2022 Design Jam Workshop and Weber Partnership Reflection from our Co-Director of Design Thinking Anya
It’s been close to 3 years now of Wish for WASH having a partnership with Weber high school in Atlanta. In the past we have just done several one off Design Jam’s per semester but this year we decided it was time to start thinking bigger and more strategically about this partnership. Rather than our partnership being directed by Weber teachers, we decided to partner with a student club, Jews Who Reuse, and to expand our work from just one of sessions into a unified year long curriculum with 3 parts to it.
- Part 1 is all about learning design thinking and getting comfortable with the process, tools, topic space (WASH), and team members.
- Part 2 is focused on strengthening specific design skills such as craftsmanship, the process of iterating, and need finding. Finally, Part 3 is putting all these skills together into a long term project which will conclude with a showcase of learning where students pitch their ideas to experts and gain a certificate in design thinking and social entrepreneurship.
During the first semester we spent the majority of our time solidifying the partnership and designing the club from the ground up with the student team, and then tackled Part 1 by hosting 3 design jams geared towards beginner level design thinkers. The biggest take away from me during this process was being reminded of the power of student agency. In the past, our design jams with Weber have been promoted by the teachers and required bribing kids with extra credit just to get 5–10 people per session. This year though, when the student club leaders took ownership of marketing and promotion, we’ve had an incredible increase in participants with over 20 people at our most recent design jam!
We’ve also had more returning people at design jams and the level of engagement and craftsmanship has amplified as well, which makes me incredibly excited and optimistic about the spring semester where we will be piloting our 2.0 Design Jams intended for intermediate design thinkers and our first long term project with Weber.
So far, this concept of making our design jam’s into a club has proven to be very successful and given us the chance to iterate and grow our offerings in great ways and I can’t wait to see what comes next! — Anya
Check out a video version of this reflection here
