As an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Innovator, and Adobe Education Leader Tanya has many opportunities to share tools she believes in with other educators—I’m so grateful she’s shared the Compass as a tool to enable student voice

K-12 Education Technology, Boynton Beach, FL
Bio Website Compass-tweets

As director of Reflective and Integrative Practices and of the Narratives Project at Smith College, Jessica offers students Innovators’ Compass in her course Designing Your Path to discover their own story, what matters to them, and what they need to get going on their next steps. She’s also an accomplished author who’s written about the Compass and been an incredible help in my next book-writing steps!

Higher Education, Northampton, MA
Bio Website

Though these two principals are at different San Diego area schools (High Tech High and Vista Innovation and Design Academy), it seems like you always find them together, and always find them with their teachers.

Through their teaching at the High Tech High graduate school of education, Eric and Kaleb have introduced new generations of educators and administrators to the Compass—like Dawn McWilliams.  

K-12 administration, San Diego, CA
Eric Chagala Bio Compass-Tweets
Kaleb Rashad Website Compass-Tweets

James' first compass experience was when he came to my mentor session at SXSWedu in 2017 and asked me to tell him about the Compass. I suggested that instead we use the 10 minutes on a challenge in his life—and we got all the way to experiments! Now he's using at strikingly different levels at the Atlanta Girls School—helping staff at both thinking about their mission—"Inspiring Girls to Lead Lives of Purpose" at both an organizational and personal level.

High School Administration, Atlanta, Georgia
Bio Compass-tweets

As Executive Director of Career & Life Design at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Joe encourages individuals to be innovative in their ability to problem-solve, especially as it relates to planning and executing personal and professional life goals.

Through his teaching and knowledge of the “design thinking” framework, Joe has been instrumental in transforming the way students think and problem-solve their career goals. The compass is a go-to tool for understanding the challenges in the student experience.

Higher education, Hartford, CT
Bio Website

Erwin and I met at Otto Scharmer's programs many years back—and I was thrilled when he reached back out about using the Compass in his work to galvanize young entrepreneurs in Singapore. Erwin’s explored the Compass with high schoolers developing their entrepreneurship & design skills (e.g. improving the visitor’s experience at a Science Center). Now at Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, raiSE), he’s incorporating the compass for or use by local social entrepreneurs.

Social & Education Entrepreneurship, Singapore
Bio  Website

David was the Director of the Design Thinking Academy at Grand Valley State University and is currently faculty there. As he wrote here, his mission is fostering creativity and giving people a tool to find their own way in the world. The Compass has been an accessible tool for him, his preservice-teacher students, and the staff of GVSU. He’s been a fantastic thought partner in how to let people discover the Compass for themselves in simple ways. He wrote a book using Innovators' Compass for math lesson innovation.

University education, Grand Rapids, MI
Bio Compass-Tweets

Dan has a warm and familiar way of saying anything (maybe since he was an English teacher years before his work in Design Thinking consulting).  That delights the people he facilitates, and has influenced my approach with the Compass since we co-led a workshop and coaching program for 10 New York area schools a number of years ago.  He has used the Compass extensively in business, ed-tech, and higher education settings. 

Design Thinking/Innovation Consultant, Cambridge, MA
Bio Website

Michael was one of the first K-12 educators "in the sandbox." In his multiple during- and after-school Innovators for Purpose programs, we tried the compass in all kind of ways. A simple compass conversation that turned around a student's homework challenges was so loved by everyone who reviewed my Chapter that it became the featured example. He's shown here with his version of an earlier compass.   

K-12 education, Cambridge, MA
Bio

Kevin might just be the soul of the Compass. A history and religion teacher, he was discovering Design Thinking just as I was really digging into developing the Compass, and we helped each other grow. He gave the Compass its current name and started the hashtag. 

Kevin always invites me to see how it can connect not just intellectually, but emotionally and even spiritually with people.  

K-12 education, Duluth, Georgia
Compass tweets

Holly is the Director of Technology for the Pelham School District, enabling students and educators to be their individual and collective bests. She’s brought the Compass to schools and major conferences like CoSN.

K-12 Education, Windham, NH

Bio

Matt is another person Audrey O'Clair has inspired to use the Compass for teacher-driven PD—like designing their own solutions to Proficiency-based learning & reporting.

Curriculum-Instruction-Assessment Coordinator, Dexter, Maine
Bio Compass-Tweets

Dylan is a fellow 4.0 Schools entreprenur, and a passionate Chief Academic Officer in her charter school. She’s been exploring the compass as a way to work  with children with challenges. 

Elementary Administration, Birmingham, Alabama
Bio  Compass-Tweets

Meghan and her elementary class are a constant inspiration to me as they share how they navigate playground and cafeteria crises, work on their classroom culture, and tackle crises that come up—like preparing for state testing during COVID.

K-12 Education, Syracuse, NY
Bio Compass-Tweets

Melissa, Taryn and Mary of Nashoba Regional High School are constantly engaging students in new ways in every subject from English Language Arts to Entrepreneurship and life design. I’ve learned so much from them as they’ve pulled Innovators’ Compass in to this work!

