NET Scheme News 2023 Spring issue 43

We were very grateful to be part of Tree of Hope 2.0 in the 2021/22 school year. It gave us the opportunity to network with a secondary school and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and to participate in the Design Thinking (DT) project. Forward Thinking: Our Vision, Strategy and Implementation of Week of Positivity 3.0 We had never ever dreamt of using DT in an English event but we did and with great success. We took a forward thinking approach to see if DT could be an opportunity to improve the delivery of values education at our school. In our planning for the Week of Positivity 3.0, DT provided the framework to plan with the students, to deliver activities jointly created with the students, and for the students. Let me explain how we did that. Having had an in-depth discussion on the theory of DT, we learnt that one must go through 5 steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test to succeed. Firstly, for the empathize step, there is a necessity to better target our students’ needs, meaning that activities could be more creatively customised to match students’ culture and interests. Secondly, for the define step, a shared vision and focus among teachers is a must: teachers set goals for students to achieve like overcoming barriers to using English and increasing their confidence level in presenting. Thirdly, like designers,we brainstormed (the ideate step) as many crazy ideas as we could together with our students, who came up with ideas beyond our wildest imagination. We then picked the achievable ideas and realised them swiftly in the prototype and test stages. We feel this is rather similar to promoting an entrepreneurial spirit and practising entrepreneurial thinking. Our teachers and students learnt to look at things from different perspectives, to learn to listen to others patiently and select the best ideas boldly. We have learnt that there are five essential guiding principles when approaching a task through the lens of DT. Firstly, being student-centred by involving students in decision-making. Secondly, that DT is an iterative process in which ideas and tasks are reviewed and repeated if necessary.Thirdly, that trial and error are key so we must face challenges bravely and be fearless about making mistakes. Fourthly, participation is key and as many stakeholders need to be involved as possible. Fifthly, that we cannot do without empathy: understanding our students more. These principles and a forward thinking approach help to guide teachers to plan a better campaign for the Week of Positivity 3.0 and also to complete an evaluation process afterwards. Our vision in the coming year is to infuse the teaching of positive values further into the English curriculum and our strategy is to use DT to realise positivity. Our DT journey continues! Harriet Chow,Vice Principal, Sam Shui Natives Association Huen King Wing School Conducting a plenary session for ‘A Design for Life: Values Education in English Language Education’, organised by the NET Section on 22 October 2022 Scan the QR code for more information about ‘Week of Hope-cum-Seed Project Experience Sharing Session: A Design for Life – Values Education in English Language Education’ 18 NET Scheme News Issue 43 Printed by the Government Logistics Department 21st Century Conferece Week of Positivity