




MIT Professional Education Courses
Teaching Organizations
to Operate Differently — At Scale
with MIT D-Lab
The Story
In 2017, many global organizations had the interest to work more inclusively with marginalized communities, but lacked a practical framework for doing it. Sher was invited by the Practical Impact Alliance (PIA) Director at MIT D-Lab to lead the design and delivery of an eight-week live virtual Participatory Design course for PIA's global network of foundations, NGOs, and international institutions. Drawing from real-world IDDS field examples, the course introduced human-centered design, co-design, and user-generated design through a step-by-step process for engaging marginalized stakeholders — with hands-on activities each week applied to a real project of participants' own choosing. The impact extended well beyond the course itself: organizations including USAID went on to integrate co-design techniques into their global procurement processes and standard operating practices.
That success became the seed for something larger: MIT D-Lab's first-ever professional education course, Inclusive Innovation, in 2019. Responding to growing demand from organizational leaders eager to learn MIT D-Lab's inclusive frameworks and participatory tools, Sher brought together D-Lab faculty and researchers to design and deliver a one-week professional education course on MIT's campus. Across two years and two formats, the course drew 60+ participants from the UN, Oxfam, the White House, Oracle, Marriott, George Washington University, Lingnan University, and scholarship-supported social entrepreneurs from the Global South. A year after the first offering, 93% of participants had integrated the tools into their work and over 30% had begun collaborative initiatives with fellow participants. When COVID prevented an in-person second offering, the course was redesigned for live virtual delivery in 2021 using Miro — and proved equally successful, demonstrating that immersive participatory learning could translate powerfully across time zones and screens.
The Stats
70+
Participants across 3 years and 2 formats
93%
Of participants integrated tools into their work within one year
50%
Reported increased confidence to approach complex challenges
30%
Began new collaborative initiatives with fellow participants

