District C Teamship

Course Description:
Work is changing. Artificial intelligence and computers can now do much of the routine work once done by people. So what is the uniquely human job description of the future? The stuff that computers can’t do -- leveraging the power of teams to solve complex problems. In Teamship, you will team up with your peers to solve real problems for real businesses and organizations. Through this experience, you will develop the mindsets and tools needed for modern work. Teamship is supported by District C, an organization committed to preparing the next generation of talent.

The “Problem Cycle” will serve as the unit of learning. Each Problem Cycle will contain the following elements:

• Launch. After building important mindsets and tools, student teams meet with their business partners to understand the business problem and context.
• Team Meetings. With support from coaches, teams work together using digital collaboration tools and the Design Thinking process to design a solution.
• Pitch. Teams pitch their solutions to their business partners in a live workshop attended by community stakeholders, school partners, and parents.

Teamship will feature the following design elements:

• Real businesses, real problems. We will source authentic problems from local business partners because real problems are complex, lack right answers, and have no predetermined path to a solution. Student engagement and motivation increase when the work is real. The true learning opportunity lies in the mess and uncertainty of authentic problems.
• Diverse teams of students. We match students to create diverse teams in every way possible because learning to leverage differences is at the core of successful collective action. The opportunity to be an “unknown entity” in a group of 4 peers allows students to reimagine themselves and break free from the habitual roles they’ve assumed in school.
• Innovative coaching model. Coaches empower student teams to decide how best to structure their time -- including when to switch gears, when to seek guidance, and how best to learn important content that informs their work -- because higher engagement is achieved when students self-regulate and self-navigate with the support of, not direction from, coaches.