Session Information
Description
Design thinking is a creative, flexible, competency-driven problem-solving framework that can be used in your second language classroom. There are five key aspects to design thinking: empathy, understanding, ideating, development, and testing. When implemented properly, design thinking encourages and guides students in designing meaningful, creative solutions to authentic real-world problems in their classroom, school, or community.
In this session, we will look at each step of the design thinking process and the variables involved. Participants will get an overview of design thinking, what it looks like in class, and how to implement it in the second language classroom.
Location
Teacher-Consultant
Ron Sperling
Ron Sperling holds a B.Ed. in German and French and a B.A. in Political Science (Globalization and Governance) from the University of Alberta. With Edmonton Public Schools since 1996, he has taught German Language and Culture, Spanish Language and Culture, and French as a Second Language at the high school level. As well, Ron has worked with the Alberta provincial curricula, International Baccalaureate, and Advanced Placement. Ron now works with the Institute for Innovation in Second Language Education at Edmonton Public Schools (IISLE). As a teacher-consultant, his current responsibility is to support schools and teachers with their Language & Culture programs; he has also served as the French Program Coordinator. On the international front, he is the chief examiner for the DELE exam and has assisted with the DELF exam.