Dive into the full 12-part core series of the Disruptive Design knowledge set and learn how to apply the Disruptive Design Method to activate positive social and environmental change.
This masterclass is perfect for anyone wanting to dive deeply into their creativity capacity to make change by learning concepts, history, myths, and research on systems thinking, sustainability, cognitive science, and much more. But in our courses you do much more than build brain power, you get tools and support to lead creative interventions for a healthier community and planet. In this full program pack, you also get all 4 of our creative change maker e-book series written by Leyla Acaroglu.
The Mental Toolset: Develop critical thinking and doing skills and tools for activating change through your own practice
Systems Thinking: Develop your ability to understand and explore the dynamic systems at play around us, seeing how they interconnect and influence the larger wholes.
Creative Interventions: Develop personalized practices in dynamically designing and intervening in systems for positive social change.
Reflexivity: Develop reflexive thinking to build your innate ability to think through the circular relationships between cause and effect and help build creative autonomy.
Problem Loving Mindset: Discover how every problem holds its own solution.
Critical Thinking: Develop critical analysis skills for clear and rational thinking to intellectually evaluate and synthesize information through observation, experience, reflection, and reasoning, all of which guide belief and action.
Curriculum
What’s inside the Disruptive Design Masterclass
The Disruptive Design Methodology is a knowledge set created to help you make change in the world around you. In order to identify your own pre-established thinking, restructure the relevance, and then build new knowledge, you need to hone in on your reflexive, critical and systems thinking skills. You need to initially establish what you think, develop a reflexive practice around challenging or questioning those thoughts, and then be able to construct new understandings from other perspectives and ideas in that arena.
Developed by sustainability provocateur and creative protagonist, designer, and sociologist, Dr. Leyla Acaroglu, the Disruptive Design Method is a holistic approach to complex problem solving that combines sociological inquiry methods with systems and design thinking approaches. It is a method of developing systems interventions that enact social and sustainable change.
This masterclass program is best suited for anyone with a cause who needs a useful toolkit to shift perspectives and affect change. Not only do you learn core concepts and skills in fun, manageable chunks, but you can really build your tacit knowledge through the deliberate layers of Disruptive Design learning.
Our programs are all about activating positive social change in the world around us and are not just for designers! The content is accessible to all current or soon-to-be change makers.
Discover how to activate positive social change through creative interventions with this introduction to the Disruptive Design Method. This is a 1-hour introductory class.
This introductory class provides the foundation for using the Disruptive Design Method, a unique three-part approach of mining, landscaping, and building to leverage positive change outcomes. A holistic approach to complex problem solving that combines sociological inquiry methods with systems and design thinking approaches, the Disruptive Design Method helps you to develop systems interventions that are smart, effective, thoughtful, and sustainable. Through this course, you will be introduced to the disruptive and creative mental tools to activate positive change.
Modules
Part 1: Introduction to The Disruptive Design Approach
Part 2: The Mining Phase
Part 3: The Landscaping Phase
Part 4: The Building Phase
Part 5: Applying the DDM
Learn the difference between our resource-draining 'take, make, waste' linear systems and the progressive circular economy movement that is regenerative and sustainable. This is a short introductory class.
This introductory class makes the case for changing the economic mechanisms within which we currently exist and for shifting from high waste to high-value goods and services. By the end, you will understand the difference between our existing, resource-draining linear systems and the circular systems that we need for a regenerative, sustainable future. You’ll learn about both the Circular Economy model and movement, as well as gain insight into how governments, industries, and individuals are shifting toward it.
Modules
The Circular Economy
Moving from Linear to Circular
Circular Economy Principles
Resource List
This course will prepare you to reframe sustainability, think critically about where and how impacts occur, to see past 'greenwashing', to start thinking in systems, to map life cycles, and to make more sustainable decisions.
