DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION  Leslie Young  PEER REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

1. Challenge:

The Ministry of Education has decided that blended learning will be used as a

form of teaching for the new school semester until further notice. Many of the

teachers who are already technology-oriented have adjusted quite easily for the

impending change. However, there are teachers of various age groups who are

more resistant to the change for varying reasons. In light of this, the principals were

asked to identify such teachers and come up with a strategy which would assist

these teachers to become adept at using computers, tablets and other forms of

technological devices to deliver instruction to their students at different levels. As

the Information Technology correspondent for the school, I have been given the

responsibility of planning intervention activities for the teaching staff to help solve

this issue.

2. Selection:

I have selected the mind mapping tool. A mind mapping tool helps you to locate

patterns and gain insight into the challenge expounded in the design. It is a visual

representation of the ideas in my head (brainstorming). Mind maps are an easy way

to organize your ideas and present it to a group (eg. My students, colleagues, etc.).

It is also a great collaboration tool, where members of a team can make changes or

add ideas easily to a group mind map.

I immediately went to this tool for my purpose because I am naturally a person

who looks for links and patterns in ideas to help me with daily tasks. Therefore, I

DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION  Leslie Young  PEER REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

believe this tool would be more manageable for me to use. Young (Mind

Mapping Tool) made reference to something David Kelley (founder of IDEO)

mentioned: “When I'm trying to do something creative, I make a mind-map.” In my

case, we are looking for a creative way to bring the product training to the

customer. This tool is perfect for designing our intent.

3. Application:

To begin, we added the overall issue in the center of the map (Introducing

Technology as Teaching Tools for Teachers) on a large whiteboard. It can be

worded as a question to be answered (How can we introduce technology as

teaching tools for our teachers?) or left as a statement. Then, we added branches

to identify the main categories or areas of interest (types of technology,

characteristics of target teachers, curriculum guide, tools needed). These

categories are written on the branch lines in a brief manner to avoid clutter. Next,

we add “child branches” to each category branch as the ideas come. There is no

limit to the amount of ideas which can be expressed. However, it is important that

the idea has some form of a connection with the main idea and it can be

understood at a glance by members of the brainstorming team. Finally, we add

images and colours which can make the mind map easily understood at a glance

and more interesting to look at. The mind mapping tool proves to be very effective

in displaying the ideas of the entire team and showing how they are connected.

4. Insight:

DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION  Leslie Young  PEER REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Using this tool has provided me with several positive outlooks about design

thinking and planning. First, it shows me how to structure my way of thinking for

maximum effectiveness of planning. No matter how big my problem may seem, the

mind map can simplify and show relationships among ideas that I may not even

think about initially. Next, it helps improve my memory. It is much easier to retain

information that is written briefly than in long sentences. Finally, it has helped me be

more creative with approaches to challenges. Sometimes we have been using one

way of solving problems for so long, we do not leave room for new and innovative

ways of thinking. This tool has broadened the way I think about thinking.

5. Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same

tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why.

I can see myself using the mind mapping tool in the future to design solutions for

challenges. What I envision doing different is using online tools and computer

software instead of the whiteboard. Using the mind map online enables better and

easier collaboration among team members, where changes made by one person is

immediately saved, updated and shared with everyone. There are excellent tools

which allow you to embed videos and files in the mind map presentation. This

allows information to be shared effectively and allows for different learning styles to

be catered to (visual learners appreciate videos and pictures, while linguistic

learners appreciate phrases and paragraphs). This tool is flexible in its use and I

look forward to continue to use it for practical problem-solving opportunities.

