Certificate of Achievement in Research, Design and Development for Global Good

Designed for students of all levels, including dual-enrollment high school students in research, design, and development cohorts, the Certificate of Achievement in Research, Design and Development for Global Good guides students through a yearlong inquiry process, culminating in a means-tested project related to improving their local or global community. Students will conduct extensive research as they identify and define a specific problem and develop potential solutions. They will engage in an iterative design thinking process to ideate, prototype, and test ideas in authentic settings. The program culminates in a public exhibition where students present their projects and share their findings using multimedia.

In the initial year, approximately 150 students are projected to complete the program. This is based on existing partnerships between the KCI and dual-enrollment programs that contain cohorts in this field. Several high schools in the area have also developed, or are in the process of developing, similar programs, opening up a path for significant expansion and many new partnerships. Thus, in the years to come, upwards of 250 students per year are expected to complete the program.   

 

Students in the Certificate of Achievement in Research, Design and Development for Global Good program will develop authentic inquiry skills, enabling them to identify and define a concrete problem, analyze both internal and external factors that contribute to the complexity of the issue, explore potential solutions, and propose a detailed plan to test. Students will gain extensive research skills, including the curation and critical analysis of information, data collection and analysis, and investigative methodologies. Students will learn to utilize the design thinking process to ideate, prototype, and test solutions. Students will also acquire and hone communication and presentation skills as they collaborate with peers and experts, and share findings through multiple mediums.

 

Program Learning Outcomes:

●      Students will be able to know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts, or solving authentic problems.

●      Students will be able to build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions.

●      Students will be able to explore local and global issues and use collaborative technologies to work with others to investigate solutions.

●      Students will be able to plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

●      Students will be able to curate information using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

●      Students will be able to use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts, or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.

●      Students will be able to evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of information, media, data, or other resources.

●      Students will be able to break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.

●      Students will be able to select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

●      Students will be able to develop, test, and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

●      Students will be able to exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance, and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

●      Students will be able to communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models, or simulations.

Students will take 6 core units and select up to 6 units from restricted electives list. 

Requirements	Course #	Title	Units	Sequence
Core Courses(6 units)	LINC 58	Global Project-Based Learning	2	Year 1, Spring
	LINC 66C	Searching & Researching the Internet	2	Year 1, Winter
	LINC 77	Design Thinking Overview	2	Year 1, Fall
Restricted Electives(select 6 units)	LINC 63	Cloud-Based Data Analysis Tools	1	Year 1, Winter
	LINC 64	Slide Presentation Design	1	Year 1, Spring
	LINC 66E	Cloud-Based Publishing Tools	1	Year 1, Spring
	LINC 67	Designing Web-Based Learning Projects	1	Year 1, Fall
	LINC 70	Web Page Design Overview	1	Year 1, Spring
	LINC 77B	Design Thinking & Tinkering	2	Year 1, Winter
	LINC 79	Multimedia Project Production	2	Year 1, Spring
	LINC 90C	Online Collaboration Tools	2	Year 1, Fall

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)

None at this time

Merritt College has a program with a similar top code. Whereas their program is to train teachers to use technology, our program is training high school students to make use of educational technology tools to visualize data. The programs are not similar in nature.