The Benefits of a Design-Focused Elective

As educators, we know that to set our students up to make positive change in the world, we must give them opportunities to feel empowered, develop agency, and take ownership of their learning. At the Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain, we are leveraging the power of technology and makerspaces to provide our middle school students with authentic and meaningful learning experiences, allowing them to become agents of positive change. Our students aren’t content to wait until college or adulthood to make a difference in their community—they are doing it now.

For over 12 years I have been exploring ways that students can use design technology to make a difference in the lives of others, an approach I’ve begun calling Client Based Learning (CBL). One way that CBL shows up at our school is through The Dawson Design Company (“The DDC”), an elective for seventh- and eighth-grade students. In the DDC, students learn design technology, fabrication, and entrepreneurship skills and apply them in purposeful ways in order to have real impact in their community.

The DDC runs like a small business, one in which students create high-quality professional-looking products that they sell to make money to support community organizations and initiatives.

STUDENT CREATIONS THAT LOOK PROFESSIONAL

A new generation of digital design and fabrication tools puts the ability to create “adult quality” work in the hands of students. Our DDC students learn the basics of 2D and 3D design, which they apply to create a variety of original products using tools such as laser cutters and 3D printers.

A school does not need tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment to run a design company, though. By starting small and cheap—for example, using a vinyl cutter valued at a fraction of the cost of a single laptop—to make decals for the community, students can gain experience finding markets, advertising their wares, working with clients, and selling their designs. Once students have developed the necessary skills and understanding, and once an entrepreneurial proof of concept exists, it becomes possible to build the program.

The Nuts and Bolts of Running a Class Like a Business

The DDC is a semester-long elective in which seventh- and eighth-grade students learn the fundamentals of digital design, making, entrepreneurship, project and finance management, and community impact. Working in project teams, students identify potential markets, set prices, and plan marketing campaigns. They fabricate products in the design lab and sell them within our school—at school events, through advisories, during dismissal—and to our broader community through word of mouth and a dedicated website. All profits are then donated to an organization chosen by the class.

Students agree upon and assume specific roles within each project team and receive regular feedback on their work. In this class, we assess a number of skills that students learn in order for the business to be successful, including the development of digital design and fabrication skills, the ability to pitch product and market proposals, goal setting and reflecting, craftsmanship, and the quality of their role work and collaborations.

Student Ownership and Purpose: The Keys to Authenticity

Providing opportunities for students to do work that actually matters to them, as well as to have a say in the decisions that need to be made, is the key to deep engagement and learning. Students in the DDC start the semester by selecting the recipient of proceeds they will earn. After having learned the basics of digital creation, project teams are then on their way, doing the work of an actual design company.

A unique aspect of Dawson’s elective programing is that students are allowed to take classes multiple times. Allowing students to participate in the DDC for more than one semester provides opportunities for expertise, enrichment, and extension. Experienced DDC members gain leadership experience by serving as project leads, becoming independent users of the equipment, teaching classmates, and exploring new directions and production techniques that will benefit the class, thus increasing their sense of ownership of the work.

Since its inception at Dawson two years ago, the DDC has raised over $11,000. The fact that all proceeds go to actual organizations working to help the community provides students with an authentic endpoint of their work and raises the stakes in the class. From the moment they step into the design lab, students understand that what they do in the DDC matters. Knowing that others will benefit from the success of the class results in deep engagement and an environment where students encourage and inspire each other.

The Power of Community Connection

Part of the success of our programming stems from the fact that we have been able to find a perfect service partner with whom to collaborate. For the past year and a half, DDC students have chosen to support The Tyler Robinson Foundation, a nonprofit started by hometown Las Vegas heroes the Imagine Dragons that emotionally and financially supports families impacted by pediatric cancer. What started with simple cash donations has deepened into a truly reciprocal relationship.

In addition to experiencing philanthropy in action, learning more about cancer, and gaining inspiration from the stories of TRF kids, our students connect with children helped by the TRF by inviting them to campus and working with them on collaborative design projects.

Recent Recognition

In May 2025, the DDC received the ATLIS (Association of Tech Leaders in Independent Schools) Visionary Excellence Award, “honoring disruptors—students, educators, or teams—who inspire change through imaginative technology use.” As we expressed in the ATLIS Talking Technology podcast, my students and I firmly believe that weaving design technology, entrepreneurship, and service into a student-run design company gives them the chance to develop agency and empowerment through experiencing what it is to be a changemaker.