Learn – Page 3 – Exhibit Change

Professional Development – Design Thinking for Impact Workshop | August 22 & 23

Posted on July 21, 2013September 3, 2014 by Jenn Chan

Design Thinking For Impact

This will be a 2 day training on the design thinking process and working for social impact. Over the course of two days, participants will get the opportunity to learn design thinking, practice the process and to work with others on how they are bringing it back to their work places.

Participants can expect a hands-on experience for building an understanding of design thinking, learning to work together to build new ideas and get the opportunity to navigate some of the uncertainty of working with complex challenges.

Together, participants will:

explore a wicked problem
be able to tackle deepening of empathy
defining the questions we ask
creating valuable solutions
testing out assumptions in an iterative process

Who should come to Design Thinking for Impact?

Individuals working to make a difference. Participants coming from a diversity of backgrounds will learn how unusual collaborations can lead to innovative solutions. This workshop is for participants eager to gain knowledge about design thinking and how it can be applied to their work. Learn the methodologies, mindset and process of iteration, prototyping, empathy and problem-framing.

Logistic Details:

August 22 – 23 9am – 5pm
Centre for Social Innovation
720 Bathurst Street
Meeting Room #1 (2nd Floor)

Exhibit Change has recently been doing design thinking workshops at Glen Shields Public School, read more here “How might we bring design thinking to Glen Shields Public School?”

Resources:

Virtual d.school Crash Course

Stanford’s & IDEO Founder David Kelley on Design Thinking video

IDEO Human Centred Design Toolkit

Art of Social Innovation Training | Postponed

Posted on July 21, 2013September 3, 2014 by Jenn Chan

Art of Social Innovation

Full Invitation: Art_of_Social_Innovation_Toronto

Fee: $900 for corporate, $750 for non-profit, $650 for youth/student

participatory leadership in times of change

3 day training

LEARNING IN COMPLEXITY

THRIVING IN CHANGING SYSTEMS

WORKING WITH REAL DIVERSITY & DIFFERENCE

The complexity we are facing in the world right now is pushing us to ask some new questions about how we act, what our organizations do and how to respond:

How can we increase our capacity to learn?

How can we thrive in complexity and shifting systems?

How can we create initiatives and socially innovate within complexity?

How to work with relationships, difference, real diversity?

In Toronto and beyond, social innovators and pioneers of new ways of doing things are popping up all around us. We can’t predict the results. This by nature is complex. The complexity can be overwhelming – halting our learning, making us feel stuck, tense, and even perpetuating fragmentation and conflict – with and among those who are also trying to make a better world a practical reality.

This training will explore:

How we can use methods and practices of collaborative and participatory leadership to connect social innovation efforts, learn from one another and address the complexity of the challenges facing communities and organizations today?

This is for people who:

– are not shying away from all the work it takes to make a better world a practical reality

– see that making a better world cannot happen in isolation

– want to increase their capacity to learn

– need to work with diverse voices and invite real diversity into their work

– are ready to develop their own capacity, and the capacity of those doing good work around us

WHAT IS AoH?:

art of hosting is a technology of social learning.
art of hosting is a practice of personal and collective leadership that makes the world a better place.
art of hosting is about adaptive knowledge and not getting addicted to best practices

The Art of Hosting is an intensive three day experiential personal leadership and professional development training designed to build community and explore powerful participatory leadership practices to address complex community, organizational and societal challenges.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

– Learn practical, participatory tools — and how to use them — including: chaordic project planning, world cafe, open space, pro action cafe, and more.

– Immerse yourself and your team in a supportive and co-creative space.

– Experience the connection between personal transformation and the capacity to create change in the world.

– Connect and learn with a community of leaders working to bring change into diverse settings in Toronto and beyond.

– Explore tools for resilience and systems change

– Learn how to work within the systems all around us, to see how systems are changing and shifting and exploring how can we thrive in complexity

Register Here!

Ringing in 2013!

Posted on January 13, 2013September 3, 2014 by Jenn Chan

Welcome 2013, we are excited to see you!

This year we are looking forward to some innovative ideas, some projects that have been incubating for a few months to start sprouting and a refinement of our impact. We are going to be starting some strategic planning and exploration of what the future holds.

