Mapping a Path to Change Making Choices, Tinkering with Ideas & Building New “Courses” of Action

Power Up - Women in the Trades

Vancouver, BC February 27, 2014

A definition of course

• moving in a path from point to point

• a pathway• an accustomed

procedure• an ordered process or

succession• part of a meal

• succession - as in lessons

But, how to change course?

Cognitive Maps: Visualizing Our Stories

• Linear paths• Emotional detours• Significant sign posts• Professional / personal

symbols

Design for Extreme Simplicity

Michael Calcagno http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway_Route_Map_by_Michael_Calcagno)

… and fill our cognitive maps with our own markers of meaning (Aris Venetikidis http://www.ted.com/speakers/aris_venetikidis.html)

Some facts … 90% of Canadians aged 25 - 64 have completed at least high school v 75% across OECD

BC has highest graduation rate in Canada 92% v rest of OECD

64% of Canadians graduate from post secondary programs

27% Bachelor - PhD programs

37% College, Vocational, Trade, Certificates

Some more facts …

•Employment rate w/o degree 55%•Employment rate with degree 82%

These figures have held true since 1998

… but

Fewer than 11% of engineers in the US are women

Less than 20% of degrees in STEM fields go to women

By age 6, girls start losing interest in STEM topics

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING & MATHEMATICS

… AND THEN THERE IS THAT PINK AILSE

“Just because this is the way things are doesn’t

mean this is how they have to be,” Debbie Sterling -

CEO Goldiblocks

Design a different way …

Add design to STEM = STEMx

Embrace potential of Advanced Manufacturing - Use of technology to improve products and/or processes, with the relevant technology being described as “advanced,” “innovative,” or “cutting edge”

Maybe the Maker Movement?

Movement officially started 2006 in Menlo Park, CA

Tech Shop – Mark Hatch

Collective experience – sharing tools, tips, & technologies

Access to information – Internet

Access to expertise & tools – MakerSpaces

Increasingly important as 1 in 9 of us live in condos

But, the usual suspects appears to be there as well

A definition - Making• To use our hands and imaginations together • To engage in creative play – Frank Lloyd Wright

• To make things and then make those things better

So, what will change this

time?

14

Seeing a different way on our journeys to make a difference

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57612678/the-recyclers-from-trash-comes-triumph/

The landfill philharmonichttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fejU3E0I-vE

Making requires design, empathy, & imagination Stanford d.School https://dschool.stanford.edu/

Think about William Kamkwamba’s journey …http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_on_building_a_windmill.html

Seeing possibilities in trashhttp://gizmodo.com/335979/15-below-a-transfoming-all+weather-jacket-for-the-homeless

https://www.innocentive.com/innovation-solutions/products-services-overview

Traits of a Design ThinkerEmpathy – Ability to image the world from multiple perspectives

Integrative thinking - Exploit opposing ideas & opposing constraints to create new solutions

Optimism – Assume no matter how challenging the constraints of a given problem, at least one potential solution is better than the existing alternatives

Experientialism - Pose questions & explore constraints in creative ways that proceed in entirely new directions

Collaboration - Complex problems require an enthusiastic interdisciplinary collaborator

Thanks Shane Austin & d.School

GARY MASONOct. 18, 2013

Where did all our skilled workers go?

Once upon a time, shop class was mandatory in most high schools. There was a belief that even if a student wasn’t intent on becoming a mechanic or carpenter, having some basic life skills in these areas wasn’t a bad thing.

Over time, however, shop began to look dated and irrelevant and was given less status. Somewhere along the way, it was drilled into students that the only way to get ahead in life was to go to university and earn a degree.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/where-did-all-our-skilled-workers-go/article14909494/

They are in kindergarten+ … just waiting for us!

• Core references

• Plus the wonderful design thinking workshop guides from Stanford’s d.School

• … and Maker Day toolkit http://blogs.ubc.ca/centre/category/maker/

Work with colleagues …

Talk with ITA for potential support

Connect w/ local colleges (Okanagan College – Women in Trades)

Use the UBC Okanagan / ITA resources

Invite good people to a good day

It’s all about process …

Collaboration

Empathy

Need

Design

Prototype

… and then a bit of magic might happen

“ … collectively use our goodness & opportunity to address issues in our civil society & make the world just that little bit better.”

Hatch (2014) The Maker Movement Manifesto