Building the STEM economy: Lessons from Massachusetts

Building the STEM economy: Lessons from Massachusetts

Instead of moaning the loss of manufacturing jobs, people from politics to the private sector must focus on creating a strong STEM economy. Technology improves productivity. According to a Ball State University study, of the 5.6 million manufacturing jobs lost

Filling the Financial Aid Gap

Filling the Financial Aid Gap

Filling the financial aid gap for first generation/low-income college students is one of the major challenges elite colleges and universities face today. Traditional financial aid packages typically cover tuition and room and board. But traditional financial aid packages often do

First Semester Crucial for First Gens

First Semester Crucial for First Gens

Making the transition from high school to college is challenging for just about every young person. But making the transition to college — especially surviving the first semester — is crucial for first generation students. What creative solutions can support

Playfulness, Courage, Agility and Love

Playfulness, Courage, Agility and Love

I am always on the lookout for examples of the creative process to inspire educational practices. And bingo (or slots in my case), I found it in Las Vegas at the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson ONE show. This breathtaking barrage

Kilroy was here

Kilroy was here

Soldiers, sailors and members of the air corps often used the catchphrase, “Kilroy was here,” accompanied by a doodle to commemorate a place they visited or a battle fought during World War II.  This reminder of wartime exploits became a

Unpacking Design Thinking:  Empathy

Unpacking Design Thinking: Empathy

When is the last time your principal, executive director or boss asked you to redesign a curriculum, program or product launch by empathizing with students, grant recipients or consumers? Probably not recently. But in a world saturated with the memes

Unpacking Design Thinking:  Define

Unpacking Design Thinking: Define

Have you ever thought you defined a problem or solved a challenge by implementing your “pet idea” — an elegant product, groundbreaking system or awesome experience? No doubt, the solution itself was probably fantastic, but did it actually address the

Unpacking Design Thinking:  Ideate

Unpacking Design Thinking: Ideate

Ideate is the space in design thinking where individuals and teams elevate and celebrate the power of possibility.  It is the transition from identifying a particular question or problem to generating a wide variety of potential answers and solutions. It’s

Unpacking Design Thinking: Test

Unpacking Design Thinking: Test

If you made it to the test space, you really do have a good grasp of design thinking. Testing is the culmination of empathize–define–ideate–prototype spaces of design thinking.  Problems have been framed and potential solutions prototyped but teams have not

The Golden Chain of Innovation: the story of the railway

The Golden Chain of Innovation: the story of the railway

Most innovations do not come about through a solitary burst of inspiration. Rather, new breakthroughs are usually links in a golden chain of innovation.  Individuals and teams connect seemingly unrelated inventions and practices, repositioning them by asking new questions that