EVERYONE IS A DESIGNER using regenerative design to reimagine education maggie hickey spring 2020
title
Everyone is a Designer: Using Regenerative Design to Reimagine Education
author
Maggie E. Hickey
institution Prescott College
date
May 2020
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table of contents 5
Introduction
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Empathize: Traditional Educational Ideologies
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Define: Design Thinking
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Ideate: Ecosa Program Case Study
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Prototype: Application Examples
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Test: Terms and the Ideology
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Assess: Reflections
FORWARD Welcome to this exploration of design and education. This particular project started out with the intention of examining the potential influence of regenerative design in the construction and conceptualization of education. When I first started this journey I did not know where this exploration would lead me. Unlike many essays, there was no planning, no detailed outline, and no prepared conclusion. My intention was to discover the connection between regenerative design and education, yet I didn’t know what this would look like. Now having reached the end, I am pleasantly surprised by what this process yielded. I was satisfied that the process I underwent to complete this project was unconventional, just like the methods I explore in its content. What I think is particularly special about the following document is its form. Before you begin reading, I want to note that this document is an example of the design thinking process. There are times where its content is disjointed or repetitive, and I know that it is imperfect throughout. However, I am choosing to embrace this as a part of the project because it embodies what it means to experience the design process. In education, it is often expected that students produce products and come to complete conclusions. What I seek to do here is challenge the typical essay format. Quite simply, the following analysis is messy and full of holes, but also full of expansive ideas that challenge standards. Perhaps it is because it is not a conventional essay, but throuhgout this project I have made many new connections that I had not made before. So please, enjoy this unconventional thought journey and I hope that you too step outside of the typical.
Maggie Eilish
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INTRODUCTION
I have always been curious about the way our educations affect our everyday lives. For me, I can say with absolute certainty that the things I have learned inside and outside of the design studio have changed the way I approach the world. Design became a language that I could utilize to understand and react to the environment around me. It expanded the ways I acquire information by unlocking new ways of seeing connections and opportunities. When I first began to reflect upon my education, I realized that I constructed conclusions that utilized design in a way that most educational philosophies neglected. I saw the gaps in the pursuit of knowledge and it seemed natural that this was not a broken system, just a poorly designed one. So, I sat still with a simple thought experiment: what if I used my education to design education? In this document, I will explore exactly that. With such an open-ended question it was difficult to figure out the right place to start, but soon wI realized I could treat it just like any other design problem. This inspired the following analysis, guided by the six steps of the design process: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, and assess. Each step in the design process will explore different aspects of the relationship between design and education starting with an analysis of traditional educational ideologies, and expanding to design thinking, a case study examination, examples of application, comparison of the ideology to basic terms, and a general assessment. Using the design thinking process as a guideline, I will seek to understand the potential relationship between education and regenerative design.
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EMPATHIZE
“deciding what to teach is a matter of ethics.” Before I begin to pick apart various methods for approaching education, it is important I start by defining the boundaries of each term that will be used. The concept of education is an abstract, nebulous one that is ubiquitous in daily life (Null, 2011). As it is generally understood, education is an exchange of knowledge. Education and curriculum depart from one another in the tangibility of the subject. In this sense “education is frequently discussed without regard to subject matter, but curriculum requires those who discuss it to address subject matter in one way or another” (Null, 2011, p.19). However, curriculum covers only the topic at hand and where it is taught in the educational timeline. The method used to teach curriculum is referred to as instruction. In a simple sense, education is the broad term for knowledge exchange, curriculum is the what of education, and instruction is the how (A. Yost, personal communication, April 06, 2020). In many cases, curriculum and instruction are difficult to separate and the conversation is often saturated with both (A. Yost, personal communication, April 06, 2020).