As with years that have passed before, we see the changing of the calendar as the opportunity to start or restart initiatives. We welcome the chance to feel renewed and to engage in the swell of refreshed energy.

In 2013, we resolve to:

make room for experiments
explore our failures
share progress
respect the need for iterations
process our process

Goodbye 2012, we promise to remember you for your ups and downs. You have taught us a lot. We bid you adeiu.

Jenn

c/o of the Exhibit Change Team

Women are City-Builders

Posted on September 8, 2012September 3, 2014 by Jenn Chan

Do you feel that women’s lived experience deserves greater inclusion in the grand project of making Toronto a vibrant and livable city? Join us on September 23rd for the Women Are City-Builders workshop at Academy of the Impossible, co-hosted by Women in Toronto Politics and Exhibit Change!

The one-day workshop will support 30 diverse Toronto women in generating ideas to help Toronto manage its growth, meet the needs of its citizens, and improve its infrastructure and natural environment. The workshop cost is $20, with 5 subsidized and 5 free seats available.

The end result? Specific recommendations to be refined into a WiTOpoli presentation to City Council during budget deliberations.

Apply to participate on the Academy of the Impossible website by Friday, September 14.

Reflections of EdCamp Toronto 2011

Posted on October 17, 2011September 3, 2014 by Jenn Chan

It has been a few days now since EdCampTo and there are posts pouring out from different participants on how the day went. From those enthusiastic about stories they heard, to people bursting with new ideas and to people who picked at the process from afar. Now, I am sitting down to try and put my thoughts into one place.

I got lost on my way to EdCampTo, from the parking lot to the building, I wandered through York Campus, stopping at a few wayfinding signs and asking students along the way and saw a squirrel carrying a whole bagel to itself, finally I arrived and was greeted by a few smiling faces. I think this journey set the tone for my day. I had a general direction for the day and while there were times I felt disoriented, I knew that I was surrounded by people available to redirect me and yet I felt humorous and excited all day.

I had a few wonderful conversations, found new resources to research and I gained a sense of what is happening in the classrooms of today. For me the greatest take away was that there are so many voices interested in education and from every angle we can make changes. I really enjoyed the conversations about creativity, experiential learning, failure, alternative schools, free thinking, engaging students in the planning and design of learning spaces. I did exercise the law of inertia a few times to move from conversation to conversation, as to get the most of out the day. I also left with some great questions.

Does someone have to be wrong for someone to be right?
How do you build the confidence to get through failure?
In problem solving, how often do you get information & formulas directly given to you?
How do we have more experiential learning inside the school?
How do we prepare students for life?

I love ongoing learning and so should you!

Inspire Yourself!

Jenn

Through My Lens – reflections

Posted on September 16, 2011September 3, 2014 by Jenn Chan

Over the past 10 days as the themes rattled around in my head, I have been overwhelmed by how much more I have loved Toronto and more importantly – the PEOPLE! I have been blown away by the people who lead our neighbourhood walking tours, by the people who attended our walking tours, by the hundreds of pictures we have collected so far and the stories of people’s photography adventures.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for reminding me why we do this work! We started this project to get people to take a second look at the city and to be inspired to take positive action. And I know that the project has done that for many individuals already and for me too. I am buzzing with excitement and admiration for the powerful moments and images that I have come across these last 10 days.

What is green? How does Toronto express itself artistically? Where do you see change? Where do you belong? What is your everyday? How do you move through Toronto? What inspires Toronto? What fuels Toronto? What are the secrets of Toronto?

These themes are the center piece to the beginning of our Through My Lens conversations, we started with the photography adventure and were able to capture so many perspectives and these images will now be the focal point of our Nuit Blanche exhibit as vistors curate them into a community exhibit in a rental truck. We are looking to the community to tell us what they are focusing on.

For me, the themes had me not only looking for great shots in my day to day, but also thinking about the bigger picture of how these themes mean to me. I was especially struck by the final themes of What inspires Toronto? What fuels Toronto? and What are the secrets of Toronto? I know that Toronto and I have its issues, but I really renewed my love for Toronto. From the Urban Affairs Library closing, to seeing Cirque du Soliel in a parking lot, to walking to work, I know that the good and bad are part of what makes Toronto Toronto and that is what keeps me wanting to do more.

Expect to see a lot more projects from us that are inspired by these 10 days.

Inspire Yourself,

Jenn