See related post: Hacking Badges
Have you heard of design thinking yet? People centered problem solving?
I spent the last two days participating in the FUSE 2014 Conference hosted by the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation (@MVIFI) at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School. I earned a badge for being a Facilitator in the 101 track (participants engaged in an introductory design thinking challenge related to the topic of “student centered learning“). There were 140 educators and non-educators from around the nation (some international, too).
Our Middle School sent a small team of our own teachers to the 201 track where they arrived with a pre-determined focus of “student led conferences.” As is the case with design thinking, once you begin to interview “users” and empathize with their needs, you realize that what you thought was the challenge/problem/opportunity may actually be very different than what the actual user views as the real issue/need.
Overall, it was an incredible conference where new friendships and connections were made, minds were stretched, and a ripple was thrown into the pond of nurturing innovators and transforming educational practice. For more info about MVIFI and FUSE…
http://www.mvifi.org/fuse14/whos-coming/
The Musical Playlist from FUSE