The line begins to blur when delving into the realm of educational philosophy. Deciding what to teach is a matter of ethics. Since education on the broadest scale is simply an exchange of knowledge, it is “frequently discussed as if it can be
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divorced from questions of right and wrong” (Null, 2011, p. 20). This results in makeshift practitioners and whole institutions to “reject the need to connect curriculum to a broader vision for what schooling can or should achieve” (Null, 2011, p. 24). However, curriculum and instruction cannot stand on their own without a complimentary educational philosophy, and the foundational principles of regenerative design demand that they are thought about in tandem. Therefore, the use of regenerative design as an educational philosophy requires the consideration of both curriculum and instruction. I will begin by first analyzing a few different traditional educational philosophies in order to develop groundwork to compare an ideology based in regenerative design against. Scholar Academic Ideology Though there are a number of ideologies that guide curriculum design, the Scholar Academic ideology is considered one of the most traditional approaches to education. This method is characterized by strict academic disciplines and “hierarchical communit[ies] of people in search of truth within one part of the universe of knowledge” (Schiro, 2013, p. 4). This pyramidal structure of instruction views education as a unilateral exchange of information. The environment created by this approach yields a passive student role and assumes failure is a result of a student’s lack of skill. Wesley Null notes that: When teachers are presented as the sole or even the principal force in curriculum, then the other commonplaces— often learners—are diminished. When this happens the power of curriculum—and the liberating force it can provide—is undermined. (2011, p. 38) The beginnings of the Scholar Academic ideology date back to the Enlightenment when it became exceedingly important to
distinguish separate academic disciplines in education (A. Yost, personal communication, April 06, 2020). Even today, this ideology can be seen in public schools across the country as “curriculum workers who use the Scholar Academic ideology view curriculum creation from the perspective of the academic disciplines” (Schiro, 2013, p. 19). However, though still widely used, this educational philosophy has been under scrutiny since the 1940s for lack of student agency, selected success, and narrow worldview, amongst other critiques (A. Yost, personal communication, April 06, 2020). One of the largest obstacles within the Scholar Academic ideology is the belief “that only knowledge contained in the disciplines is appropriate to the curriculum” (Schiro, 2013, p. 23). This results in curriculum design that lacks holistic thinking because “psychological needs, social problems, and any of a variety of patterns of material based on other than discipline content are not appropriate to the determination of what is taught” (Schiro, 2013, p.23). Social Efficiency Ideology Education began to shift emphasis during the 18th century in response to the Industrial Revolution. Institutions began to be viewed as factories that contributed to the growing success of society (A. Yost, personal communication, April 06, 2020).. However, it wasn’t until the 1950’s that a new educational philosophy was distilled: the Social Efficiency ideology. This ideology “advocates believe that the purpose of schooling is to efficiently meet the needs of society by training youth to function as future mature contributing members of society” (Schiro, 2013, p. 5). Unlike the Scholar Academic ideology, this approach considers the context in which knowledge is exchanged. The student “experiences are crucial because the actions and reactions of learners are controlled, molded,
or shaped through their interactions with the environment in which they are placed” (Schiro, 2013, p. 59). However, it is not to be confused that this ideology is any more learner-centered than the Scholar Academic ideology. Simply, the context is taken into account because “effective organization of learning experiences allows curriculum objectives to be efficiently accomplished by stimulating learning to take place in the most efficient manner possible—where efficiency is defined in terms of expenditure of time, money, and human resources” (Schiro, 2013, p. 59). (cont. next page)
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“i will keep three things in mind: collaborative learning, systems thinking, and involvement of stakeholders.”
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In the Social Efficiency ideology, the exchange of information still remains unilateral. It is the instructor’s job to merely present the information regardless of whether the student learns or not (A. Yost, personal communication, April 06, 2020). Many traditional instructional methods born of this ideology are still used today. The most common form of the Social Efficiency approach can be found in university lecture halls, with presentations and tests given to over a hundred students at a time. This “programmed curriculum” seeks only to maximize the number of students the information reaches with the minimum amount of instruction (Schiro, 2013, p. 60). The pursuit of efficiency is often driven by the belief that education is a business and therefore needs to maximize profits and minimize costs (Null, 2011). I should again emphasize that approaches such as the Scholar Academic ideology and the Social Efficiency ideology continue to be under close critique as more learner-centered approaches are developed.
Traditional Education Critique There are many critics that scrutinize traditional educational ideologies. The focus of most traditional educational philosophies is the unilateral exchange of information. Over the years this has been stated to not effectively teach students material in a way that will enable them to succeed. It is crucial that those developing curriculum approach education with a more holistic view because “if those who make curriculum ignore the needs, interests, and backgrounds of students, then the curriculum they offer will not make an impact” (Null, 2011, p.38). Additionally, the segmentation of academic disciplines discourages interdisciplinary thought processes. Wesley Null points out that the challenge in any curriculum construction “is to view subject matter as part of a larger curricular whole” (2011, p. 39). Furthermore, it is important for the institution to recognize the important role it may play in the community that supports it. By ignoring the context commonplace, institutions can end up creating “curriculum that is not supported by the community in which the school exists” (Null, 2011, p. 40). As I begin to take a closer look into the case study that I will use to analyze the application of regenerative design as an educational philosophy, I am interested in keeping three things in mind: collaborative and horizontal learning, systems thinking curriculum construction, and holistic involvement of stakeholders. What I mean to do by highlighting these three things is to draw out what I see to be the biggest flaws in traditional educational ideologies and look at how regenerative design satisfies these sectors.