K-12 education, Bolton, MA

Melissa-bio Taryn-bio Mary-bio Compass-tweets

Meli has worked in both startup schools and startup companies in recent years, and has found the Compass helpful in navigating their growing pains. 

Entrepreneurship and Design, Boston, MA

Bio

Hillary helps educators use Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning to break barriers to learning. She’s helped educators explore their own understanding of this challenge using the Compass.

Ed. Consulting, Saco ME
Website Compass-tweets

Jason leads a learning experience design firm, and has situated the Compass at a key moment in his work with clients—to make sense of their observations with learners and generate principles and ideas.

Educational design, Boston, MA
Bio Website

Emily and Kiesha of Florida International University’s “Startup FIU” have inspired me with their stories of enabling change-makers on their campus, at Florida State University, and in the community with Innovators’ Compass.

University [social] entrepreneurship, Miami, FL

Emily-bio Kiesha-bio Compass-tweets

Tim Hall's creativity knows no bounds—he's paired poets and entrepreneurs together to help one another.

He also invented the Pocket Compass folding card—which let people like Audrey O'Clair completely change the dynamic of the first workshop/meeting in which they used the Compass. And, let people like Kevin Day and Garrett Mason carry it to faraway places in Tahoe and Malawi, respectively.

College Residence, Boston, MA
Bio

Stacie and Patty developed “Get Unstuck!” life design workshops with an adapted Innovators' Compass for students at the Smith College Lazarus Center for Career Development—where Patty continues to lead these.

College guidance, Northampton, MA
Stacie-bioPatty-bio

@HassanTwice has been a wonderful supporter and co-experimenter. He introduced a version of the Compass as a guide for 4.0 Schools' Essentials program, and to help hold together the wonderful tools it provides. 

But he also welcomed me into the 4.0 Schools fold of education innovators and entrepreneurs. I gained so much from opportunities to learn from, and share my work with, the 4.0 family!

Education Innovation, New Orleans, LA
Bio

Michael surely inspires me more than the other way around—his work with his high school cinema & journalism students, and how he brings them on his quest for social justice through digital storytelling.  He's offered the compass to them as they embark and reflect on that journey together, and as they design media for their audiences. 

K-12 education, Los Angeles
Bio Website

Kaylah is Director of Instructional Technology and Blended Learning at BreakFree Education, which offers educational programs and enrichment for incarcerated youth. She offers the Compass as a central tool in their Design Thinking challenge, Unconstruct—and I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored!

Juvenile Justice Education, Charlotte, NC
Bio 

At Darrow in Vermont and in his independent work, Simon has guided students in using the Compass for projects, active note-taking, and envisioning their own future.

High School, New Lebanon, NY
Bio  Compass-tweets

Karl teaches graduate Visual Communication Design in New Zealand and has used an adapted compass to turn Honours year students synthesis of their work from a written proposal to an active workshop, experiment, and exhibition of their experimental outcomes. 

Design higher ed, Wellington New Zealand
Bio  Design+Democracy website

Manjula Karamcheti and her former colleagues at the High Meadows Graduate School of Teaching and Learning have been incredible experimenters with the Compass. For example, their Teacher Candidates used it to dig into challenges they met in the field each week during clinical debriefs, and explored the use of a bias lens. Manjula was a wonderful partner in developing our SXSW EDU 2020 workshop “Together! A Tool to Design With and For all Voices.”

Manjula has continued to be an incredible thought partner and advocate in her new role at the Barr foundation.

Teacher Education, Cambridge, MA
Bio

Denise has a passion for early childhood education and the emotional development of young people. She works with a variety of educational organizations, and has used the Compass at both organizational and personal levels. 

Educational & organizational consulting, San Antonio, TX
Bio

A former first grade teacher, Ann is a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) supporting both teachers and students with the innovative and instructional use of technology. And, she has used and shared the compass with the CUE Rockstar community—thank you Ann!

Edtech coaching, Fullerton, CA
Website Compass-tweets

Dvora has shared her use of Compass with other educational therapists to help problem-solve and develop solutions together with both adult and child learners.

Educational therapy, Los Angeles, CA
Bio Website Compass-tweets

Dawan and Danielle founded and lead, respectively, the Elon By Design Initiative to “help make design thinking part of how you live well, learn, teach and achieve.” They’ve used the Compass as an easy introduction to design thinking for new students and for groups doing larger-scale problem solving together. Dawan’s Design Thinking 101 Podcast Interview has sparked many new compass users, and Danielle has been a fantastic thought partner around assessing impact.

Higher Education, Elon, NC
Dawan-BioDanielle-Bio

Caitrin, an anthropologist, has been an amazing co-pilot as we've experimented with the Compass together in our Olin course Engineering for Humanity for Students to design not only something that will make a difference in an older adult's life in the community, but also to design their own individual, team, and class experiences in the course. And, to begin to design their role as a designer in society. More about that course here and under Resources.

