About

The Laboratory on Design Thinking in Education (dLab) is an issue-based laboratory within the Kentucky P-20 Innovation Lab.

The dLab embodies physical space on the UK campus and a presence throughout Kentucky. Through its work the Lab applies methods of innovation and processes of design that are needed to address heretofore intractable challenges facing educators in Kentucky, the United States, and across the globe.

Real-Life Innovation Projects

Outside partners, such as school districts, state agencies, and consortia will be able to engage the dLab on long-term projects, receiving the attention of a team of scholars, students and other experienced designers for a period of 3-4 months. In these projects, partners will be co-designers with dLab staff, students and community liaisons in a process of need finding, brainstorming, and rapid prototyping to create new, powerful solutions to the challenges they face.

Education Design Loft

While a great deal of the lab’s work will take place in locations across the state, a key philosophy of the Lab is that  work environments can have a significant influence on innovation outcomes. Future plans for the dLab include the development of an Education Design Loft (EdLoft), which will be the heart and soul of the Lab. The EdLoft will be where a community of educational entrepreneurs, creatives, designers and researchers come together for collaboration and solution creation—a space dedicated to the culture of innovation.

Research on Leadership and Change

dLab is also a research lab, where empirical work takes place to deepen the evidence-based understanding of how design thinking, creativity and entrepreneurial behavior work in the education context.

Increasing Innovative Capacity in Schools

As educational leaders realize the power of innovative and design thinking, they will begin to seek ways to embed innovative behaviors througout their organization. The Lab provides professional development, housed at UK or at a partner’s site. We have conducted workshops in the Kentucky, across the U.S., and in Europe and Asia. Our workshops will provide an engaging and exciting way to build capacity within schools to better drive creative, innovative and entrepreneurial thinking.

Stay in the know about our projects and where we’ll be presenting next.
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