - seeing our work multiply
5. ⓒRanaChakrabarti2018.AllRightsReserved.
Inspiration : Don ( Norman) and my discussion on nudging systems
Current Activity
Intervention
Original Goal
New Goal
e.g. Student missing classes frequently
e.g.Full attendance
e.g. Paid internship in
return for full attendance
e.g. Need finding and problem
solving meeting
7. CHEAT SHEET : SHIFTING SYSTEMS
1. Create a Mission with a High Ceiling
2. Study the System
3. Flag Situations with Low Return on Effort
4. Uncover Constraints
5. Find the Soft Spot
6. Place a Bet
7. Design Interventions
8. Create Pathways
9. Create Cohorts
10. Tell Stories
DIAGNOSE
INTERVENE
SCALE
15. EXHIBIT 1 : EDUCATION SYSTEM FACT SHEET
1. Only 3% of 14 million students go to private college in the U.S.
2. On average 50% of those who enter college, leave without graduating
3. The university system is driven by the conditions of federal grants
4. Quality of teaching is not incentivized in the university system. Research is.
5. There is no measure of how well the student is learning
6. Grade inflation is common
7. The university punishes students for exploring outside a prescribed path
8. The university system is a bubble
9. Students across the board learn better through real-life experiences
10. Students are coming out, at best, qualified but deficient in critical skills
24. EXHIBIT 6 : INTERVENTION SPACES
$
C L A S S R O O M R E A L - W O R L D
P R O B L E M S
*spaces relevant for the design challenge
TA L E N T
M AT C H I N G
26. BIO-COST
Where are you
leaking energy ?
Bio-cost is the energy, attention, and stress that people
expend over time to achieve their goals—to get what they
want” in Ashby’s sense. [Ashby 1956]
35. EXHIBIT 10 : GRADE INFLATION
Because :
Universities accept federal grants
Universities have to accept the conditions of federal grants
Universities have to focus on retention
Professors feel pressured not to fail students
Professors grade students higher than they normally would
See more constraint chains here
40. EXHIBIT 11 : THE CLASS LAB BET
Given …educators spend 3x time upfront
creating a project-based course
If We…made it easy and fun for educators to re-
design their curriculum
Then…most of them will sign up
Resulting In..a powerful channel to integrate
design into the education system
41. EXHIBIT 12 : THE TEACHDESIGN BET
Given …project-based educators have to scrape
together assets for a class each time
If We…made it easy for them to find and
integrate assets into their class
Then…most of them will use our material
Resulting In..a powerful channel to introduce
industry methods into the classroom
56. EXHIBIT 20: DESIGN JOB RUBRICS
Design Jobs
JOBS TO BE DONE FRAMING
MARKET
RESEARCH
DESIGN
RESEARCH
SYNTHESIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE VALIDATE BUILD
OUTPUT DESIGN CHALLENGE FACTS STORIES INSIGHTS POINT OF VIEW IDEAS PROTOTYPE
CUSTOMER
FEEDBACK
PRODUCT
ABILITY
BASIC
FRAME A PROBLEM
FACT AS AN
OPPORTUNITY
STATE FACTS EVOKE EVENTS DETECT PATTERNS
COMMUNICATE A
SINGLE POINT OF VIEW
GENERATE HIGH
VOLUME OF IDEAS
BUILD A SKETCHY
PROTOTYPE
CONDUCT AN
INTERVIEW
BUILD A CONCIERGE
PRODUCT
ADVANCED
FRAME A PROBLEM
SITUATION AS AN
OPPORTUNITY
STATE THEMES EVOKE STORIES APPLY FRAMEWORKS
COMMUNICATE
MULTIPLE POINTS OF
VIEW
GENERATE HIGH
VARIETY OF IDEAS
BUILD A REALISTIC
PROTOTYPE
CONDUCT AN
EVALUATION
BUILD A MINIMUM
VIABLE PRODUCT
EXPERT
FRAME A PROBLEM
NARRATIVE AS AN
OPPORTUNITY
STATE TRENDS
EVOKE VALUES &
EMOTIONS
DEVELOP SYSTEMS
COMMUNICATE
SYSTEMIC POINT OF
VIEW
GENERATE HIGH
QUALITY IDEAS
BUILD A WORKING
PROTOTYPE
CONDUCT AN
EXPERIMENT
BUILD A SCALEABLE
PRODUCT
69. CHEAT SHEET : SHIFTING SYSTEMS
1. Create a Mission with a High Ceiling
2. Study the System
3. Flag Situations with Low Return on Effort
4. Uncover Constraints
5. Find the Soft Spot
6. Place a Bet
7. Design Interventions
8. Create Pathways
9. Create Cohorts
10. Tell Stories
DIAGNOSE
INTERVENE
SCALE