What is this?

2018-2019 was a year of definition and demonstration. We defined the landscape of our work, and found new ways to demonstrate our impact on students. We defined new tools for new mediums in new domains, and we demonstrated the hard work needed to craft design courses. We’ve bucketed our projects into the following three sections: 

Pedagogical Push

Our pedagogical exploration of eight design abilities continues: Learn from Others, Rapidly Experiment, Synthesize Information, Build and Craft Intentionally, Navigate Ambiguity, Move Between Concrete and Abstract, Communicate Deliberately, and Design Your Design Work. But how do you structure a class around ability, not process? What is the latest, deepest, foggiest on ambiguity? All that and more in this section. 

Content Crush

We went deep in 2018-2019. We explored emerging technologies as new mediums of design and built tools and workshops to make those mediums widely accessible, but also offered full quarter courses to push boundaries. We collaborated with Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions and supported three fellows that worked at the intersection of design and the oceans. And, we acted on a desire to offer more two-quarter classes.

Student Success

How do we know we’re making a difference for our students? What do they take with them beyond the walls of the d.school? What does design work look like in real life for our students after they graduate? How can something as simple as a seat affect learning? Read all about it and review our enrollment stats in the pages to come. 

Credits

Editor in chief, design + layout: Carissa Carter

Content curation: Megan Stariha

Data acquisition and analysis: Megan Stariha

Photography: Patrick Beaudouin

Copy editors: Charlotte Burgess-Auburn, Bernie Roth, Megan Stariha

All of the work we do is a collective effort and made possible by the d.school team, our teaching community, and the students we serve.