Boost Your Trainer skills in Design Thinking

Are you fascinated by design thinking? Do you feel it is useful for your trainings and activities with young learners?

If the answer is yes or maybe, the Inspiration Elevator app is a good place to start. It is a learning tool developed to help you develop three key skills needed to implement effective design thinking practices:

- Imagination: sparks everything you do, think about, and create.

- Empathy: helps you understand and connect with other people.

- Rationality: drives your plans towards successful implementation.

By working on these skills, you will be able to organically embed design thinking principles and practices in your daily work.

The app was developed as part of an international project, supported by Erasmus+ Programme in Norway. The partnership combines the efforts of 4 partners:

*LoPe, Norway, https://lopenorge.no/ - working actively in the field of microintegration of refugees and migrants in Norway.

*BEST Institut, Austria, https://www.best.at/ - leading training provider for unemployed individual in Austria.

*National Management School, Bulgaria, http://nbschool.eu/ - supporting young persons with soft skills and entrepreneurial trainings in Bulgaria.

*DKolektiv, Croatia, https://www.dkolektiv.hr/public/hr - leading volunteering support centre in Croatia.

Along with the app, the Inspiration Elevator project (2020-2-NOO2 -KA205-001714) produced a manual for youth workers and trainers with more detailed information about the principles and steps to follow in a design thinking process. It is available for free download on project’s website: https://inspirationelevator.eu/

WHAT ARE THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE APP?

Quiz: offers quick self-evaluation of your design thinking skills to set the baseline level and a follow-up evaluation to map your progress.

Design Thinking Basics: provides a short video about design thinking for users that are completely new to the topic.

Practical exercises in 3 categories (Imagination, Empathy and Rationality): 30+ practical activities presented in a dialogical (coach type) format.

Notes: provide safe place to store all written and audio reflections that you made throughout the learning journey.

Badges: visualise your achievements and moments for celebration.

Library: provides additional resources to open-source materials in the field of design thinking.

Multilanguage support: app is available in EN, BG, NO, DE and HR language versions.

HOW IT WORKS?

Following first sign in, you will be invited to do the Quiz. This is key to set the starting point of your learning.

Following the Quiz, you will be directed to the Dashboard, where you have access to all key features.

If you are totally new to design thinking, we recommend starting with Design Thinking Basics.

When you feel ready, you can start with exercises in one of the 3 categories (Imagination, Empathy and Rationality). There is no specific order to follow. It is your choice to pick your first activity.

When you enter a category, you will be welcomed by your virtual coach, who will guide your through the activities. You will have the freedom of choice what and when to do.

You can always go back to dashboard and check resources the Library or go through your recorded Notes.

Important note: You can use any feature of the app as a standalone resource. If you want to have a complete learning experience, we recommend that you use the app regularly by doing a couple of exercise in one or all categories at a time. This will create a positive habit to spend time on developing your design thinking mindset on a regular basis.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To design an app in design thinking is a learning journey per se. There are numerous persons to thank for making this open learning tool a reality, starting from the partners in the project and reaching our technical production partners.

Huge thanks to Peri, Helmut, Nikica, Jonko, Yana, Dimitar, Ivan and Kaloyan.