The Kyushu University SDGs Design School is part of the educational activities conducted by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Design Unit of Kyushu University’s Graduate School of Arts and Engineering, established in 2019. We provide creative education programs contributing to the SDGs of the field of Design at local schools and public halls, aimed for people of all ages.
Continuing from last year, the SDGs Challenge Project was done in collaboration with Fukuoka City’s Fukusho High School in the mornings of August 17-19, 2020. It was done with the high school teachers and had 28 participating the third year of high school students.
This class focuses on the challenges facing SDGs through design thinking. It aims to foster independence and creativity by formulating solutions while cooperating with one another.　The class proceeded by defining the issues, creating concepts, developing ideas, and prototyping.
The online whiteboard app “miro” was used this year as part of COVID-19 countermeasures, preventing students from crowding when discussing as a group. The students used text worksheets and tablets, with face-to-face lessons and online discussions being done simultaneously.
The students were divided into three groups per theme. The themes were “Issues Related to the Natural Environment, Health, and Welfare,” and “Issues Related to Energy and Industrial Technology.”

The first day :Definition of issues.
This included explanations on SDGs as well as how to use miro and the card used for SDGs education, which was developed by Kyushu University. The students decided on the name of their group, used miro to share the issues they thought of and organize them, and finalize their chosen issue. They investigated example of social efforts aimed to solve the issues using the internet and shared them on miro. They also used miro to make a poster summarizing the first day, project it on their screens, and hold presentations.

The second day: Concept creation and idea development.
Within their groups, they shared their homework on determining a target for solving the issue and pondered on the preceding cases. Next, the students formulated ideas for resolving the issue and shared them, summarizing the second day on a poster via miro. They also used miro’s sticky note feature to make comments concerning the announcement.

The third day: Idea verification and suggestions.
Within their groups, they shared their homework on verifying their ideas with a third party and improved them. They then made their final posters via miro and gave a presentation. Some groups also added illustrations and create models to explain their ideas better.

This was the first attempt to hold a design thinking SDGs workshop via both worksheets and tablets. Although this activity brought many issues to light, the students said, “I was able to discuss with an awareness of social distance,” “I was able to have a lively discussion while using miro,” and “It was an opportunity to think deeply about the society we live in today”. They gained a better understanding of SDGs and learned about design thinking. We hope that this activity will lead to the future.

［Date］October 17th – 19th, 2020

［Venue］Fukusho Highschool

［Contact］Kyushu University SDGs Design Unit; sdgs(a)design.kyushu-u.ac.jp

Tablets and worksheets being used

Comments on the miro whiteboard