Maria leading a DDM Workshop for EdgeHUB (image credit: EdgeHUB)
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
I am an Industrial designer with a strong interest in social and sustainable projects that require innovation and design thinking, I am a certified Educator by the Unschool and currently I’m offering disruptive design and sustainability workshops for students and people with a strong interest in these topics.
Maria offers BioMaterial workshops online
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO COME TO THE UNSCHOOL?
The opportunity to share this knowledge in a bigger context, not only for middle school and high school students, but in universities and companies. I wanted to have all the tools to be able to accomplish this idea of sharing the knowledge with everyone in a more deeply and sustained way.
WHAT CHANGES DO YOU WANT TO MAKE AND WHY?
My idea is to make change in the Education sector because all the information and tools I gained in this certification track is something I would have liked to know when I was studying, this would have made my designer path so much conscious and rich in knowledge.
I want to make this change in education for society to become more conscious and take decisions considering the social, economic and environmental impact of its actions, and hopefully promote change, facilitating the transition to a better and hopefully regenerative future.
Workshop in Mexico with Maria
HOW DO YOU PLAN TO USE WHAT YOU LEARNED AT UNSCHOOL?
After taking the DDM live online masterclass, I thought that the Educator certification was going to be just like that but this track is more challenging than any other I’ve taken. It pushes you to actually take action and practice all the knowledge you gain in each module, it also makes you reflect in a very profound way which I think is great to get the wisdom we are all seeking for.
Before, I used to blame the government and the educational system for the current problems in education and the lack of knowledge on topics such as sustainability, innovation, circular economy, etc., but with this certification I learned that the changes really depend on oneself and that if you really want to learn, you are going to find a way to find that course, learn that new skill, obtain that new knowledge, etc. I plan to apply this thinking starting today both to promote my courses and the knowledge that I obtained from this certification as well as personal by continuing to learn and fill myself with new knowledge.
The mentorships for me were great, Emma helped me to understand my goal and guided me through the steps I should follow to accomplish it. I am a person that when starting with an idea wants to do it all at the same time and she helped me a lot in this part by keeping me focused on what I needed to do.
ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC SDGs YOU WANT TO WORK ON?
Number 4 Quality Education and number 12 Responsible Consumption and Production which I can help by sharing the knowledge I gained in this certification with people and by offering the tools they need to start creating change in their lives.
HOW DO YOU AMPLIFY CHANGE IN THE WORLD?
By teaching and sharing the knowledge and not just keeping it to myself, One of the learning challenges in this certification was to write a pedagogical statement on how you see knowledge being adopted and transferred and I developed the next statement: “Knowledge is adopted through integration and collaboration and transferred through previous experience and experiential learning” and this is a statement I am planning to use to share the knowledge with everyone and in this way promoting change beyond my sphere of influence.
Making toxin-free incense and candles
HOW CAN PEOPLE FOLLOW YOUR WORK?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariafernandaromorodriguez/
Maria leading a soundbath workshop session