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Design Thinking
Divergent and convergent thinking
DEFINE
The 3The core activities of design thinking The 3 core where activities of design intersection design thinkingthinking lives
Divergent and convergent thinking
The 3 core activities of design thinking Before I dive deeper into how regenerative design can be integrated The 3 core activities of design thinking into an educational philosophy, I want to take a moment to define The intersection The intersection where designlives thinking lives where design thinking design thinking. In this analysis, design thinking plays a critical role in demonstrating the variety of applications of this process. Tim Brown, the executive chair of IDEO, succinctly defines design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of How the journey of a project feels technology, and the requirements for business success” (IDEO, 2020). It can be established that design thinking is primarily two things: a process of innovation, and an integrative approach to discovery. For the purposes of this analysis, I want to distill this understanding down of sdesign ingslive nkitie thitiv nac reing co sig further in order to extract the core characteristics of design thinking. 3thi de ening ere Th wh nthi The 3 core activities of design thinking tio ec nk ers int e sig Th nk de of n s sig itie de tiv acs of reitie cotiv re3ac coe In this sense, design thinking is an integrative process. While The 3 Th Divergent and and convergent thinking Divergent convergent thinking Divergent and convergent thinking Divergent and convergent thinking this simple frame allows this process to be used across a variety of platforms, its vagueness poses a challenge to its application. What I wish to do in the following is to establish a base process that can act as a universal guideline to innovation. There are a number of design thinking methods, the most popular from the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school) and IDEO, an international design and consulting firm (Balcaitis, 2019). I will look at the d.school method as a set of steps that can catalyze the initial process and the IDEO method as a general philosophy of innovation. thinking sig of ndethi ssig nkning acstivofitie reitie de co 3 e Th tiv ac re co 3 e Th d.school method. The d.school method segments the design process into six basic steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, ing test, and assess. The first stage of any exploration starts with a nkdesign The 3nk core thinkin design thiof ofactivities sing ing nk nk itie ing thi tiv nthi nthi sig sig nac re de de co sig of 3 of de ing s e s of nk itie Th itie s thi tiv tiv n itie ac ac tiv sig re re ac de co co re 3 of 3 s e co e 3 Th itie Th e research stage: empathize. Empathizing enables one to understand tiv Th ac re co 3 The the context of the research, often resulting in unanticipated insights (Balcaitis, 2019). In order to make use of the information gathered in the empathize stage, the step to follow is a condensing of information. The goal of this stage, define, is to “craft a meaningful and actionable
The intersection The intersection where design where thinking desi 10
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“it can be established that design thinking is primarily two things: a process of innovation and an integrative approach to discovery.”
problem statement” in order to establish a core concept for the project to reference throughout the process (Balcaitis, 2019). Ideation, the next step, entails expansive thinking that opens up the widest opportunities in order to generate a multitude of responses to the core project concept. This wide variety of responses are then condensed down once again in the prototype stage. This stage is “the iterative generation of artifacts intended to answer questions” that can advance the project towards completion (Balcaitis, 2019). Often when one looks at a project or process, they imagine the landing point, the test stage. Testing primarily frames the final product or concept in a synthesis that can solicit feedback about the prototypes (Balcaitis, 2019). It is at this stage that many processes are typically deemed complete. A regenerative framework demands one final stage: assessment. Assessment is completed focusing on the final product or the whole process. This ensures that there is reciprocity and feedback loops that respond to data gathered from the experience. The final, and most important thing to note about this particular model, is that although it is displayed as a linear process, iteration plays a critical role in the development of innovative solutions. “Pivoting between modes can create a better solution” to the end product and the process itself (Balcaitis, 2019). It can expand creative thinking, challenge fundamental assumptions, and result in undiscovered ideas. In this sense, design thinking is not only an integrative process, but it is an iterative one as well. The steps outlined above will act as the guideline for this analysis in hopes of catalyzing the initial process to uncover the potential of a regenerative design ideology. IDEO method. The tools that IDEO provides can guide an understanding of a new way to approach the world. The complicated thing about design thinking is that “it’s an idea, a strategy, a method, and a way of seeing the world” (IDEO, 2020). This is why I feel that in the use of design thinking as a curriculum development tool, it is critical to establish a base philosophy of design thinking. d.school’s
method provides the segmented stages that can catalyze the process, but IDEO provides a philosophy that enables a deeper understanding of the question: why can this work? Though there are a number of angles that I feel this philosophy can be viewed through, I wish to focus on one main one: divergent and convergent thinking. Today’s world lives in a time where the systems at play are embedded into much larger systems but neglect this in exchange for simple quick fixes. IDEO’s method of design thinking communicates the importance of recognizing the whole system issues in order to offer whole systems solutions. The expansiveness of whole systems thinking requires divergent thinking as the process of creating choices acknowledges that innovative thinking goes “beyond the confines of any individual person, organization or website” (IDEO, 2020). An obstacle with a million catalysts and a million core flaws requires a trillion ideas of innovation in order to discover a few able to respond in an appropriate way. Once the net is open enough to catch as many opportunities and solutions as possible, convergent thinking brings this process back to reality. Throughout the six stages of the d.school’s method, there are a number of moments where divergent thinking and convergent thinking work hand in hand to advance the process. As I explore regenerative design as a tool for curriculum development I want to maintain one clear thread: the ability to expand one’s thought process into realms of unknowing and then pull back into reality is crucial to activating the full creative experience. This is key to utilizing regenerative design as an educational philosophy. It challenges the preconceived notion that education is about presenting information by shifting the system until fundamental beliefs are formed about the world one exists in. Developing an educational philosophy ignites inspiration and innovation that can reframe the way knowledge is embedded within students.