Sustainability is all about the social, economic and environmental considerations we can make to ensure we create a future that works better for all of us. In this course learn how to map life cycles, how to calculate your ecological footprint, develop your ability to think critically about sustainability and bust through persistent eco-myths. This 5-part course will equip you to reframe sustainability, think critically about what it is and isn’t, see past greenwashing, start thinking in systems, understand life cycles, and make more (truly) sustainable choices in your life and work.
Modules
Part 1: What is Sustainability?
Part 2: Life Cycle Thinking
Part 3: Thinking in Systems
Part 4: Busting Green Myths
Part 5: Taking Action
Resource List
Overcome linear thinking and unravel the interconnectedness of our world. This course will get your head around systems thinking and give you the tools you need to understand the complex social, industrial, and environmental systems at play.
Develop a Systems Mindset and discover how everything is interconnected. Systems thinking helps you gain a different perspective of how the world works and overcome reductionist thinking. This foundation course will help you wrap your head around the systems at play and give you the tools you need to understand the complex social, industrial & environmental systems and how they interact. It’s a must for anyone wanting to start or build their capacity in understanding systems dynamics, relationships and how to create systems change.
Modules
Part 1: What is Systems Thinking?
Part 2: Identifying and Exploring Systems
Part 3: Thinking in Systems
Part 4: Systems Mapping Techniques
Part 5: Systems Dynamics & Archetypes
Resource List
How does one person make change? This course covers historical and contemporary theories on changemaking, explores what change means cognitively, socially, and personally, and develops your approach to enacting a change-based practice.
Jump start your career in creative change making by exploring historical and contemporary theories, concepts, and actions around what change is and how to make it! This course will give you a more profound perspective on change, packed with agency-boosting content that helps you to explore what change means to you and then define a personal approach to your change-based practice. By the time your screen fades to black, you will be ready to go forth and enact change (be it personal, political, social, or environmental) in your sphere of influence.
Modules
Part 1: What is Change?
Part 2: Historical and Contemporary Approaches to Making Change
Part 3: Systems, Drivers and Tools for Change
Part 4: Your Brain on Change
Part 5: How to Make Change
Resource List
This course covers a diverse selection of techniques for problem identification and exploration, helping you to develop exceptional research approaches for designing, enacting, and interpreting change.
Research is fundamental to understanding how the world works and at the core of doing well-founded and evidence based work. You can make change if you don’t understand why and how things work first! We look at multiple research strategies that support your ability to explore, dissect, and uncover unique aspects of the world around us. Far from any traditional more boring approaches like clipboard-based surveys, this course will help you develop exceptional and rigorous approaches for designing, enacting, and interpreting research approaches to support your change making.
Modules
Part 1: What is Research?
Part 2: Types of Research Approaches
Part 3: Ethics in a Research Practice
Part 4: Planning and Implementing Research Strategies
Part 5: Change Based Research Practices
Resource List
Discover how gamification and game theory impacts all of our lives with this course on how to employ game mechanics and understand the economic 'game theory' to design cerebrally-stimulating experiences that activate change.
Gamification is the use of game mechanics in non gaming environments, whereas game theory is the economic modeling of how humans act in economic ways. Combined they form a powerful toolset of cognitive and social understanding to support the leveling-up of your experience design and change-making game. Learn how to use gamification in experience design, using the mechanics and motivators that support engaging people in delightful and fun ways.
Modules
Part 1: What is Gamification?
Part 2: What is Game Theory?
Part 3: Human Motivators and Experience Design
Part 4: The Mechanics and Mechanisms of Gamification
Part 5: Designing Gamified Experiences
Resource List
This course unpacks the inner workings of the human brain, the influence that neurochemicals and social norms have on us, cognitive dissonance, how to identify and recode biases that impede our thinking, and ways this helps make change.
Humans are undoubtedly fascinating beings, and our brains work in mysterious ways – even to ourselves! Cognitive science is essentially the study of all things related to how the brain works and how our minds organize information. It’s a vast field that is continuously evolving as we scientifically advance. But to understand where to focus your efforts as a change-maker and know where to intervene, you need to understand the intersections of behavior, bias, attitudes, and social structures.
