Action Collabs: Workshops that spark innovation and transformational change in education

The Action Collab Framework

Action Collabs help groups discover innovative fixes to practical problems and create real value for educators and learners. ISKE’s Action Collab framework is a collaborative approach to problem-solving that combines human-centered design thinking concepts with improvisation techniques to unlock a group’s creativity and capacity for innovation.

Action Collabs help groups:

• Develop fresh perspectives to reframe familiar challenges.
• Identify unexpected solution possibilities that open up new directions.
• Spark strategic thinking that reveals new partnerships and relationships.

Action Collabs consist of four core stages that can be adapted to take place in half-day, multi-day, or over several months:

• Identify Opportunity: groups use empathy-based listening and observing tools, and immersion activities to gain inspiration and insight from users.
• Design: No solution is out of bounds as groups stretch their imagination to answer a focusing “How might we?” question drawing from their deeper understanding of user experience.
• Prototype: Groups select a specific solution idea and show how it might work by creating physical prototypes, role-play scenarios, and user narratives.
• Impact; To create impact, groups share their solutions with users to get meaningful feedback.

Action Collabs can be modified and tailored to meet the needs of any group charged with developing new solutions or strategies focused on creating tangible improvement in people’s experiences.

ISKME offers a range of Action Collab workshops that vary in audience, length, and focus:

• Action Collab: Customized to a group’s specific Design Challenge (1-2 days, with follow-up support)
• Mini Action Collab: Learn and experience the framework of an Action Collab (1/2 day)
• Action Collab for Kids or Young Adults: Focused on a group of younger learners’ Design Challenge (1 day)
• Embedded Action Collab: Inserted into a larger event to catalyze action around ideas generated (1/2 days)
• Action Collab Facilitator Training: Develops capacity for designing and leading Action Collabes (2 days)

Using Action Collabs in Your Work

ISKME has worked with several diverse organizations using Action Collabs to move the needle on pressing challenges and begin to take positive action. Participants have used Action Collabs to: