Anna is a dedicated and passionate social entrepreneur with extensive knowledge of the education sector. She and her team are open to innovative approaches and understand the importance of design thinking in developing creative solutions for disadvantaged children. They all value working with a multidisciplinary team and are motivated to make a positive difference in education.

Anna and her team are committed to improving the quality of education for disadvantaged children. They are committed to developing innovative solutions tailored to the specific needs of the target group. Their focus is on facilitating access to education, providing quality learning materials and supporting the learning process of disadvantaged children. 

Design thinking can contribute to their work in several ways. By applying a user-centred approach, it can develop solutions that are directly tailored to the needs of disadvantaged children.

As part of their design thinking process, the team wants to formulate a challenge to clearly define the project and provide direction. They consider the ideal characteristics of a Design Thinking challenge:

Based on the typical structure of a Design Thinking challenge, the challenge could look like the following:

These adapted challenges relate to the target group and their concern to improve the quality of education for disadvantaged children. The more concrete challenge focuses on redesigning learning materials, while the more open challenge looks at the whole education system. Both challenges provide direction without offering ready-made solutions, leaving room for creative ideas and innovations that meet the needs of the target group.

Self-reflection:

- Each team member reflects on their personal experiences with education and learning materials. They can answer questions like: "What memories do you have of your school days and the learning materials you used?" or "What kind of learning materials supported you best and why?"

- Team members think about their own ideas of an ideal learning material for disadvantaged children. They may ask themselves, "What would be the ideal combination of text, pictures and interactive elements in a learning material for me?" or "What additional features or customisation options should be included in a learning material for disadvantaged children?"

- Each team member reflects on the barriers and challenges that disadvantaged children might face in accessing education and learning materials. They can consider: "What barriers might they face in accessing quality learning materials?" or "What special needs should be considered when developing learning materials for disadvantaged children?"

Mind Mapping:

The team creates a common mind map with the main topic "Learning material redesign for disadvantaged children of primary school age". They note down different aspects that come to their mind about the topic, such as existing learning materials, challenges in accessing education or ways to adapt to individual needs. The mind map serves as a visual overview to structure existing knowledge and open questions.

Semantic analysis:

Team members share their different definitions and assumptions about learning materials redesign. They discuss their individual perspectives and contribute their ideas about what constitutes a successful redesign. The aim is not to find the "right" answer, but to explore different perspectives and develop a broader understanding of the challenge together.

Anna and her team are faced with the concrete challenge of redesigning learning materials for disadvantaged primary school children. In the observation phase, they focus on understanding the environment of their challenge by focusing on people, contexts and processes. They want to identify patterns of behaviour, workarounds, adaptations, unexpected use scenarios and other experiences related to the learning material.

Immersion

A concrete example for the team might be to visit schools and observe lessons. They pay attention to how teachers use the existing learning materials and how learners interact with them. Someone takes notes on what is going on in the classroom, observes how students use the materials and looks for signs of frustration or dissatisfaction. 

Interviews

The team also conducts contextual interviews to gain deeper insights. They interview teachers, parents and students in their natural environment to understand how the learning material is used in their daily lives and what challenges they face. The team may also use cultural rehearsals, where participants collect or photograph artefacts from their environment, to gain additional insights.

Target groups

1. Disadvantaged children: Team members visit schools or other educational institutions where disadvantaged children learn. They observe the children using the current learning materials and how they interact with them. They pay attention to their reactions, frustrations or difficulties and try to better understand their needs and preferences.

2. Teachers: Team members observe teachers during their lessons and how they use the learning materials in class. They observe how teachers present the material, what methods they use and how students respond to them. By observing teachers, team members can gain insights into how the learning material influences the teaching process and what challenges it poses for teachers.

3. Parents: Team members can also observe parents of disadvantaged children to better understand their perspectives and experiences with the learning materials. They can observe how parents support their children in learning, how they evaluate the materials available and what their needs and concerns are in relation to the learning materials.

4. Educational experts: Team members can also observe and interact with experts in the field of education to benefit from their expertise and experience. They may attend professional conferences or workshops or conduct expert interviews to gain insights and recommendations from experts.

1. preselection

2. storytelling:

3. ask questions:

4. attaching the sticky notes:

5. sharing the next interview:

Initial HMW quesions

• How might we create engaging and interactive learning materials that captivate children's interest and sustain their motivation to learn?
• How might we incorporate gamification elements into learning materials to make the learning experience more enjoyable and interactive for children?
  
• How might we leverage technology, such as augmented reality or virtual reality, to enhance the engagement and interactivity of learning materials for children?
  
• How might we personalize learning materials to cater to the individual needs and learning styles of children?
  
• How might we foster collaboration and social interaction among children through the design of learning materials?
  
• How might we seamlessly integrate the use of learning materials across different platforms and devices to provide a seamless and accessible learning experience for children?
  
• How might we create learning materials that empower children to take ownership of their learning and develop a sense of autonomy and self-directed learning?
  
• How might we design learning materials that spark curiosity and encourage exploration and discovery in children?
  
• How might we make learning materials more inclusive and accessible for children with diverse backgrounds and abilities?
  
•  might we measure and assess the effectiveness of learning materials in terms of learning outcomes and engagement for children?
  
• How might we create a sustainable and scalable model for producing and distributing high-quality learning materials for children?

Prototype by Anna’s team:

Interactive learning app: the team could develop a learning app that can be used on smartphones or tablets. The app could contain different learning modules that combine visual, auditory and tactile elements to create an immersive learning experience. For example, children could play interactive games, watch videos, solve puzzles or activate certain functions by touch.

In Anna's team case, with the chosen interactive learning app prototype, the testing scenario and setting could be as follows:

1. testing objectives:

- What do we want to find out? We want to understand how children interact with the app, their engagement levels and whether the app effectively meets their learning needs.

- Why do we want to find out? We want to collect feedback to improve the usability, effectiveness and overall user experience of the app.

- How do we find out? By observing children using the app and then conducting short interviews to gather their feedback and insights.

2. preparation:

- Creating a testing schedule, including the duration of each session and the number of participants.

- Preparing the materials needed, such as devices (smartphones or tablets) with the app installed, consent forms for participants and their parents/guardians, and any additional props or stimuli related to the app functions.

- Identify the specific features or steps of the app that will be tested and ensure that they are accessible and functional during the testing session.

- Preparing a short introductory script to guide the tester through the functions and features of the app.

- Prepare a list of aspects to be observed during the testing session, such as user engagement, ease of navigation and understanding of the app features.

- Develop a set of interview questions to collect qualitative feedback from the testers after their interaction with the app.

3. selection of participants:

- Determine the target group for the interactive learning app. This could include children within a certain age range or with specific learning needs.

- Selecting participants who fit the target group and can provide valuable insights. These could be non-users, extremely sophisticated users or users representing a variety of learning styles.

This was the first of two case stories in the category "Social Entrepreneurship".

You can continue to the second case story by going to the next section.

You can also go back and review case stories in the categories:

• Community work
• Sustainability Management

Or you can study some the the methods mentioned in this case in the Course Brainstorms and Energizers.

Have fun.