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Divergent and co
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nvergent thinking
“we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Design Thinking Application
From my analysis above I hope that it is clear that design thinking is a process that can take on many forms. What is most important is that it is a basic framework that can be adapted. This is the very reason that I seek to utilize these methods to guide the development of an educational ideology. Utilizing an integrative process expands creativity and fosters a space of inquisitiveness and exploration. What design thinking seeks to do is to “use the environment to prompt deeper questions” (Balcaitis, 2019). This is the thread that I will weave throughout the following analysis. I wish to make one final note before diving into educational philosophies. I find that it is difficult to directly communicate what I mean when I say I am looking to integrate regenerative design into education by utilizing design thinking. This idea is a theory that I am developing and so I’ve decided here to show this through my telling. What I mean to say is that the outline of the following analysis will be constructed from the d.school’s design thinking method. In a sense, this exploration of regenerative design in education will be an example of exactly that.
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IDEATE CASE STUDY THE ECOSA PROGRAM AT PRESCOTT COLLEGE (right) graphic rendering of the ecosa semester program curriculum drawn by tony brown, program director Tony Brown, the founder and director of the Ecosa program at Prescott College, has had over 40 years of experience working in sustainable architecture and urban design. In his words, the Ecosa program is “an attempt to transform the way design is taught to a broader audience” (T. Brown, personal communication, February 26, 2020). The Ecosa program is a 16-week program in which students get “a more holistic understanding of sustainability” and regenerative ecological design (Ecosa, 2019). Through Prescott College, participating students earn 16 credit hours in addition to a regenerative ecological design certification upon completion of the semester (Ecosa, 2020). The curriculum has a holistic, interdisciplinary approach that brings in speakers to present on their expertise, integrates field trips to experiential design sites, and utilizes the guidance of mentors during studio hours (known as threadweavers in the Ecosa philosophy). Participants in the program are guided by the director as well as threadweavers, but ultimately the learning is student-driven as participants uncover and embody the practice of regenerative ecological design.
Regenerative Design Ideology
Root philosophy: everything is connected to everything.
The root philosophy of Ecosa differs from traditional ideologies in one major way: it is guided by the flow of the natural environment. While other educational philosophies are conceptually constructed in response to human efficiency or human behavior, this approach is influenced by the information exchanges that have been occurring for
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thousands of years. According to Tony Brown, the root philosophy of the Ecosa program is not just an educational philosophy, it is the root philosophy of everything (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). Once the basic principle that everything is connected to everything is understood, it is not long before it is realized that education is far from an exception. In the simplest sense, the central belief of a regenerative design ideology is that education must act and respond to the context in which it is being deployed. Like many design methodologies, the regenerative design ideology has a series of principles that it seeks to apply across education. The first principle focuses on collaborative, horizontal learning. Tony
Brown notes that in the Ecosa curriculum, there is no right and wrong (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). This black and white world perspective lacks the capacity to foster creative solutions and often is born from educational hierarchies. In the Ecosa studio, the instructors’ jobs are not to present information and assess students’ success, but rather give them the tools and inspiration that will guide creative learning. The horizontal space fostered by this approach encourages students to try new things without fear of failure (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). Tony Brown states that it is crucial, especially in design, to fail in order to grow and evolve (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020).
