Professional Learning Designer
Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning, MIT Teaching Systems Laboratory
2015-2016
When given the chance to design the new graduate school of education, you better believe I brought teachers straight to the figurative design table— first as users, second as designers.
In order to design the learning that would happen at the future school, I turned to those that had already been through an education school themselves.
I designed an interactive booth out of laser-cut foam core and post-its that drew in the largest crowds at teacher conferences. This appealed to teachers who asked to stay involved and continue to feel part of our process.
I spearheaded interviews and surveys with teachers on their dreams and gripes, current obstacles, and most heartwarming opportunities.
I distilled my learnings and presented them to the executive members of the new Academy. These would go on to shape the design direction of the Academy.
Turns out teachers like to feel valued. Go figure. With the palpable energy from our teachers, I drafted a new kind of position for the Woodrow Wilson Academy: A design fellow that would be a teacher, on leave, taking time instead to help design parts of the new education school. As a previous user with experience in the classroom, they could identify where the gaps in their education lie, and help plug in these holes at the Academy.
I’m proud to say Design Fellows are still being used and are now a prominent and invaluable part of the DNA at the Academy.
Then, I introduced a culture of physical prototyping for intangible ideas. I bought materials not often seen or associated with an education school, and I brought in an undergraduate researcher as my apprentice.
I mentored and supervised my undergraduate researcher while we learned, together, and expanded our portfolio for using physical tools for prototyping.
I gave new tools for communication of complex ideas to members that were previously not using the same language.
I’m proud to say the physical materials are still being used in the lab, now by an established group of undergraduate researchers that work to prototype new learning modules for the incoming students!
Below is an assortment of pictures highlighting what this all looked like.
Tinkering through our brainstorming session on how to market our DesignShop for teachers, this physical embodiment of our values was boarn, symbolizing connectedness, physical prototyping, multidisciplinary approaches, and questioning was born. Hands-on minds-on thinking!
Physical prototypes and metaphors of education systems we explored.
Grouping teacher needs to create insights in a design direction.
To make an interactive booth, I lasercut focamcore letters witht he Academy's initials to use as a backbaord to capture their thoughts. The flabs prompted them with questions that were removable to respond to the pace of the event.
