Enjoy Your Design!

Doing the Job with UDL Up Front Means Great Results

This ugly guitar didn't play well is a problem. It's time for Design Thinking. It is a yellow Fender Stratocaster and the cheapest model they sell. So, the yellow color is rather terrible.
This ugly guitar didn’t play well is a problem. It’s time for Design Thinking.

The Built World – Is the human-made space in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-day basis. You’ve contributed to that built world with your work on campus and you are a designer. Take a moment to see that this is where you are and who you are now.

This is the sanding down of that guitar, getting it ready for painting. It is work I did in my father's garage shop, so it looks a little like a home project.
Sanding this reminded me of the tear-down I do when taking on a true UDL problem

Reaching the Plateau – Dedication to UDL and the design process is much more work in effort and time when solving a problem, but it’s worth it. Your solution is thoughtful, vetted and should have some staying power. Take a deep breath, look to relax recharge before you take on another problem that needs a process. 

This is same guitar now painted a primer grey color, ready for the real topcoat that is coming in the next image. The back ground is of my father's garage.
Starting the painting made me start to see what I will accomplish with
the design process.

Share – Talk with your colleagues about your experience, either in a formal PLN, online community or in the faculty room. Talk about the problem you identified and studied, the ideas generated and your prototyping phase. Tell them where you’ve ended up. 

Hunger for More – No great design lasts forever, your work isn’t an exception so after a proper celebration, it is time to seek out a new problem that needs your attention and experience in your classroom, on your team or around your school. Students need you and you need the cycle of rebirth & renewal.

Honor the Struggle – it’s not easy to find a problem and to choose a lengthy process. But it’s paid off, you’ve chosen UDL for your school and Design Thinking has supported you well. Yet, it wasn’t always easy to find the time or to keep a team engaged in the process. Honor what you’ve been through. 

You Succeeded with UDL and Design Thinking!

this is the finished Fender guitar that now is antique white with a black pick-guard and a patterned strap. the guitar is laying down on a pink and white blanket and the photo is shot from directly above. I am proud of this very much.
It was hard not to want to show off this and the design process steps.

Time to spread the word

  • Create a TTT (teachers teaching teachers) session for your community.
  • Form a PLN to share your story
  • Blog your story
  • Write up your story in a newsletter 
  • Make YouTube videos that tell your story
  • Mentor another teacher or team looking to embark on their own design problem
  • Message an education podcast offering to go on their show with your story 
  • Tweet a thread of your story (I will comment and retweet happily) 
  • Or do nothing, just enjoy your job well done.  
Enjoy UDL and Design Thinking Results