Caitrin is also using the Compass in her other classes.

College education, Needham, MA
Bio Website

Tara is a fireball. She's also an educator, instructional coach, author and speaker, who recently became an administrator. She passionately recognized the sensitivity of her role with those she served. She found the Compass through Audrey O'Claire, and fused it with her R.E.A.L. approach in working with individuals to see and support their personal and professional goals. Now she's sharing that combined approach in her book, blog, and speaking.

K-12 Coach and Administrator, Lawrence, KS

Website Compass-Tweets

Garrett has brought the Compass to many new countries—and shared back the translated versions. In his work with PACT, CorpsAfrica, YES, and other organizations, he’s brought the Compass to community members from Malawi and Morocco to the Ukraine and Indonesia.  He's shared it in the most diverse settings—from the Corps Africa community challenges to the National Science Teachers Association STEM education challenges, to New Orleans Public Library challenges. 

He's also the person who said "This might change the world" to me back in January 2016, just when I needed to hear those words as I was diving into full investment in this work. 

International Development, Longmont, CO

Bio Compass-Tweets

In her role facilitating innovation in Ottawa County, Michigan, administration, Shannon McGoran unleashes many different departments with Innovators’ Compass. Parks & Recreation tackled dog rule enforcement, Facilities & Maintenance designed their public communications, Juvenile Detention considered how to best serve their day treatment clients and increase youth engagement, and the Clerk’s office took on team stress.

She also asks me the most thought-provoking questions about Compass facilitation!

County administration, Ottawa County, Michigan.

Bio

Dawn's work and impact in her Aurora, CO school, and humility about it, are simply inspiring. Dawn and I are on the phone all the time.  She's always calling me just before, or just after, she's done something new with the Compass—with all combinations of students, staff, parents, specialists, and administrators.  She's always pushing me for new tools (e.g. the Compass with large visual icons for her highly international parent population), and always eager to give her observations. 

Elementary administration, Aurora, CO
Bio  Compass-Tweets

Whenever I see a bunch of new tweets or followers in a new country, I know Jon has been there as WIDA's International Programs Director, using the compass to enable groups of educators of English Language Learners in international schools to problem-solve together.

K-12 and English Language Education, Madison WI
Bio Compass-Tweets

At the end of 2017, Hieu—then a Computer Engineering senior at Olin College, who’d taken two of my three classes—asked if he could show me something.

That something was the online Compass app—which instantly blew my mind, and filled a need many people had voiced to me. He then dedicated endless hours to testing and evolving it together.

Software Engineer, San Francisco, CA
Bio Website

Audrey O'Clair has seen no boundaries in her Compass passion and experimentation—from her family's major transitions, to her work coaching special education and ed-tech. I've learned so much from how she creates powerful environments and experiences for all kinds of participants by very simply introducing and using the Compass.

Special Education & Ed Tech, Fayette, Maine
Bio Compass-Tweets

Erin is magical at stirring up creativity in people of all ages. It’s been an inspiration to know her. And to see her writing about working with a class to use the Compass, alongside other wonderful tools, to design their own, inclusive, culture. 

Learning Specialist, Calgary, Alberta
Website  Compass-Tweets

Valeria has taken the Compass itself to new languages—Spanish and sketchnotes—in her passion to share it with others. That includes her local classroom as they struggled to find their own video voice and work through their hurricane Irma experience. 

It also includes the larger communities that follow her as a passionately creative science teacher @GA_ScienceRodva and as sketchnoting guru @ValeriaSketches. 

5th-6th grade Science, Miami, FL
Bio  Compass-Tweets

Jean uses the Compass to help family caregivers of the elderly problem-solve like she’d naturally support them as a nurse. It’s been such an infusion getting to experience her unlimited energy and passion.

Nursing and elder care, McCordsville, IN
Bio Website Compass-tweets

Dan Ryder—@WickedDecent—embodies the energy, optimism, inclusion, and relentless innovation of Design Thinking educators. He inspires K-12 educators around the country as he shares his experiences over twitter and his blog.  He also brings them to tears as he interweaves humor and improv.

He was an early Compass experimenter and recently wrote a Medium piece highlighting a a project he did with his English students using the Compass that bridged English and Engineering. 

K-12 education, Jay, ME
Bio  Compass-Tweets

As my studio co-professor for "User Oriented Collaborative Design", Alexandra was always been better than me at noticing times Compass work might help our students move forward—individually, in their design teams, or as a class. She’s now at Florida International University.

Higher-ed, Miami, FL
Bio

A participant in my very first educational coaching program, Ari has stayed in touch and experimented with the compass in both educational and family settings—his blog about compassing school lunch is great.  

K-12 administration, early & special education, school psychology, Washington, DC
Bio

Kim is a speech/language pathologist with deep passion and experience meeting extreme ranges of emotional and cognitive needs. I have learned so much from collaborating with her for SXSWEDU and Deeper Learning, seeing how she's used the Compass with students, and from her generous review of our kids books!

K-12 education, Norton, MA

Website Compass-Tweets