Modules
Part 1: How does the brain work?
Part 2: Are Humans Rational?
Part 3: Busting Cognitive Biases
Part 4: Hacking Your Brain Through Cognitive Interventions
Part 5: The Brain and Making Change
Resource List
In this course, learn ethical frameworks, unpack the visceral and cognitive experience of empathy, explore relationships between ethics and empathy, gain tools for closing ethics gaps, and make more empathetic decisions in your work and life.
The complex human experience that we all go through is made more human and equitable by the philosophical framework of ethics and its practical application through the legal and professional structures set up to make sure that we respect and care for our fellow humans. But ethics are not universal; different cultures and countries have diverse ethical frameworks that feed into the culture and, thus, influence the citizens, which in turn influence the structures that make up that society. Discover the relationships between our ethical frameworks and the power of empathy as a tool for building change! This course unpacks contemporary philosophical and practical applications to ethics and ethical conduct (specifically through the lens of social change and sustainability) and explores the visceral and cognitive experience of empathy.
Modules
Part 1: What are Ethics?
Part 2: Ethics in Everyday Life
Part 3: What is Empathy?
Part 4: Ethics and Empathy as Design Tools
Part 5: Practical Tools for Empathy Building
Resource List
In this course, we explore the power of language and its subtle influence on us all. Become adept at concepts governing Moral Panics and logistical framing, and discover how to master storytelling for a positive impact.
Humans are storytelling animals that have for, as long as we have been standing on two legs, been sharing narratives with our pack in order to succeed as a species. From dream time stories to the methodologies and scriptures that provide frameworks for life – the transference of information from one generation to another has been critical to our success. We know that storytelling is evocative and powerful for the mind, but why? Stories trigger visuals and emotion, and they are one of the primary forms through which human experience is made meaningful and through which we learn and interact. Become adept at concepts governing Moral Panics and logistical framing, and discover how to master language and storytelling for positive social change.
Modules
Part 1: The Power of Language
Part 2: The Art of Persuasion
Part 3: Moral Panics, Misdirection and Framing
Part 4: Language as a System
Part 5: Storytelling and Narratives that Make Change
Resource List
In this course, take your understanding and application of systems thinking to the next level. Develop your theory of change and learn advanced techniques for leveraging change-making systems interventions.
This course teaches you tools to uncover practical approaches to applied systems thinking to affect positive change. In this class, you will learn to see critical relationships, understand feedback loops, and conduct consequence analyses. You will also establish causal relationships and gain radical insights into systems dynamics. In the previous courses you will have gone through different approaches to identifying, understanding, and mapping systems and problem arenas, in this one, you will gain a deeper synthesis of how all the components fit together. The tools gained in this course will prepare you to identify where and how to intervene in a system, build effective systems interventions, plus design systems in which these interventions can exist.
Modules
Part 1: Advanced Systems Thinking
Part 2: Systems Modeling Tools
Part 3: Developing a Theory of Change
Part 4: Intervening in Systems
Part 5: Tactics for Activating Systems Change
Resource List
In this course on creative problem solving and ideation, generate more ideas using our 10 Golden Rules of Ideation and discover how to rapidly prototype for disruptive problem solving. This course goes beyond design thinking.
Extending beyond the techniques you need for effective, rapid and disruptive ideation, the course teaches iterative prototyping and testing, so you can define and evolve concepts into activations. You’ll learn to translate ideas into outcomes through prototyping in a variety of forms and formats (such as sketch modeling, play testing, experience design, etc.) and will be challenged to think differently, embrace a state of creative flow, and develop the mental tools for building rapid impactful solutions. Whether you’re working on products, systems, or services, this course will refine your ideation skills and help you find a format that works for you in your creative production practices.
