The challenge I have applied the design thinking tool Visualization to is social equity issues in  my hometown of Chicago. Recently, I was given the task of identifying the root issues of the  inequity in the city and subsequently, conjuring a technology-driven solution. There is a plethora  of studies on the root causes of inequity available, so interpreting it all seemed to be a Herculean  task. I decided it would be easier to draw conclusions from the data if I were able to see it  visually. I grouped out several different categories of data related to inequity, such as the  unemployment rate, graduation rate, and life expectancy in the respective communities.     What particularly stood out to me were the reports of the lower graduation rates, in some

instances there were gaps as large as 15% between Black and White communities. It had seemed  that using Visualization had helped me find my culprit. Further research led me to find that those  without a GED have much lower chances at employment and higher rates of poverty than those  with one. I deduced that this higher rate of poverty consequently led to the lack of health care  and lower life expectancy. After using simple graphing programs with the data, I saw that the  funding for schools in majority Black and Brown communities was significantly lower than  funding in majority white neighborhoods. This gap in funding could possibly be the reason for  the gap in graduation rates.     This led me take a different approach in the Visualization tool, and look at anecdotal data

from students in these underfunded schools. Along with stories I was able to find online of the  lack of resources due to the under funding, I was actually able to talk to a teacher and her  colleagues at one of these underfunded schools. She confirmed what I had suspected, the lack of  funding and resources made her job especially difficult. She informed me that often she and her  colleagues would have to spend money out of their own pockets for resources for their  classrooms. Due to Visualization, I was able to find one of the main causes of inequity in my  city, however, my task was not yet complete.    The second part to my assignment, coming up with a technologically driven solution to

the inequity, seemed daunting to say the least. Using Visualization yet again, I asked the teacher  and her colleagues to write their biggest need on notecards and give them to me. I then grouped  them by topic and found that the largest group of needs was access to more learning resources to  diversify their lesson plans. With lack of learning resources being the biggest complaint, and the  massive expanse of learning resources called the Internet being the considered technology, I had  finally found the solution to my problem. I concluded that my solution would need to be a simple  and effective way of integrating learning softwares into the classrooms and lesson plans. Without  the insight gained from the Visualization tool, I would’ve never been able to narrow down the  massive concept of inequity into manageable quantitative data points and an apparent cause to  them.    My next steps will include prototyping and conducting several learning launches to find

what works best for both the students and the teachers. By conducting these learning launches I  will be able find out whether a smart board approach or a tablet approach will be more effective.  Without the tools I learned in the Design Thinking course, I would’ve never been able to get this  far in the process of this task.

