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[CALL / CONFERENCE] Breaker, Portland OR

Redefining Education. Creating Entrepreneurs. Designing Change.

Portland, OR  May 4 -19, 2014

Flip the switch on your future. Be a Breaker. Whether you’re a student looking for real-world learning opportunities or an educator looking for innovative instructional models, Breaker is a breakaway experiential learning program that creates innovators. We believe that ingenuity is a learned skill that can be taught. Our process involves identifying local and global challenges and using them to connect and catalyze students, teachers, administrators, and community members around designing solutions to real world problems like…

The Future of Stuff

What is the future of stuff and why does it matter to Portland? From May 4 – 19, 2014 this facilitated design challenge will have students from across the city researching, designing, and testing the viability and social impact of business opportunities they identify for making and manufacturing. It also presents a unique opportunity for executives, school administrators, designers, teachers, and community based organizations to learn with and from the Breaker team as they explore the intersection of challenge-based learning, design-driven innovation, and social entrepreneurship.

Whether we’re looking for a new pair of jeans or ten thousand microprocessors, the way we go about making and getting objects is changing fast. Current and developing technologies present exciting opportunities to democratize production and personalize the manufacturing process making it hyper-local with tools like 3D printing and a growing number of open-access maker facilities. We’re entering an age of mass customization and pushing in new directions with products that bridge the digital/physical divide. How might we build an economic base of producers not just consumers? What products, services, communities, platforms, and learning engagements will facilitate entry, advancement, innovation, and continued growth of the manufacturing base in the US? This team of Breakers is challenged with identifying opportunities to create immediate value in this growing sector.

The Opportunity
This is a challenge-based, experiential learning opportunity that will immediately advance the skill sets of participants. It will build cross-sector bridges between collaborating organizations and foster innovation across Portland’s teaching and learning ecosystem. Please join us as a student or as a professional development participant.

• Join the Breaker student team from May 4 – 19. Ages 17-24 welcome. Apply here.
• Join a 3-day professional development workshop. Apply here.