Design Thinking, Sustainability and Spanish:

1. “In many American children’s stories (and other stories too), the characters live “happily ever after”. “Sustainability is the art of the ‘ever after,’ the art of assuring that people in the future will have what they need to lead fulfilling lives.” (Jim Farrell) Design Thinking, Sustainability and Spanish: Applying Design Thinking in an Interim Course

2. Today…. • I will share the experience from an interim course were I used Design Thinking to get students into a different learning mode by: • Inviting them to work collaboratively • Encourage them to unleash their creativity • Promoting a culture of experimentation • While exploring the topic of sustainability in Latin America • And develop advanced oral communication skills in Spanish (ORC)

3. A little exercise to start Redesign the work bag/backpack for St. Olaf faculty and / staff • Interview one member of your group about what he/she needs to bring to work (5-7 minutes) TIPS: • Ask open ended questions • Dig! Try to get to the bottom of your ‘user’s’ issues • Do not try to offer solutions • Listen

4. Build a prototype (10 minutes) • Use the materials inside the paper bag to build a prototype • Use the information you gathered from the interview as INSPIRATION • Use the rules of brainstorm as you build your model

5. Rules for Brainstorming Defer Judgment (“yes, and….”) Build on the Ideas of Others Encourage Wild Ideas Be Generous with Your Ideas Stay Focused on the Topic One Conversation at a Time Be Visual Go for Quantity

6. What is Design Thinking? • An iterative, systematic and structured approach for tackling problems and produce innovative solutions. • It is…. • human-centered • intentional • collaborative • optimistic • experimental • Evolved from design • Expanded into other areas

7. Three Phases Ideation: Generate Ideas Action: Experiment Build Learn Inspiration (empathy): Uncover user needs

8. Design Thinking at St. Olaf Number of initiatives and groups who have been experimenting with the idea of how we could use methodologies such as DT in the liberal arts context: • Activities related to the 2012 Theme "Innovation in the Liberal Arts” • "bloom” • Creative Learning Community • http://pages.stolaf.edu/creativelearningcommunities/ • Faculty initiatives in their own classes supported by the Provost’s innovation fund

9. What motivated me to try Design Thinking in a Spanish Class? • Why we do what we do, in community, in this physical space? (as opposed to on-line courses) • Culture that promotes “crossing” academic boundaries (Conversation programs, EIN, learning communities, IGS) • Existing models that promote experimentation with pedagogies and content (interim, summer, CILA) • Spanish majors increasingly coming from the social sciences and sciences • Companies that talk about hiring “T-shape” individuals • Sustainability as an important, timely, and ‘accessible’ topic • Introduce students (seniors) to Design Thinking

10. My professional development Sustainability • Member of Environmental Conversations Group 2012-13 • Readings suggested by Jim Farrell • “Sustainability Across the Curriculum” Workshop 2013 • Faculty mentors and cheerleaders (Paul Jackson) Design Thinking • Sabbatical year (2011-2012) • “Discovered Design Thinking” • Read “Change by Design” • Visited Stanford d.school • Visited IDEO • Took 3-day Design Thinking workshop with stoke.d • The Gymnasium • 2012 “Innovation in the liberal arts” • Took part in activities • Invited to become part of the lead group

11. Spanish 274: Contemporary Issues in the Spanish Speaking World • Topic: Sustainability in Latin America • Elective for Spanish majors • GE: ORC • 4 hours of class each day (including lunch) • Classroom as “Design Thinking” Lab

12. Span 274: Curriculum • Readings about culture and civilization of Latin America • Readings about Sustainability • Presentations about Sustainability (Paul Jackson, Dave Van Wylen, Kelly Meza Prado, Matthew Rohn) • Movie “Even the Rain” • Novel “La loca de Gandoca” by A. Rosi • Design Thinking Workshop • Assessment: • Sed de saber (TED-style talk) • Presentations and round tables on Culture and Civilization of Latin America • Oral and written assignments on readings • Cuando me topo con la sostenibilidad(photograhic project) • Mural on “La loca de Gandoca” • Sustainability Summit • Design Thinking Challenge (oral and written activities) • Project Pitch (Poster and presentations)

13. The Challenge How might we promote sustainable practices in the food and livestock industry in Latin America? Five interdisciplinary teams Selection based on: year, major(s), concentration(s) extracurricular activities

14. Inspiration: Develop Empathy for “users” Cultural ‘texts’ Readings on Sustainability Presentations 20 Interviews “Voices” from Latin America and the USA Visits to Bon Appétit (Randy Clay) St. Olaf Campus (Pete Sanberg)

15. The interviews Why? To develop empathy for our participants/’users’ To search for inspiration with respect to initial challenge through their “voices” To discover “areas of opportunity” Who? 20 interviews Vegetarian Student from Venezuelan Director of “Sustainabilities” Uruguayan Professor of Social Science and Agriculture Director of movie “Bananaland” Student from the Bahamas who studied in Costa Rica Community Organizer from Colombia Argentine activist who promotes sustainable practices in local communities How? Teams of two. One interviews, the other takes notes Open ended questions Look for “good quotes”

16. MarcelaProfessor of social science and agriculture Universidad de la República del Uruguay. Developed a program for professionals and academics to investigate sustainable development that is socially just, and economically viable. “Traditional development increases production and profitability…the goal is sustainable rural development” “Optimize production, not maximize production” “No one eats organic meat here, it is exported”

