Day 1

Quick thoughts on the first day.  We are going to be learning about The Design Process.  As opposed to the design process...which many educators use all the time, anyway.  I am actually posting this after having read through the Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit.  What this is...and I think what this course will touch on...is a systematic process to follow when designing a solution to a problem.  What strikes me is how many people use this process quite naturally without giving it a name.  For example, the people who run the Hants County Exhibition had a problem:  not enough young people were coming to see the actual exhibition part.  They formed a small group with two farmers and two teachers...defined the problem, brainstormed solutions...asked "How might we..." questions and...voila: The Future Farmers Friday was born.  Schools in our catchment area will be sending their students to a special open house at the Exhibition, where they will participate in hands-on exploratory activities linked to the local agricultural industry.  We will see how it goes this year, and tweak and modify for next year.  So:  is this a design process or The Design Process?