Ideaplay is an interactive design innovation kit for young entrepreneurs, developed by design consultancy Engine and the Design Council. The versatile nature of the kit means that workshops can be easily and effectively adapted for secondary school students of all ages.
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Oliver King, Director of Engine, and staff at St George’s Foundation School outline how Ideaplay works and talk about how it can benefit students. Read the video transcript.
Ideaplay aims to sharpen and refine entrepreneurial skills, improve teamwork and develop students’ understanding of the value of design by looking for design opportunities in everyday scenarios.
Design should be present in this sector of education as it reaches a vast array of disciplines and demographic groups. Apart from anything else, Ideaplay raises an excellent awareness around the importance of design in business development.
’Design thinking de-mystifies much of what entrepreneurs do and, as such, forms a solid foundation for any enterprise curriculum,’ says Simon Stockley, Director of the Full-Time MBA programme and a Teaching Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Tanaka Business School.
‘Design thinking, therefore, permeates the entrepreneurial process. It may often be called something else but it is ever present and represents one of the few remaining sources of national competitive advantage.’
Ideaplay has been tried and tested extensively through the Enterpriser’s course at the Cambridge Institute. It has consistently received outstanding feedback. ‘Ideaplay was fascinating,’ said one student. ‘The method we were given for coming up with an idea was simple but so effective – it really forced you to work as a team. It was a very useful experience.’
And, as Simon Stockley adds, ‘it also makes teaching enterprise a whole lot easier and a lot more fun!’
Ideaplay can be used at any enterprise level and is adaptable for any age, level or subject area.
Ideaplay is available to both schools and universities on a licensing basis which includes a day of facilitation training, ten reusable copies of Ideaplay and an information pack for students to use on live projects. Packs contain case studies, tips on idea generation and material on other key aspects of design.
To find out more about Ideaplay, visit www.ideaplay.org.uk
To ask us about buying a licence for Ideaplay, send an email to us@ideaplay.org.uk
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