Inventing the Future challenges students to design beyond the classroom
Our students are a fundamental part of what makes the d.school, the d.school. From freshmen philosophy majors to career professionals in the GSB, classes are made rich by a wealth of experiences. The d.school isn’t just for design students — which is why we chose to highlight these three students’ stories. In many ways, they exemplify how our classes can inspire students from all academic backgrounds, especially those who have a passion for changing the world.
For these students, the d.school class “Inventing the Future” taught by Lisa Kay Solomon, Tina Seelig, and Drew Endy, has lived a life beyond the classroom. These first time d.school students have found elements of the class in their non-profits, other classes, and within their world view. We talked to Caroline Rickson, Fara Bakare and Sam Beskind about their experiences in the class and how design has impacted their non-academic careers.
“The d.school is pretty incredible,” said Rickson. “I’m so excited that I’ve gotten to be a part of this community.
Caroline Ricksen
Senior, Symbolic Systems Major and Ethics and Technology Minor, Former Director of Operations of Farmlink inc., former Course Assistant for Design for Play, Co-President of Stanford Women in Business
Why did you decide to take Inventing the Future?
I had heard rumblings about the d.school through my teammates and girls in SWIB. Then, my junior year, I was looking for a few extra units that were something different, a little more unique. After I took some time off during the fall of my junior year, working on The Farming Project, I just felt really inspired by innovative entrepreneurship and what that meant. The d.school really fit that niche interest of mine. I think I just got an email or something like that. and applied for “Inventing the Future.” That was the first d.school class I took.
What were some class activities that stood out to you?
I would say the work we did was very abstract. We did a lot of zooming out and thinking about present day products and situations. But we would fast forward 50 years, 100 years, 1000 years and thought about both the positive and negative impacts that that thing has. One example is fake meat, how does that impact the world, other people, other things, animals, the economy, etc.. I think the main kind of work we did was self reflection on our personal values, our personal interests, but also external reflection. How do my personal interests, personal values impact other people? And how does that change the future?
How did this class contribute to the classes you took within your major?
What I realized was, d.school classes teach me how to ask the right questions that expand upon what I’m learning in my major. Like, why does Symbolic Systems matter? Why am I even studying this? And I think the d.school helped me understand why I’m studying what I’m studying, and how to amplify that to make an impact. The d.school creates a more personal connection between you and your studies by giving you the tools to ask the right questions.
How did this class contribute to the work you do outside of school?
I just asked for nuance thoughtful questions about products and about leadership and about the team that we’re building. And in SymSys within philosophy classes in coding projects, it’s like, what are you actually building for when looking at the future? Like, how is this actually going to impact things? I work with VCs and I think a lot of people right now you see in Silicon Valley are maximizing revenue but aren’t maximizing for positive impacts. And I think that is an issue in and of itself that I focus not a lot on in my studies and instead in d.school classes.
Sam Beskind
Co-term in MS&E, member of men’s basketball team
Why did you decide to take Inventing the Future?
I had heard about the d.school through probably some emails and whatnot and their cool logo kind of drew me in. But I didn’t know exactly where it was or what it was. Inventing the Future satisfied one of the requirements for my MS&E (Management, Science and Engineering) major, and so I applied for that class. And I also saw that there was an awesome teaching team teaching the class and it sounded super interesting — I had listened to a couple podcasts by Tina Seelig. I applied and was lucky enough to be admitted and that was my first experience at the d.school. It was virtual last winter quarter, and I got to know the professors really well. There was so much energy and for how much Zoom sucks and can be really boring, Inventing the Future was a breath of fresh air and really engaging. So as soon as I got a taste of that, I wanted more d.school in my life.
What were some class activities that stood out to you?
Each week of the course, we ended up debating a potential future topic and one side of the class would argue for a dystopian future and the other side would argue for a utopian future. I ended up debating virtual reality and its implications on travel. We also took all of our assignments throughout the quarter and put them in a portfolio, which made it super easy to refer back. Something I’ve realized is that learning isn’t necessarily always the biggest challenge, it’s retaining what you learn. So having that all in one spot is pretty handy.
