Designers in Residence 2.0: Accelerating Pathways

Higher Ed Leaders as Regional Transformation Agents

Expanding on the work of the first Education Design Lab Designers in Residence cohort and Accelerate ED, Cohort 2.0 will build regional ecosystems that support accelerated associate degree attainment for students who are Black, Latino, or from low-income backgrounds.

A cohort of 6 designers will work with the Lab for 18 months — from June 2023 to November 2024.

This project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Latest

Updates on what we're doing, what we're learning, and where we're going

Photo: Design sprint with our Designers in Residence, the Lab team, our foundation leads, and students and staff at Arlington Career Center in Arlington, Virginia (June 2023)
 
 

What We’re Doing: Summer 2023

Program Kick-off!

The project kicked off in early June in Washington, DC where we brought together cohort 1 and cohort 2 to talk about the project, the work ahead, equity-centered design, and their why for this work. The Lab team has met with each designer and their dual enrollment team, and shared the data and evaluation that will be needed for the project. Design sessions with the entire cohort take place monthly (mostly) and the Lab team connects with each designer individually on a monthly basis, or more if the designer requests more technical assistance.

Where We’re Going: Fall 2023

Convening Regional Design Teams

This Fall, our designers will bring together their regional design teams to introduce the project, understand the current state of dual enrollment pathways/programs at the institution, and begin designing a Blueprint for collective action. Designers are currently working on pathways research including labor market needs and demand indicators for programs to consider, which will drive their list of stakeholders to invite to be a part of their regional design team. The Lab team will travel to each of the sites for the first meeting of the teams to co-design and facilitate the session.

What We're Learning

3 things (insights!) we’re learning as we kick-off our work

The purpose of this Design Insights Brief is to provide a glimpse into the 18-month journey (June 2023 to November 2024) with the Designers in Residence after a deliberate planning and preparation phase.

We hope these insights — and our future learnings — might help higher ed leaders who are grappling with the same challenges, from improving their dual enrollment partnerships to leading collective impact efforts in their regions.

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Unleashing the power of student perspectives: A how-to with Arlington Career Center

Imagine how impactful it would’ve been if, in high school, the adults around you asked what you needed to maintain motivation and then let you decide how you wanted your future to look.

In June, we worked with our Designers in Residence to facilitate a design sprint with students at Arlington Career Center in Arlington, Virginia. In this blog post, we share how we did it and the ideas we heard from the students who participated.

View Story

Photo: A student at Arlington Career Center in Arlington, Virginia shares the idea he and his team came up with to remove barriers that are in the way of their futures (June 2023)

Program Overview

Designers in Residence 2.0

Download the Program Overview (PDF) View our Theory of Change

The Lab’s Designers in Residence 2.0 will build sustainable, regional ecosystems designed to support students from low-income backgrounds to complete an associate degree by the 13th year of education, one year after high school graduation.

 

What is a regional ecosystem?

At the Lab, we define regional ecosystems as regionally-focused, inter-industry partnerships with centralized infrastructure, a shared agenda, consistent communication, and alignment across participating partners (adapted from Stanford Social Innovation Review on Collective Impact). They may take the form of establishing an intermediary nonprofit to a cross-system coalition to a government funded initiative or a philanthropically-driven partnership.

Over 18 months (June 2023–November 2024), Designers in Residence 2.0 will work with the Lab to:

  • Build their capacity to serve as regional transformation agents.
  • Be a part of a lifelong network of leaders across the country seeking to reshape the learn-to-work journey.
  • Learn and train in the Lab’s human-centered design process alongside expert education designers.
  • Receive a grant award of $75,000 for their institutions.
  • Experience opportunities to share their work and amplify the ideas and voice of their regions.
  • Be mentored by the innovative Designers in Residence from Cohort 1 who created the tools that will be utilized and tested.
  • Gain first-hand access to ongoing Lab learning and initiatives, including access to the Lab’s novel community of practice and experts, institutional team members, advisory groups, and peers from the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine and BRIDGES Rural initiatives.

Program Engagement Arc

Meet the Current Cohort

May 2023 - November 2024

Introducing Cohort 2.0

Alumni

2021 - 2022

For the current program, we are excited to have several of our Designers in Residence from the inaugural cohort join us as consultants, mentors, and designers in testing the tools they designed during their program year.

Favorite Songs from the Lab's Designers in Residence

2023 – 2024 Playlist

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2021 – 2022 Playlist

Resources

Tools (Prototypes) for Higher Ed Leaders Driving Regional Ecosystem Alignment

As prototypes, we're actively collecting feedback from stakeholders during the current program year. Scroll below to see what we're hearing!

More Info + Full Suite of Tools Download the Brief

After 10 months of work with 11 higher education leaders across the country, we offer higher education and ecosystem leaders a framework and resources to start aligning regional stakeholders toward building a truly equitable future. Cohort 2 Designers in Residence will use these tools to build and enhance a sustainable, effective education-to-workforce ecosystem in their region.

Ecosystem Self-Assessment

A tool for leaders of community-based organizations, education institutions, and workforce development agencies who seek to align their ecosystem with an equitable future state in work, vision, and goals.

This Self-Assessment is designed to catalyze conversations between partners and stakeholders, plus provides space to prioritize goals and track next steps.

Access the Self-Assessment

First Steps to Regional Transformation

An interactive resource that offers steps in implementing three levers for regional transformation.

For each lever, we provide inquiry-based questions to dig deeper in understanding, alongside suggestions of short-term actions to kickstart each inquiry. We recommend using this resource after completion of the Ecosystems Self-Assessment, as we offer first steps to build towards the elements of the future state that you, partners, and stakeholders have collectively identified as priorities.

Access the First Steps Tool

Stakeholder Feedback: Winter 2023

These tools were initially designed with our inaugural cohort of higher ed leaders for higher ed leaders needing a way to align on collective goals and start getting there. In order to make these tools successful in meeting the needs of higher ed leaders in meeting this problem, we’re jumping into further testing. In Winter 2023, we spoke to stakeholders in multiple listening sessions representing colleges (17), K-12 (4), and workforce partners (7).

Slide deck used to facilitate feedback sessions

Summary of feedback thus far

News

Contact

We are always open to connections, partners, and collaborators in this work. Send us a note at designersinresidence@eddesignlab.org or simply fill out the form below. (The form goes to our program email!)

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