Teaching and reinforcing efficient use of time for high school students may have more to do with ease of access to study materials than anything else. Here is a process for re-evaluating the public school locker concept; one that has not changed since the 1950's.

1. Problem: Suppose you have been hired to re-design
the student lockers at a large public high school. What
PROCESS would you use to tackle this project?
Describe the most important steps.
Submitted by: Tina Gregory for Design Thinking Action Labs – Creative Art Spaces Team

2. Observe
• How are students using lockers now, if at all?
• How are they currently getting learning materials to where they need them?
• What difficulties can you see with the methods currently used to ensure that
learning materials are where they are most useful to students?
• Do the current methods work for all or most students (old, young, tall, short,
abled or disabled?) If not, who has additional obstacles and what are these
additional shortcomings?
• Draw or jot down what you see, any method will do.

3. Communicate with Users
• Talk with students:
1) How do you use your locker?
2) Is it easy to access
3) Does it fit all you stuff
4) Does it help you have the things
you need on hand, when you
need them, for class or study,
etc.?
5) What do you need to have for
each class?
6) Etc.

4. Evaluate
• Now evaluate the spaces that students, their teachers, administrators,
parents and other social interactors use each day
– Look at specifics about the interactions (are they standing, sitting,
both…)
– Do the interactors move within the space or are they mostly static?
– Are they balancing things, holding things in their hands, using
headphones, etc.
– When do the interactors seem most comfortable? Least comfortable?
• Do the spaces ever change from day to day? Do they need to?
• What are common items the interactors have with them (laptops, books,
pencils, iPods, etc.
• Does the space have natural light? Artificial light? Colors?

5. Generate Alternatives
In-class storage
Shared resource storage
Group-centric storage
Pod
Exchanges

6. Test Ideas Live
• Run ideas by stakeholders and participants
• Get Action Teams together
• Test each idea within Action Teams
• Action Teams present results to other
teams/stakeholders

7. Funding and Sourcing for
Implementation
• Ideas may best effective, tested and innovative, but if they lack
funding and
• Reasonably reliable support from investing parties
THEY WILL DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!

8. Funding and Sourcing
• Public funding / bond funding
• Angel investors
• Corporate supporters and investors, including
targeted solution hardware/software providers
• Community outreach