Politics provides a great analogy for why systems thinking and design fit together and how effective “design” and systems thinking work so closely together. It’s time that our politicians and policy makers start considering the role of design and systems thinking a little more and Egypt provides a great example of what happens when those areas come together.
Systems Thinking and Design: A Case for Egypt? Read More »
Imagine a system where we gave students feedback, allowed them to adapt, and to take the information they learn and apply it in ways that fit the context they are working in? Consider what that might look like in terms of grades and grading and how the absence of such almost arbitrary assessments could lead to knowledge that could truly advance the health and wellbeing of everyone, not just propose to do so.
The Problem With Grades Read More »
If design is to make a leap beyond niche market situations, a new field must dawn within design + science and that is the science of design and the design of science.
The Science of Design & the Design of Science Read More »
Design thinking includes principles that demand inclusion of multiple perspectives on the problem, collaborative ideation, and purposeful wandering through a subject matter. It’s time to fit to evaluation has come.
More Design Thinking & Evaluation Read More »
What a design-oriented approach to evaluation does is greatly enhance the participant’s sense of the whole, what the needs and desires and fears both parties are dealing with, not just the executive or rational elements. More importantly, this strategy looks at how these different components might interact by simulating a condition in which they might play out.
Design Thinking & Evaluation Read More »
The American Evaluation Association conference is on right now in San Antonio and with hundreds of sessions spread over four days it is hard to focus on just one thing. For those interested in systems approaches to evaluation, the conference has had a wealth of learning opportunities.
Systems Thinking, Logic Models and Evaluation Read More »
Over the next few days I’ll be attending the American Evaluation Association conference in San Antonio, Texas. The conference, the biggest gathering of evaluators in the world. Depending on the Internet connections, I will try to do some live tweeting from my @cdnorman and some blogging reflections along the way, so do follow along if
American Evaluation Association Conference Read More »
Today I’ll be wrapping up a two-day kick off to an initiative aimed at building a community of practice around Developmental Evaluation (PDF), working closely with DE leader and chief proponent, Michael Quinn Patton. The initiative, founded by the Social Innovation Generation group, is designed in part to bring a cohort of learners (or fellows?
Developmental Evaluation And Accountability Read More »
Developmental evaluation is an emerging area of practice that builds evaluation methods on the science of complexity and fits with the realities of social and health programs, rather than trying to fit the wrong type of model on to the wrong type of program.
Developmental Evaluation: Problems and Opportunities with a Complex Concept Read More »
If design thinking is to escape the trap of being trendy towards impactful, the methods that it uses must improve their rigour and testing. This post explores the challenges and opportunities for design thinking to consider it as more than thinking, but also of action.
Design Thinking or Design Thinking + Action? Read More »
