More About Us | D-TIPS

About this project

The development of abilities, such as critical thinking, reflection, self-regulation, and collaboration, are high on the agenda of all schools. By developing these skills in children schools can contribute to mitigating major challenges in society.

D-TIPS (Design thinking in primary schools) aims to help teachers achieve that. By designing tools and methods specifically for primary school teachers and providing training we hope to make design thinking activities in your classroom easy and effective.

Our results will consist of:

Identification of good practices, tools, gaps and needs for design thinking in primary schools
Training content
D-TIPS tools (digital and analog)
D-TIPS online platform (social and learning community)
Teaching Symposiums (Spain, Lithuania, Belgium and Romania)

Design thinking can help you and your students to:

Feel confident when facing even the most complex issues
Practice critical thinking and problem solving
Enrich the learning experience with creativity and collaboration
Show the importance of empathy, caring and understanding when trying to find the best solution
Visualize concepts and bring them to life with learning by doing
Have an opportunity to continuously improve

Partners

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) is a public university in Barcelona, founded in 1990, that stands out for its quality in teaching, research, and international outreach. In this project UPF participates through the Interactive and Distributed Technologies for Education group (TIDE), a part of the Engineering School of UPF. TIDE-UPF is the coordinator of the D-TIPS project and leads the design and development of the D-TIPS Toolbox online platform. TIDE is also in charge of the organization of pilots in schools, organization of the Spanish symposium for teachers (February 2021) and a final Multiplier event in Barcelona (June 2022).

Strategic Design Scenarios

Strategic Design Scenarios (SDS) is a design agency and sustainability innovation lab based in Brussels (Belgium) focusing on sustainable living, collaborative services, design for behavioral change and design for social and public innovation. The SDS team is often in the field conducting participatory action-research, scenarios building, co-designing with users and offering training activities. In D-TIPS, SDS contributes to the design of the D-TIPS toolbox and platform through a user-friendly approach and is also actively involved in the testing, training and dissemination of the project outcomes among teachers and other stakeholders in Belgium.

Newschool

Newschool is an education design agency in Norway, specializing in learning design and visual tools that foster collaboration and learning for the 21st century. They design courses that empower educators to build teams, inspire, and become change agents in engaging, creative and risk-taking education. For the D-TIPS project, Newschool is responsible for research and reporting, the coordination of workshops for teachers and the dissemination of results among teachers and stakeholders in Norway and Romania.

Knowledge Economy Forum

Knowledge Economy Forum (KEF) is a professional non-profit, located in Vilnius, Lithuania, with more than 50 members representing research, innovation and education areas. KEF brings together politicians, researchers, industry experts and citizens, and acts as a debate platform for country’s societal and economical progress. In the D-TIPS project KEF will be involved in piloting, training and disseminating project results among teachers and other stakeholders in Lithuania, and also will lead the valorisation and sustainability activities of the project.

Teach The Future

Prepare students for tomorrow, teach the future today! Teach the Future believes that young people of any age can learn to think critically and creatively about the future and develop the agency to influence it. By teaching the future we equip youngsters to face uncertainty and empower them to envision and create their preferred future. Design thinking is needed to be able to imagine the future. As partners in this Teach the Future will link design thinking with future empowerment.

Associated partners

Les Petits Ruisseaux

Les Petits Ruisseaux is a pilot project in Belgium involving primary schools, CIIVA (centre for architecture and culture), ESA ST LUC (master's level design school) and 25/75, a management consultancy company. The aim of the project is to encourage Belgian primary schools to work on innovative multi-stakeholder projects using design thinking. D-TIPS provided the design thinking methodology, training and tools to be used during the pilot projects in 8 schools.

Teach for Romania

Our vision is that every child has access to high quality education and real life options, regardless of where they come from. We recruit and select talented future leaders, train them to become inspirational teachers, place them in the highest need schools,and support them to become change agents in education. Our role in the project is of co-creator of materials to ensure that they are appropriate to the realities and needs of our communities. We also assume the role of implementing solutions, testing created materials, and assessing their impact on student and teacher development.

The Team