Since the first program launched in 2000, he has been part of an extended process of failure and redesigns with the Ecosa curriculum; always learning from the students and revising for the next year. The second principle crucial in building a regenerative design ideology is recognizing the need for systems thinking in curriculum construction. Taking influence from the natural environment requires one to note that all systems are complex, multifaceted webs of knowledge that intersect at all corners with other systems. Academics that fail to look at the whole system result in people dealing with things, rather than consequences (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). (cont. next page)
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Additionally, academic disciplines encourage students into a black and white world, one where there is a right and wrong answer. This will often result in the defense of specific positions, the opposition to change, or the resistance to alternate views. Tony Brown notes that everyone is a designer simply because we all exist in systems in which we have impact (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). Utilizing systems thinking to blend academic disciplines is a fundamental key in understanding the complexities of the larger whole. By blending Nature’s complexity into a curriculum, it becomes clear that “there are no things, only connections” (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). The first two principles outlined above are mainly concerned with the internal workings in a program. However, unlike most curriculums, in its pursuit of systems thinking, the regenerative design ideology includes its own context. This is to reinforce that the mere existence of a curriculum means that it is held within an institution, held inside a community, held inside a nation, held inside the global context. In the particular case of the Ecosa program this means applying skill sets learned in the studio to the external world in order to build healthy relationships (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). This is a model of reciprocity inspired by the circular systems abundant in the natural environment. Along with the root philosophy, these three principles can help to guide curriculum and instruction development.
Regenerative Design Ideology in Practice
The Ecosa program at Prescott College offers unique insight into the regenerative design ideology in practice. When Tony Brown first constructed the curriculum that would become the 16 week program, he sought to build an experience for his students rather than a series of classes (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). Beginning with the notion “everyone is a designer,” he asked, how does one get people without a design background to begin to design? The educational philosophy, everything is connected to everything, offered a foundation to build upon, and with the help of the three main principles, Brown began to establish the variety of topics that would unlock the world of design: technical, philosophical, and environmental (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). These topics would eventually become the threads, guided by the threadweavers, that would weave together to create the core model for the Ecosa program. As the curriculum grew organically, different stages began to
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surface in the construction of the semester. The beginning of the semester is a time of transition into the program and Brown wanted to challenge his new students to get out of their comfort zone (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). This practice is facilitated during a primitive skill backcountry trip, aiming to break down unwanted biases, foster team collaboration, and encourage students to see the world in a different light (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). Upon returning to the student, Brown’s next goal was to get his students’ the technical skills they would need to communicate their designs up front. Through a series of projects, this next stage motivates students to ask questions, learn from mistakes, and jump off the edge of conventional. It is the integration of new lines of sight and hands on discovery that enable the learners to begin to utilize systems thinking. The final stage of the Ecosa experience is the most crucial in understanding the motivation of integrating the regenerative design ideology. One of the fundamental skills in being able to see that “everything is connected to everything” is the ability to synthesize information in a way that makes sense. This is the main goal of the final stage in the Ecosa program. From the viewpoint of the regenerative design ideology, education is not just constructed by learning. In fact, “if learning is the only end of education, then we would never be taught how to take what we have learned and apply it with practical situations” (Null, 2011, p.39). It is this application that not only encourages collaborative, horizontal learning and systems thinking, but in the Ecosa program it also begins to integrate the stakeholders that reside outside of the studio. The final stage of the Ecosa program offers its students a client project, complete with all the obstacles a typical design studio faces (Ecosa, 2020). This real-world context is accompanied by new constraints, which create challenges, which eventually yield creativity. What is important to note is that it is not each individual stage of the Ecosa program that creates the experience. Rather, it is the connections that are drawn between each phase that builds the rich and diverse curriculum. The first stage would be nothing more than a backcountry trip without the weeks that follow. The second stage would simply be a technical education if it didn’t have the promise of application. It would perhaps be only chaos that would be generated in the final project if the first half of the semester was replaced. In this sense it is incredibly important to realize that the Ecosa program is not the sum of its individual parts. In practice, the value of the whole is what the regenerative design ideology has to offer.
“ecosa seeks to bend minds into seeing differently.” tony brown, program director Regenerative Design Ideology Critique
Though an ideology inspired by regenerative design offers an approach to education that is much more holistic and inclusive, it is far from perfect. Although the Ecosa program model is successful on many accounts, it is a highly intensive program that requires a significant input of resources to operate. With education already being one of the most underfunded systems in the country, financial efficiency is highly valued. Additionally, declining enrollment trends in higher education have put many institutions under financial stress (Berman, 2015). The current model of the Ecosa program depends on the contribution of guest speakers and field trips in order to create a holistic experience (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). Without the external input that these elements provide, the program would fail to possess the fundamental characteristics of the regenerative design ideology. Beyond the financial commitment that an organic program such as Ecosa requires, there is a significant amount of organization that is needed (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). There are a number of moving parts within the Ecosa semester. Since the curriculum is built on the foundation that “everything is connected to everything,” the construction of the experience is complex (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). While this has some positive aspects, it should be noted that underserved educational institutions often employ overworked instructors. Between the limited human resources and the complexity of the experience, there is an overall lack in schedule flexibility (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). While this roadblock could deter institutions from adopting this model, the fundamental ideology of the Ecosa program has potential to be designed in a way that is context specific.