Modules
Part 1: Introduction to Ideation and Creativity
Part 2: Developing Divergent Thinking Practice
Part 3: The 10 Golden Rules of Ideation
Part 4: Prototyping
Part 5: Ideation Practices and Creative Change Making
Resource List
In this course, discover how to employ best-practice sustainability and eco-design strategies, learn how to embrace the circular economy, and activate a toolset that enables the development of sustainable products, services, and systems.
This course will teach you to consider potential impacts from a life-cycle perspective and will help you ensure that the production of your ideas won’t accidentally cause harm. Through it, you’ll gain an understanding of the impacts of material processes, of different ways to reduce the use of global materials and of the ecological impacts our production and consumption choices cause. You’ll discover techniques such as Design for Disassembly, Design for Longevity, Design for Reusability, Design for Dematerialization, and Design for Modularity and will learn to design approaches that minimize potentially negative social and environmental impacts, maximize the regenerative elements, and still maintain functionality, aesthetics, and practicality of products, systems, and services. Sustainable Design & Production isn’t limited just to people who are defined as ‘designers’; the course shares incredibly useful tools for anyone creating things in the world and the eco-design strategies can be applied to any production process.
Modules
Part 1: Introduction to the History of Sustainable Design
Part 2: Sustainable & Circular Design Methods
Part 3: Designing for the Circular Economy
Part 4: Case Studies and Product Service System Models
Part 5: Life Cycle Thinking, Materials and Waste Streams
Resource List
In this course, learn how to activate your creative interventions and amplify your change-making projects out into the world, get over procrastination, and achieve greater reach and impact with these examples and tools.
Designed for those who are ready to move from learner to doer, this course will help you define and build the resilience and capacity you need to be an activated changemaker, leveraging tangible, real-world interventions for positive change. You’ll learn ways to get your ideas out into the world, from the practical steps of project planning through to the more conceptual frameworks that help to contextualize the concepts of activation. The course will guide you in considering how projects and activations may evolve and will help you to develop contingency plans that allow for flexible, rapid adaptation. You’ll learn to establish benchmarks and iterative design changes to build stronger, more robust outcomes, and to set up feedback loops that will help make your future interventions more impactful. Riding on your understanding of systems thinking*, this course equips you to unpack the ways that projects respond to dynamically evolving systems, so that you can get your projects activated and amplified in the dynamic evolving systems at play.
Modules
Part 1: Amplification and Activation Theory
Part 2: How to get your projects off the ground
Part 3: Project Planning and Activation
Part 4: Amplifying Interventions
Part 5: Making Change in the World
Resource List
This program has been specifically curated for those who want to be guided through a 30-day brain-activating bootcamp around practical skills, applicable knowledge and positive rethinking tools. Covering Systems Thinking, Sustainability and more.
Focused around the themes of Design Systems Change Handbook by Dr. Leyla Acaroglu, this 30-day brain-activating bootcamp delivers daily doses of curated content around systems thinking, sustainability, creativity, positive thinking and activate change! This program has been designed around daily doses of video, text and daily activities to help you activate your agency for contributing to a regenerative and sustainable future!
Modules
Day 1: Agency
Day 2: Reflection & Reflexivity
Day 3: Sphere of Influence
Day 4: Critical Thinking
Day 5: Getting Shit Done
Day 6: Ethics and Integrity
Day 7: Systems Thinking
Day 8: Systems At Play
Day 9: Systems Mapping
Day 10: Designing Interventions
Day 11: Design and Creativity
Day 12: Citizen Design
Day 13: UnSustainability
Day 14: Circular Economy
Day 15: System Elements
Day 16: Observation
Day 17: Cause and Effect
Day 18: Circular Design
Day 19: Life Cycle Thinking
Day 20: Circular ReDesign
Day 21: Storytelling
Day 22: Gamification
Day 23: Game Design
Day 24: Cognitive Bias
Day 25: Cognitive Dissonance
Day 26: Fixed vs Growth Mindset
Day 27: Social Norms
Day 28: Power
Day 29: Making Change
Day 30: Creative Change Plan
Activate your brain with all our digital handbooks on making change!
