Education resource platform better by design

July 25 2012

There's a new online home for design-related education resources.

State Library of Queensland has launched Design Minds, an online platform for Queensland teachers and students to enhance learning through design.

Design Minds encourages the exchange and development of knowledge and skills in design education and design thinking.

It places ‘design' in the context of a creative problem-solving process suited to exploring the unique and complex problems of the 21st century

State Librarian Janette Wright said by adopting this process, students and teachers can approach problems in more lateral and innovative ways.

‘Design Minds demonstrates the value of design thinking by explaining, inspiring and empowering through the use of practical resources and education toolkits,' she said.

The website employs design thinking within existing educational frameworks such as the Australian Curriculum Version 3, Naplan, C2C and National Professional Standards for Teachers.

‘Design Minds is not about getting rid of what you're already doing as a teacher, but is rather a way to augment and enhance what already happens in the classroom by accessing and sharing resources and partnering with real world designers, businesses and the broader community,' Ms Wright said.

Design Minds was developed by State Library of Queensland's Asia Pacific Design Library, supported by Arts Queensland and endorsed by QUEENSLANDERSIGN™, an initiative of the Queensland Design Council.