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PROTOTYPE
While it is easy to see how a regenerative design ideology is applicable to a design studio, the disjuncture lies in the application of the ideology elsewhere. In order to become a successful framework, this model must have a clear philosophy that is widely accessible. For this reason I will utilize the core ideas of the regenerative design ideology to generate application examples.
Application in Relationship to Higher Educational Institutions
It is important to distinguish interdisciplinary programs as currently offered in higher education from a program based in the regenerative design ideology. While both seek to draw on knowledge from a variety of disciplines, the regenerative design ideology pays closer attention to how these subsections are interconnected into an experience. In a classroom setting, this small distinction would present differently. In a standard interdisciplinary program, students would still have a series of classes to attend. While they may be spending part of their time in a biology lab and the other part in an art studio, it is still primarily up to the student to draw connections between the two knowledge bases. The regenerative design ideology focuses on keeping the student in place and bringing in sources of knowledge to influence the classroom. What this model takes into account is one of the five ecological design principles: solutions grow from place. By establishing a consistent space that students interact with on a daily basis (e.g. a studio or classroom), the program is able to foster an environment where students will naturally begin to draw connections between topics.
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The question is then how would something this unconventional find a place in a typical university? When Tony Brown, director of the Ecosa program, was asked this he mentioned the idea of an Ecosa center (T. Brown, personal communication, April 07, 2020). This center would act as an organizational hub for a unique track of education available to students. While other departments in the university are made up of professors and department heads, the Ecosa center would consist of a director and appropriate coordinating faculty. This team of people would be focused on utilizing the existing resources at the college— professors, adjunct faculty, university organizations, etc.—to construct an experience guided by the regenerative design ideology. While this program could easily have a heavy focus in design, it is also possible for it to be customized to the university and surrounding areas needs. For example, in the southwest it may make sense to focus a program like this towards water conservation, biology, and design, while in the northeast it may make more sense to have a focus in sustainable, local food systems and chemistry. The point to emphasize is that the given center should respond to the needs of the region and the needs of the student body at the university. Essentially, this solution grows from place. The ability for a center to draw on the resources already present at a college enables the creative expansion of this program with the support of a financially stable ground. From the other side, this type of program can massively diversify a university’s student body, strengthen its marketing position with a unique opportunity, and create new opportunities. Envisioning what these regenerative design ideology “hubs” could become is an important step in seeing the value they could bring to higher education. As more of these centers appear across the country, the network of connections becomes far greater than a single university. Invisible lines connecting universities will start to develop an underground web that can share resources and innovations, not unlike a mycelium network. Universities, professors, and students alike can tap into this widespread community, tied together by an ideology but embedded within an existing system.
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“preserving the drivng philosophy is more important than constructing a model that is strict in nature.”
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EVERYONE IS A DESIGNER
Application in Relationship to a Singular Organization
While it is important to consider what the integration of the regenerative design ideology into existing systems could look like, it is also important to consider what it may look like if it stands on its own. Since a singular organization does not have the resources that a university does, it often is more difficult for directors to continue to reach their participants after the completion of the program. However, the three principles of the regenerative design ideology need not to stop upon student graduations. This model creates opportunity for an expanded “program” to be developed; one that follows the ideology guidelines. This vision was first explored during a proposed rebranding of the Ecosa center at Prescott College. The core of it was this: develop an expanded alumni network that harnesses the resources and skills of previous students. This network, dubbed the “living network,” utilizes the skills and knowledge of graduates to construct an influencing tier in the program advancement. This recognition notes that previous students have incredible potential to contribute to current students by sharing information, inspiring innovation, and offering connections. Not only this, but a living network establishes a space of reciprocity as well as a feedback loop that can contribute to the evolution of the core program.
This type of program expansion could come in a number of forms. A living network for a program such as Ecosa is likely to be primarily virtual because of the dispersed nature of its alumni. However, for example, the unique nature of the Ecosa program’s curriculum could easily become inspiration for an annual conference. This conference could use the regenerative design ideology to imagine a weekend long experience for students, alumni, and community members. In any case, each living network for each program would present its own specific characteristics. What is important to the development of an expanded program is not the details that dictate what makes something a living network, but rather the principles that guide is creation. Before anything, this is the focus of the regenerative design ideology. _________ For the purpose of this analysis I have attempted to keep the development of these visions simple and straightforward. The point I wish to make is that the regenerative design ideology is an educational philosophy that has potential within and beyond the design studio. These two examples I have developed are simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential application of this ideology. What is crucial is the core concept that makes up the central philosophy: everything is connected to everything. In this sense, preserving the driving philosophy and the guiding principles is significantly more important than constructing a transferable model that is strict in nature. Regenerative design teaches its students to grow solutions in place and this ideology is no exception.
