Design Thinking Institute

The Design Thinking Institute (DTI) is our annual summer institute dedicated to sharing design thinking practices and processes with other educators. 

DTI 2025 will run from Monday, June 23​ to Thursday, June 26. ​Each ​day ​will ​begin ​at 8:30 ​a.m. ​and ​end ​around ​4 ​p.m (PDT). More specific timings will be shared with attendees at a later date.

Please note that DTI is NOT a traditional conference where attendees choose particular sessions to attend. Rather, DTI is intended to give attendees the time, space, and resources to dive deeply into hands-on curriculum design work integrating design thinking that attendees can bring back to their schools. Therefore, individuals should plan to attend the entirety of the institute in order to fully reap the benefits of the experience. Individuals who are not able to attend the entire institute are encouraged to consider attending when they are able to participate fully. 

We welcome all educators interested in incorporating design thinking, or aspects of design thinking, into their teaching practice as well as those who are already using design thinking and want to further deepen their practice. Participants will gain and deepen their understanding of how to create design thinking curricula that foster creative and innovative problem solving skills.

Nueva partnered with IDEO and Stanford's d.School to develop the first design thinking program and Innovation Lab (I-Lab) specifically designed for PreK–12 education. In response to a worldwide quest for teachers to integrate design thinking into school curricula, Nueva has continued to develop techniques, programs, and facilities for primary and secondary education.

See the stages of Design Thinking

To accommodate educators with different levels of experience with design thinking, we plan to offer two options during our introductory day 1:

• We will offer a session specifically designed for new practitioners who do not have any background in design thinking. The aim is to get you quickly up to speed so you can start applying it in your classrooms.  
• We will offer a session specifically for educators who have more experience with design thinking and/or who do not interact with students in regular classroom settings. The aim is to consider how to apply the tools of design thinking to larger and more complex systems and processes.

Facilitators will lead workshops on how to effectively design projects, analyze thought processes, and communicate the important underlying mindsets that make up design thinking. We will also have the opportunity to hear from a few keynote speakers who are thought leaders in the field of design thinking as well as from Nueva faculty and students about their various experiences with design thinking at our school. 

DTI is also designed to have a lot of work time for all participants, regardless of experience level, so they don’t spend all four days listening. DTI lives by Nueva’s motto of “learn by doing” and invites participants to spend much of their time during the institute working on designing and planning new curriculum/projects/lessons/activities to bring back to their schools. To help facilitate this, participants will be grouped into cohorts and have an assigned coach for the duration of DTI, who will guide and advise them along the way. We hope that participants will leave DTI with some concrete next steps they can bring back to their settings.

At the institute, participants will gain:

• Appreciation for the important mindsets underlying design thinking
• Deep knowledge of the process of design thinking
• Opportunity to talk with teachers about projects that they have created and taught
• A path to make your vision a reality
• Ways design thinking can improve other aspects of your school
• Tips to bring your community and board along
• Understanding of why design thinking is important

The registration cost for DTI 2024 is $2000. This ​registration ​fee ​​includes ​a curated digital ​folder ​of resource ​materials, daily ​meals ​(breakfast, ​lunch, ​and ​snacks), ​and any guest ​speakers invited to join us. ​Participants ​are ​responsible ​for ​arranging ​their ​own ​hotel ​accommodations ​and ​this ​is ​not ​included ​in ​the ​registration ​fee. ​Please refer to the Transportation & Lodging tab for more information. ​ ​ ​

Design Thinking Institute is attended by teachers, curriculum developers, STEM and STEAM educators, heads of school, service learning coordinators, and summer program directors and counselors. 

We encourage schools and organizations to send teams whenever possible as we have found institutional learning and implementation is more impactful when teams come together. Correspondingly, we offer a group discount—5 registrations for the price of 4. For more information email designthinking@nuevaschool.org.   

Space is limited so please ​register ​all ​group ​members ​at ​the ​same ​time. ​If purchasing tickets for multiple ​participants, kindly note that you are able to add/edit their names once your purchase is complete. We ask that each attendee ​complete ​the ​registration form as it inquires prior experience with design thinking, accommodations, and emergency contacts, etc. 

​Financial assistance is available. Please select the "Financial Awards" tab above to complete the applications. For questions, please contact designthinking@nuevaschool.org for more information. 

We offer a group discount of 5 registrations for the price of 4. For more information please email designthinking@nuevaschool.org.   

*The Nueva School has secured a fixed-rate discount at the Embassy Suites. Please use the direct link to take advantages of these rates.