How did this class contribute to the classes you took within your major?
The frameworks you learn in this class can really be applied to anything. That’s the beauty of Stanford is that you have the flexibility to be able to explore. People right now might say, “my schedule is so busy, I don’t have time to add in another course” or “I need to take classes directly to allow me to progress my degree,” but there’s really no other time in your life where you have time and once you start working, you definitely won’t have time. You’ll never regret being in a class or an environment where you feel inspired. That’s something that you get with d.school classes is I always left the class feeling energized and inspired.
How did this class contribute to the work you did to support voter turnout?
I’ve gotten to know Lisa Solomon who’s a designer in residence at the d.school, and she’s become the closest I’ve ever been with the professor. She’s just been a great mentor and a great source of energy. We worked together on a project focused on civic engagement and increasing voter engagement and registration among student athletes and how student athletes can become better leaders in their communities given their platforms. We worked on a project called “All Vote No Play” for 5–6 months. It culminated in November on Democracy Day with an event at the d.school and about 200 student athletes showed up, which was super exciting. We’re trying to see how we can do something even better next year.
Fara Bakare
Freshman, Science, Technology, & Society, founder of STEM in Africa
Why did you decide to take Inventing the Future?
My first introduction to the d.school was through one of my friends who is a junior. She was like, “you have to take a class in the d.school, it’s actually imperative.” I think she said that because she knew what I was looking to get out of Stanford, which is very abstract and not like your classical higher education profiles. So when I looked at the classes they had, I was like, wow, I really, really want to be in a class my freshman year. I knew that might be hard, but I was definitely gonna try my best for it. For my application, I wrote about my nonprofit organization back home in Nigeria and how I wanted to learn how I could “invent” the future for Africa. I sent an email to the TA and the professor with this little diagram of what I wanted my future to look like coming out of Inventing the Future. I wanted to think critically and be able to look at issues and come up with a solution straight away.
What were some class activities that stood out to you?
During the first class we had a big brainstorm session. One of the things that hit me the most was the detail that we spoke about brainstorming and the main idea was that you have to brainstorm before you brainstorm. There’s also the idea that brainstorming is a skill, something that you have to do repeatedly before you become good at it.
How did this class contribute to the classes you took within your major?
I would say this class changed my approach to learning in general. We did one exercise about challenging every day assumptions about basic things. So I’ve been doing that a lot with my classes, like okay, what assumptions do I have when I go into class? I’ve been renaming what I want my education to be and what I want to achieve. This class has really taught me not to try and compete with all the other students and expectations that other people have set for what my life and my education should be and instead how to focus on being the best version.
How did this class contribute to your work at your nonprofit, STEM in Africa?
Lisa and I have been working outside the classroom on my nonprofit, which has been super helpful. She met with our team, everyone’s around the world, some in Nigeria, some in the UK, and she told us how we can implement the tools I’ve been learning because I’ve been hearing all the great stuff during “Inventing the Future” but my teammates haven’t. She gave us an introduction and gave us some really valuable advice, like how to use the business model canvas and other strategies, to develop our vision and mission as an organization.
This d.school class has been definitely the most impactful learning platform for my organization. We work to encourage and galvanize young African students, primarily females, to go into STEM education, innovation and entrepreneurship. We felt like we’ve made good impact, but as an organization, we reached a point where where the organization went next was very crucial. Having those skills of design thinking has really helped me process every decision that we make. During that meeting with Lisa, we looked at three concepts, focusing on feasibility, desirability and viability and how to take those concepts into planning events, fundraising and sponsorship. She gave us the idea of building something which could be like the school of the future.
When it comes to re-imagining life beyond Stanford, Inventing the Future has been a necessary first step for these students to conceptualize their academic career and future careers. One thing all three students made exceedingly clear? They would recommend taking a d.school class. You may look at the world just a bit differently than you did before.
Learn more about d.school classes here: https://dschool.stanford.edu/classes
