TESSI Institute (Philippines)

The Transformative Education for Sustainable Social Impact (TESSI) Institute aims to deliver meaningful learning outcomes for workshop participants, focusing on transforming their educational approaches and fostering a commitment to sustainable social impact through community-engaged learning, research and entrepreneurial action. 

The explicit goals of this institute include:

1. Understanding of Global Grand Challenges: Participants will gain a deep understanding of global grand challenges, including social, economic, and environmental issues, and their interconnectedness. They will explore various approaches to integrating global grand challenges into courses, research agenda, and service activities.
2. Creative Inquiry: Through a series of case studies and interactive workshops, faculty members will learn about creative inquiry and the praxis of humanitarian engineering and social entrepreneurship. They will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to apply these concepts in their courses.
3. Curriculum Design and Innovation: Participants will develop the ability to design innovative curricula that actively engage students in authentic, real-world projects. They will learn how to create educational experiences that empower students to work on practical solutions to challenges identified by community partners.
4. Problem Identification and Solution Design: Participants will gain experience in guiding students to identify complex problems and design effective, sustainable solutions. They will foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills in their students. There will be an emphasis on how faculty can right-size problems to challenge students while not overwhelming and paralyzing them.
5. Sustainable Business Model Development: Participants will acquire the knowledge and tools necessary to guide students in developing sustainable business models for their solutions. This includes understanding the principles of (social) entrepreneurship and environmental, economic, and social sustainability.
6. Storytelling for Impact: Faculty will explore the art of storytelling and its power in conveying the impact of their students' projects. They will be able to inspire and engage students, stakeholders, and social investors through compelling narratives.
7. Active Learning and Student Engagement: Faculty will learn how to implement a hands-on, hearts-on approach to teaching, making students active participants in the knowledge discovery process. They will foster student engagement and nudge students to take full ownership of their learning and their projects.
8. Mentorship and Co-Creation: Participants will understand the importance of becoming mentors and co-creators with their students, guiding them through project development and providing support and expertise in a just-in-time manner.
9. Sustainable Impact Assessment: Faculty members will develop skills in assessing the long-term, sustainable impact of projects and solutions. They will learn the fundamentals of how to measure and evaluate the outcomes of their educational approaches.
10. Network Building: The workshop will enable participants to build a network of like-minded educators, researchers, and experts in the field of impact-focused education. This network will serve as their community and sounding board for new ideas and initiatives. The facilitators will also connect them to other relevant networks such as IEEE SIGHT, EPICS in IEEE, etc. We are also inviting participants from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and other countries to share their experiences and join this network.
11. Commitment to Social Impact: Faculty members will leave the workshop with a commitment to fostering a new generation of socially conscious engineers, entrepreneurs, and leaders. They will explore how engineering is or can be as much of a care-giving profession.
12. Inspiration and Motivation: TESSI aims to inspire and motivate participants, leaving them with a sense of purpose and enthusiasm for their role in transforming education and addressing global grand challenges.

09:30 - 10:00: Inaugural Session

Dignitaries from QC and Lehigh University Team

10:00 - 11:30: Welcome & Keynote address

Lehigh University /Address: An inspiring talk on the importance of transformative education and its role in addressing global challenges.

11:30 - 11:45: Break

Tea Break arrangement at Auditorium Foyer

11:45 - 12:45: Building with a Case Study

Session on an Innovation journey in Higher Education

12:45 - 13:30: On Sustainability

Partners from Civil Society and the Environmental Movement

13:30 - 14:30: Lunch

14:30 - 16:00: Small Group Formation+ Discussion + Plenary Debrief: State of the System  TESSI Institute Goal-Setting

Challenges with current teaching methods

Systemic Challenges facing Indian Higher Education

Expectations and experiences related to the TESSI Institute.

16:00-17:00: Principles of Universal Design for (Creative) Inquiry

45 mins: Introduction to Universal Design for Inquiry (Transformative Education)

15 mins: Hallmarks of Creative Inquiry (for Sustainable Social Impact) Projects

17:00-17:45: TESSI Project Introduction

Introduction to TESSI Project: Project framework and expectations

(Participants will form teams and get their charge; Hosts will identify 5-6 projects that the participants will work on. All project frameworks will be focused on some kind of interdisciplinary impact-focused program creation with various thematic areas

- food systems, healthcare, manufacturing, supply chains, etc.)

17:45: End of Day Activities: EOD (Teams have unstructured time to work on their projects)