Author Archives: Garreth Heidt

Dialogues on What Matters–NOVA Lab and the Future of Education

When I first imagined what today is NOVA Lab, my vision was based on years of reading and collecting of research, both quantitative and qualitative, in the fields of Project and Design-Based Learning. (Here’s a document, recently updated but by no means complete that captures a good deal of that research.) When the class launchedContinue reading “Dialogues on What Matters–NOVA Lab and the Future of Education”

“Well,How Did I Get Here?*” Or … Thank You.

I am not an entrepreneur. I do not own a business. Serial startups are not my thing. I am however, entrepreneurially minded. After almost 25 years of living, breathing, and evolving my understandings of creativity–from self-expressive to problem solving to problem finding and the applied creativity of design–I’ve come to enjoy the risks of startingContinue reading ““Well,How Did I Get Here?*” Or … Thank You.”

Measure Less, Learn More: Unrulr and The Celebration of Communities of Learning

How giving students the power to document learning in the moment leads to more authentic, deeper learning.

A Seat at the Table(s): Designing the Space of NOVA Lab

How did a traditional classroom go from traditional seating used in untraditional but unattractive ways to a flexible, adaptable, agile set up that gives students a seat at the table when it comes to setup and usage?

Do Good Things Newsletter: Design for Inclusion

Today, during a half-day of professional development, we high school teachers sat through a Zoom presentation with author and educational consultant Jenna Ruffo as she introduced and discussed the salient points of Universal Design for Learning. Ms. Ruffo has spoken to us before, on our opening day, and so we had already been primed toContinue reading “Do Good Things Newsletter: Design for Inclusion”

Do Good Things Newsletter: Warren Buffett on Happiness

Last year I started a weekly (mostly…sometimes…infrequently) newsletter focusing on the good things that designers and other creatives in the world have been doing to try to make a positive impact on the world. From coffee shops, to bike paths, to baseball camps for young children…there’s a lot of good going on in a worldContinue reading “Do Good Things Newsletter: Warren Buffett on Happiness”