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TEST
What I have done above is outlined the context I wished to explore, developed the notion of regenerative design ideology, and expanded upon a variety of potential applications for this philosophy. With all of these elements still separated by section, I wish to bring them all together here in order to test their ability to work together as a coherent whole. The regenerative design ideology I constructed from the Ecosa case study has the ability to influence curriculum development by becoming a guiding framework for the way that education is viewed. In order to establish that this statement I have made is accurate, I want to expand on the relationship that the regenerative design ideology has with each element discussed in this analysis: education, curriculum and instruction, the design process, and divergent and convergent thinking.
Education and the Ideology
The relationship between education and the regenerative design ideology is elusive. The nature of both display abstract characteristics that make it difficult to concretely define in simple terms. Wesley Null noted that the concept of education is a “nebulous one ubiquitous in daily life” (2011). I had previously established that on a fundamental level, education is simply an exchange of knowledge. In order to assess the effectiveness of the regenerative design ideology in the context of education, I must then ask the question, what role does this ideology have in the promotion of the sharing of knowledge? When I consider this question I see that regenerative design is simply nothing without its educational counterpart. The design thinking process is dependent on the accumulation of new knowledge and is greatly influenced by the way the designer treats this knowledge. I must then question what is it that regenerative design gives to education. The answer to this I believe is the ideology I have begun to develop. This alternative way of viewing the exchange of knowledge is critical in generating spaces for expansive innovation
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“the design thinking process is dependent on the accumulation of new knowledge.” and inspiring the next generation of creative problem solvers. Regenerative design forces traditional education out of the box in a way that challenges the notion that problems can be segmented in order to simplify the solutions. So while design thinking has always been reliant upon education, it is now in these times that it is becoming clear that education is reliant upon creative innovation and whole systems perspectives.
Curriculum, Instruction, and the Ideology
As previously referenced, the conversation of education is saturated with terms such as curriculum and instruction. Being that curriculum is the what of education and instruction is the how, they are both equally critical in the application of any philosophy. When distilled as two separate concepts, it becomes clear that within the regenerative design ideology, curriculum and instruction are more or less the same. Curriculum construction that utilizes the regenerative design ideology teaches a variety of disciplines simultaneously. The driving
force behind this is the core philosophy, everything is connected to everything. By interweaving various disciplines together into one cohesive experience, assessments can then challenge students to approach problems with whole systems perspectives. Instructional methods in this context are similar. The regenerative design ideology fosters instruction that has a holistic approach to curriculum. This yields programs that view education as an experience and use instructional methods that build upon previous teachings. When employing the regenerative design ideology, the central idea with both curriculum and instruction is connectedness. Viewing these two things as one, reinforces the core philosophy and builds a holistic education.
The Design Process and the Ideology
When I first discussed design thinking I considered it from two perspectives. Using the framework conceptualized by the d.school, I looked at the design process as a series of six steps. These steps (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, and assess) have thus far guided the construction of this analysis. In itself, this is the relationship that I wished to draw between this particular way of approaching design thinking and the ideology I have outlined above. The design process can act as a catalyst to spark innovation and guide thought processes. While the regenerative design ideology offers a core philosophy and three principles, the foundation (cont. next page)
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of these concepts is overwhelming at best. In a sense, they are meant to be. Recognizing that everything is connected to everything and therefore everything must be learned in order to consider everything, well, that’s a lot of everything. What the six stage process developed by the d.school provides is a simplified outline from which to begin. Students are often trained to think in a structured manner, making it difficult to launch into a world of holistic connection. While the non-linear, iterative nature of this design process leaves room for unconventional approaches and innovation, it also provides an easily understood method of discovery that can ignite momentum and give students something concrete to focus on. It should be noted that this process, though historically used for design innovation, is not restricted to design education. Like the scientific method, it is just another approach to research and discovery. While not a necessary piece of the regenerative design ideology, the relationship between the design process and the ideology can be an effective way to introduce unconventional methods of learning to new students.
