Dalai Lama Center

In 2009, His Holiness the Dalai Lama called on the world to educate the hearts – and not just the minds – of children. In 2013, UX for Good took up his challenge in Vancouver, British Columbia. Designers spent two days observing practice and absorbing theory on child development and contemplative practice – in elementary schools, in university, and at Heart-Mind 2013, a conference for practitioners in the field.

The positive impact of mindfulness programs on children’s health, behavior and academic performance was both readily apparent and substantiated by rigorous scientific study. Teachers who had integrated mindfulness into lesson plans and classroom management were overwhelmingly supportive of expanding the programs. So, why wasn’t mindfulness part of learning for every child?

To me, it is the beginning of a process that I think will make some significant change in the way we look at education and learning.

Victor Chan

Founding Director, Dalai Lama Center

This was a remarkable gift to the cause of advancing the social and emotional learning of children and youth in British Columbia. For all of us engaged with its people and process, never before have we either experienced or even imagined the immediate effects such a group could have on our resolve and capacities for fulfilling our purpose and vision.

Chris Kelly

Program Development, Dalai Lama Center

Designers discovered there were two primary obstacles to the broad adoption of mindfulness programs in schools. First, mindfulness training was competing with dozens, if not hundreds, of “magic bullet” solutions to challenges in public education — making it very unlikely that school districts and administrators would champion the cause. Second, mindfulness training was a relatively expensive proposition. Program licenses and related materials were pricey, limiting the number of school districts that could afford them.

Champions would have to come – not from the administrative ranks – but from teachers themselves. Also, program costs would have to be dramatically reduced if teachers were to persuade their colleagues to give mindfulness a try.

Our designers’ answer was the “Heart-Shaped Toolbox,” a collection of digital tools that allow and encourage teachers to share mindfulness best practices — readings, activities, materials, research and support — with fellow teachers for free. This greatly increases the odds that believers – classroom teachers with first-hand experience of the positive impact of mindfulness programs – can convert the uninitiated. The Toolbox was supplemented by designers’ ideas for engaging school communities and extending mindfulness training to parents.

The Dalai Lama Center launched a version of the Toolbox, the Heart-Mind Online, in 2014 upon His Holiness’ return to Vancouver.

I just witnessed an absolute explosion of ideas.

Marianne Prins

Van Horne Elementary School

Our designers were Dan Saimo and Greg Melander (both of Microsoft Bing), Wil Kristin (Context Partners), Patrick DiMichele, Carolyn Chandler, and Brian Winters (all of Manifest Digital), Lee-Sean Huang, Judy Siegel (CNN Digital), Davide Casali (Dachis Group), Marie-Claire Dean (Atlassian), Jason Kunesh (Obama for America), and Emily Luke (ThoughtWorks). They were led and provoked by Chris Kelly (Dalai Lama Center), Gabrielle Leitner, and Brad Smith (WebVisions).

The team produced and shared a detailed report for the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education including additional partners and stakeholders important to the work. Additionally that year, a social good hackathon was held with the Webvisions conference in Portland to produce prototypes for the organization.