This series of handbooks on how to make change through creative interventions and positively disruptive design provides you with all the juicy thinking and doing tools you need to activate your career as a creative change maker.
Materials
E-Book: Tips & Tricks to Facilitate Change
E-Book: Make Change
E-Book: Disruptive Design Method Handbook
E-Book: Circular Systems Design
E-Book: Design Systems Change
Certification
Looking to advance further?
This 10 month online learning (+2 month mentorship) certification program is designed for emerging leaders, intrapreneurs and career changers deeply passionate about making a positive impact through all that they do. We provide content and provocation to help you establish your facilitation and leadership skills. This program offers advanced training in the Disruptive Design Method and is perfect for people wanting to drive change within an organization or wanting to solidify their career as a leader in this space. This certification includes the full 12 module set of the Disruptive Design Method Masterclass, with additional unique content and activities.
“The DDM is more well rounded than many of the methods that I have come across. It is not just another toolkit or stepwise approach but really encourages you to further define your individual changemaking skills and take ownership of them. You’re challenged in your mental models and belief systems and are given tools to be able to look beyond what you see at first sight. I believe this is key in being able to make change.”
Myrthe LantingSustainable Urban Developer
My brain went through a full renovation
“I learned and thought about so many different things at a depth and speed that I had not experienced before. Not only did I find this learning experience deeply gratifying, it made me realize how fun self-directed research and learning can be when you start to see the world through a systems thinking lens.”
Charlie ShipmanProduct Manager
World renowned expert training
Your instructor
An award-winning designer, sustainability provocateur, social scientist and entrepreneur, Leyla Acaroglu (PhD) developed the Disruptive Design Method and creates educational experiences, toolkits, and social enterprises that help design a sustainable, circular and regenerative future. Leyla is a mainstage TED speaker, LinkedIn Changemaker and was named UNEP Champion of the Earth in 2016 for her work in advancing science and innovation for sustainability. Leyla leads trainings around the world on activating positive social and environmental change through systems interventions.
Options and Pricing
Start now!
Get access to all 12 modules, bonus content, and handbooks on how to make change. Get ready to use your talents to create a better future that works for all of us!
What you get
All 12 Modules of the Disruptive Design Method Masterclass
Find out if you are eligible for our Equity Access Scholarships
We work hard to balance providing reduced tuition for our programs, offering open source tools & resources, and generating enough revenue to maintain and innovate our programs. As a socially motivated business, we operate on a lean budget and work hard to distribute our resources to support our applicants in highest need. We offer limited scholarships to community members who would otherwise be unable to attend a program at all.
We encourage everyone to apply for scholarships if they feel that they would not be able to access programs otherwise. We are always working towards removing financial, physical, language and time barriers by offering scholarships, diverse international program locations, and online education and free content in a growing number of languages. We also offer additional access support for those identifying as from First Nations, Aboriginal, Native or other Indigenous communities.
We offer custom designed educational and corporate training packages, workshops and curriculum projects. This can be delivered in any combination of live, live online, and hybrid formats to small or large teams. Reach out to discuss with one of our team members.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
All your questions, comments, queries and curiosities. Let us know if we need to add anything!
The Disruptive Design Method Masterclass program gives you access for one full year from the date of purchase.
We review requests for extensions on a case by case basis, and consider 3 month at a time extensions. Depending on the situation, there may or may not be a cost involved.
As our programs are based in action, it varies from person to person. The actual reading and watching time is easily manageable for someone working a full time job, however it may take longer to complete the activities. Most people manage to complete the DDM Masterclass in about a year, and dedicate a few hours a month to their course work. Others complete it in a sprint over a few months during time off. Each of the 12 modules has about 5 hours of viewing time.
We have closed captioning for the videos that are included in the program available in English. You can also use a browser (we recommend Chrome or Brave) to translate the written content on the screen into your preferred language.
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