17. Synthesis • “Download” interviews into ‘post-it’ notes. • Analyze data • Discover patterns or “areas of opportunity” • Share your findings • Formulate brainstorming questions

18. (Some) Areas of opportunities • Balance health with sustainable practices in a limited diet “Quinua travels great distances, but I need the protein” • Reduce the physical and mental distance between production and consumption “A person should have the determination to kill and prepare animals if they want to eat them” • Offer local food at a reasonable price “When I am spending my own $ on food…cost is the most important factor”

19. Brainstorming QuestionsHow might we…? • Improve access to sustainable food? • Promote sustainable individual eating habits? • Educate communities on the difference between sustainable and healthy? • Make local food a viable option? • Influence large corporations so that they become more sustainable? • Promote conscious consumption in our own community? • Increase awareness of origin and ‘real’ cost of food? • Increase access of healthy and sustainable food to more communities? • Decrease waste in our own community?

20. The ideation phase: Generate fresh ideas Brainstorming Hundreds of new ideas • 3 sessions in 2 days • Mixed groups • One moderator per group • Rules for Brainstorming • 15 minutes per question • Voting at end of each session Selection of best

21. Some ideas that emerged… “The more you know”…TV Public announcement ads Reality show where Byoncé Becomes an organic farmer “Hire a farmer” Vertical gardens on Buildings’ walls Food labels with “real cost” Of food

22. The action phase: “Build to think, and build to learn” Working on prototype “Stav Stickers” Getting feedback “Oles a la granja”

23. From ideas to action: One example How might we incorporate local food so that it is a viable option? “Make bigger gardens at St. Olaf” “Gardens on the rooftop of every building” “Greenhouses that grow tropical food to make it local” Prototype “The aromatic roof—an herb garden on the Roof of Regents”

24. the “pitch”: making the case

25. A final thought from a senior… “A lot of classes now are kind of depressing…the more I learn things, the more disenchanted I become with so many parts of the world, just because I realize how much more complicated things are…I now feel that all of these things are so much bigger than any of us or what we can possibly do, but then I feel like, wow, we are just a bunch of twenty-year-olds [and] have this capacity to do this in another language over a month and even generate these really cool ideas that could potentially be implemented here”

26. Additional Students’ reactions On creativity: “I feel it has been so much time since we were forced to be creative” On group work: “I feel that when you hear the word ‘group projects’ you immediately are like…[made weird face]…but Design Thinking was so effective that everyone was involved, we got everybody’s ideas, and we worked collaboratively in a way that was actually productive and meaningful”

27. On Studying Sustainability in Latin America • “I think something that was really cool about having the focus on Latin America in this class was that I don’t think about sustainability outside of my own environment very often, and so thinking of like how they do it in Hispanic countries in Latin America it is something I wouldn’t have thought about it, if we didn’t’ touch that at all and than I think it really influence [me] in terms of getting the things back to this place, because you could have a class based on just sustainability in the United States and St. Olaf, but you know, I don’t think we would had known what sustainability meant in other places that I think it helped influence our thoughts here”

28. AdditionalResources • http://www.openideo.com/challenge • https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/613e8/Creating_Design_Challenges.html • http://www.cooperhewitt.org/conversations/2011/09/09/ready-set-design • http://dschool.stanford.edu/ • http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/how-to-design-breakthrough-inventions-50138327/

29. Bibliography used in the course • Barruti, S. (2013). Mal Comidos: Cómo la industria alimentaria Argentina nos está matando. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Espejo de la Argentina Planeta. • Brown, T. & Katz, B. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. New York, NY: Harper Collins. • Fletcher, K. & Grose, L. (2012). Gestionar la sostenibilidad en la moda: Diseñar para cambiar. China: Blume. • Fox, A.A. (2011). Latinoamérica: Presente y pasado.Binkowski, D. (Ed. 4). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. • Galeano, E. (1994). Úselo y tírelo: El mundo visto desde una ecología latinoamericana. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Grupo Editorial Planeta. • Kelley, D. & Kelley, T. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. New York, NY: Crown Business. • Marcote, P.V. & Mira, R.G. (2009). Sostenibilidad, valores y cultura ambiental. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Pirámide. • Mendivil, E.O. (2013). Educación ambiental para la sostenibilidad: El medio ambiente y su relación con la ecobionomia y la sostenibilidad. Lexington, KY: Instituto Mediterráneo Publicaciones. • Robèrt, K.H., Broman, G., Waldron, D., Ny, H., Byggeth, S., Cook, D.,… Missimer, M. (2012). Manual de sostenibilidad: Planeando estratégicamente para la sostenibilidad. Suecia: El Instituto de Tecnología de Blekinge. • Rossi, A. (2009). La loca de Gandoca. San José, Costa Rica: Legado. • Svampa, M. (2013, Marzo-Abril). Consenso de los commodities y lenguajes de valoración en América Latina. Nueva Sociedad, 244, 30-46. • UnitedNations. (2004). La sostenibilidad ambiental del desarrollo en Argentina: tres futuros. Santiago, Chile: Gallopín. • In addition to: • “Even the Rain” directed by IcíarBollaín • Readings from Latin American Press, “Geomundo” (Spanish version of National Geographic), and other materials from web searches