Being an Inventor
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In our desire to make schools more “efficient” we rarely ask the question “How can we make this process more human?” Pick any number of goals or initiatives you are currently working hard to implement. Are you designing more human centered curriculum? Are you designing more human centered interview processes? Are you designing more human centered evaluation models? Are you designing more human centered assessment systems (if there is such a thing)? What could design look like with these kinds of questions at the center?
Much of the work of change occurs in the inventor mindset. Inventors are designers and always start with the person...with the human. Inventors believe we teach humans and prioritize relationships before we teach content. Inventors create opportunities to understand the needs of the people they serve. Inventors understand connection is the key to successful, sustainable change. Inventors understand the current and possible future contexts of learning, and they design with others with the future in mind. They understand what makes a memorable, magical experience.
The first important mindshift that occurs as an inventor is recognizing that so many of our systems are designed with the health and efficiency of the system as the main priorities, as opposed to those who live and work within the system. While many have written about the history of our factory model of schools and the need for “efficiency” and “value,” few have openly challenged the faulty hard wiring of the system itself. Far too often, solutions are more focused on maintaining the efficiency model instead of recognizing that this model is neither effective for all those who inhabit it, nor providing the “value” that others ascribe to it.
One of the ways you can begin to focus on those within the system instead of the system itself leads to the second mindshift which asks us to navigate from ignoring the future to embracing and designing for it. Many who live and operate within the current system consistently play the short game instead of understanding the impacts on the long term. We often speak about “beginning with the end in mind,” but that end is often too short sighted and frequently only results in surviving the year. Embracing the future asks us to look at the signals within and outside our current contexts. It asks us to look a decade into the future and design for a preferred future.
And the final mindshift helps to ensure that we aren’t doing this important work alone. When we navigate from designing alone to designing with others, we arrive at more human centered outcomes because when we design alone we are so often focused on our own perceptions and beliefs. Having other objectors and inventors design with us helps us to broaden our perspectives, challenge our ideas, and design more intentionally from the human-centered lens. Designing with others helps us to create more meaningful and impactful learning experiences.
The work of being an inventor through the human centered lens is different than simply “inventing” because our focus is first on designing for the people we serve; it’s focused on a preferred future; and it’s focused on inventing with others who share similar passions and visions for a preferred future.