Divergent Thinking, Convergent Thinking, and the Ideology
When considering the IDEO method of design thinking, I previously noted that the use of divergent and convergent thinking could inspire a philosophy of innovation. By expanding a thought process into a realm of unknowing, new creative energy is accessed in a way that can break preconceived understandings. The ebb and flow of
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“when everything is connected to everything, every avenue of problem solving must be explored.� divergent and convergent thinking creates a rhythmic flow in the process that exposes its students to the unconventional and the practical. The regenerative design ideology requires creative energy as it always begins with an open ended question. When everything is connected to everything, every avenue of problem solving must be explored in order to generate solutions that address the whole system. Divergent thinking becomes a space in which all possible things can be considered so that boundaries are broken and unseen connections are drawn. Convergent thinking then gives the process of expansive thinking a structure to solidify useful information and return to the original pursuit of knowledge. I find that these two methods of thinking often occur without any catalyst. The goal of recognizing the beneficial relationship between them and the regenerative design ideology enables the user to push the use of divergent and convergent thinking even farther in hopes of generating even more creative innovation.
It can be seen that the relationships of various concepts to the regenerative design ideology can be informative in assessing the effectiveness of the philosophy. Education works hand in hand with curriculum and instruction by common definition. The design process includes convergent and divergent thinking within its various process steps. What I hope that the regenerative design ideology does is draws the connection between these two worlds: education and design thinking. Once understood, this philosophy can be used in a variety of ways across disciplines. It can build the base for a new interdisciplinary approach to education that recognizes the need for generalists. This ideology can also be rooted in one specific subject, like design, but utilize the diverse academic ecosystem to inspire its curriculum and help instruct the rising generation of creative thinkers. Either way, the holistic perspective that grounds the regenerative design ideology will be a fresh approach not only to the way education is taught, but how it is viewed and understood as well.
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ASSESS
“we must teach horizontally, think holistically, and connect communally.� I first defined design thinking as an integrative, iterative process. What I have aimed to achieve in this analysis is the demonstration of this in a format removed from the typical design studio setting. For this reason, as I read back over the words I find that there are many places that it is repetitive, clunky, and otherwise unpolished. I spent a good amount of time considering how this project would feel if I spent extensive hours revising it until I was able to distill down the exact language that conveyed my findings the best. Ultimately, I decided that there was something unique about the disarray of the language I have chosen here. This writing is far from perfect yet its imperfections are what showcase the process that enable me to come to conclusions about the relationship between education and regenerative design. Too often I find that education demands products from its students and could care less about the process it took to be successful. So, it is this process, imperfections and all, that I wish to use to not only discuss, but also to demonstrate regenerative design in education. A process is never complete without a full assessment of the experience. It is often during this assessment that the student realizes all the intricacies that otherwise would go unnoticed. My experience over the past semester as I wrote these words was everything but orderly. At any given moment I could feel that I was on the edge of something truly intriguing yet I did not know what that looked like. Even now, at the end of this process it is still difficult for me to succinctly describe the work I have done. Often it felt chaotic,
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which is not an unusual feeling during the design process. What I can say about this process is that the ideology that I have discovered, one grounded in the philosophy “everything is connected to everything,� is one that I truly believe in and has helped to guide me through most of my education. I feel a sense of certainty as things I experienced in the past few years began to form words and construct guiding principles. I know that this exploration of design and education is far from over and I am excited to see where it may lead me next. Even though this was a long process, it feels like just an idea seed, one prepared to bloom when the time is ready. In a sense I supposed this is a portfolio of my education. Not of the specifics, there are endless files of those, but of the general understanding of what makes up education. To do it again I don’t believe I would change anything. I suppose if I had unlimited time and resources I would spend more time drawing in as many connections as possible, but for what it is I think the beauty is that the product is just the process. My wish is that this project reaches the hands of someone and sparks something within them. I hope that students who read this see how they too can draw connections between all the wonderful things they are learning. I hope that instructors realize the potential of building connections across disciplines and consider carefully the type of experience they are building. However, over anything else, I hope that those who read these words understand the value of integration when it comes to education. Unconventional programs are the ones that push the envelope in a way that inspires changemakers and in my opinion, these programs are the future of education. So, in order to remember that everything is connected to everything when it comes to education, we must teach horizontally, think holistically, and connect communally. We must set up the conditions for continuity by learning how to design education in a way that it can evolve through time. That is what it truly means to use regenerative design to inform education.
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REFERENCES Balcaitis, R. (2019). What is design thinking? Design thinking definition. Empathize it. https://empathizeit.com/what-is-designthinking/ Berman, J. (2015) Why fewer students are going to college. Marketwatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-fewerstudents-are-going-to-college-2015-05-14 Ecosa. (2020). Prescott, AZ: Prescott College. https://www.ecosa. org/ IDEO. (2020). Design thinking defined. https://designthinking.ideo. com/ Null, W. (2011). Curriculum: From theory to practice. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Schiro, M. S. (2013). Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
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