Hello! My name is Ceira Stewart and I'm from Alexandria,VA & I am a Junior attending Old Dominion University. I'm majoring in Elementary Education, with a goal of becoming a Pediatric or Neonatal Nurse. This is my second year joining the Innovate Monarchs Program. I decided to join again this year because of two reasons. One would be the topic that we were focusing on, the Black and Latinx community. I feel as though these are two groups that are misrepresented and there should be change with that. Secondly, I loved the idea of creating a solution to a problem and implementing it to the University. No school is perfect, which is why I think it's a good idea to make adjustments on areas that need to be fixed. Outside of me doing schoolwork, I love to watch different movies and tv shows with my friends. Also, blasting music where I can be just be free to sing and dance. I recently just became a Certified Nursing Assistant(CNA) and this summer I plan on taking Phlebotomy Classes so I can be a Certified Phlebotomy Tech. After graduating, I hope to get my own place either by myself or with friends.
Innovate Monarch Experience
- The change my team and I were trying to make was an effort to build a more productive way for students and staff to resolve problems with classroom practices through empathy. This was a team project in support of ODU's efforts to 'Design a University Ready for African American and Latinx Learners. How my group and I decided on our prototype was "Monarchs Flipping the Classroom".
- This idea would be where there would be student leaders who would work with incoming students from different departments. This relationship would require the incoming students to take note of teacher practices. The professor would gain insight of this information on their practices and make adjustments to their classroom. What our idea does for the University would be building better relationships between both the students and faculty members. Students will be able to feel more confident coming up to professors for help and the professor can feel as though they've been helpful( our empathy stage).
- During our design-thinking process my group and I were able to empathize with other students when we sent our surveys and gained responses from them. When defining, we found that the school did not have enough professors of the Black American and Latinx background, students believed there weren't enough resources for the Black American and Latinx community and more. For our ideation stage, we thought about how we could implement different ideas on campus. Some of these ideas were developing training sessions for faculty/staff in place for all incoming Black and Latinx students.
- The prototype stage was where we focused on how might we which was "How might we have faculty and staff better prepared for future incoming and current Black American and Latinx students?" To test this out, we wanted to try this idea for the upcoming semester. A key goal we have for this program would be to have a more positive relationship between the students and faculty.
- Prototype Link: https://sites.google.com/odu.edu/mftc/prototype
Mindsets of a Human-Centered Designer
I practiced the Innovation is for Everyone mindset when I had to collaborate with my team members to figure out what the issue was for Black and Latinx students. During our process, this taught me that we all have different experiences and stories which allowed us to think of a couple different solutions.
I practiced the Know Your Why mindset when I had to explain the reason I wanted to join Innovate Monarchs a second year. My personal mission was to figure out how faculty and staff could be better prepared for the current, future and incoming Black and Latino students. I wanted this specific group of students to feel equal and accepted to those who had been on campus. This taught me that this was a common group that needed a bit more support and guidance during their college experience.
I practiced the Show & Tell mindset when my group and I had to conduct a few surveys and use the responses as a guide for us figuring out a solution. During our process, the responses we received were very insightful on things happening in classrooms. This taught me that when stating an idea or pitch, it's important have some data to show for whatever you're trying to change.
I practiced the Radical Collaboration mindset when I had to work with my team members after our weekly ZOOM meetings and even times through text in order for us to get the project done. During this process, there were difficult times due to the lack of communication. This taught me that there is no perfect group when working with others who have different working styles than you.
I practiced the Empathetic & Human-Centered mindset when we had to take the responses from our surveys and thoroughly think "What needs to be changed" and "How can we make the relationship between students and teachers better." Our responses allowed us to use critical thinking and figure out a solution. During this process, the responses were very helpful and it was nice to get different POVs. This taught me that using information from the source "students" can give us more insight for the problem needed to be solved.
I practiced the Embrace Ambiguity mindset when I had to investigate further into our solution and then make adjustments on things that were questionable. This taught me that going on this journey with others can be sometimes difficult because everyone has different ideas/solutions. In the end, our main goal is to make everyone happy and comfortable with teaching practices on campus.
I practiced the Iterate, Iterate, Iterate mindset when my group and I had to make changes to our challenge, prototype and website as a whole. During this process this this taught me that it's okay to make mistakes and use those mistakes as learning lessons. With the learning lessons we make adjustments in order to better our product and website.
Applying Innovate Experiences in the Future
My thoughts on overall about this project would be, I think this a really good prototype that should be implemented on all campuses. It gives students the opportunity to feel needed on campus as "Student Leaders". Not only this, but incoming students won't feel nervous about taking courses due the rep the professor may have.
Some of the most interesting discoveries I made while working on this project would be professors do more work than we think they do. As for myself, I tend to be the natural leader without it being said or given the title as "leader".
Some of the most challenging moments I dealt with would be when you work other people, there's a chance they aren't going to have the same working style as you. This can be difficult because you come in with the intentions hoping they do and end up disappointed. Another challenging moment I had to deal with would be last minute changes and when I say last minute I mean changes having to be done 3 days before the event. I believe this prepared me for the future by having set in my mind there is a chance that you will have ups and downs when working with others.
The most important thing I learned personally would be it's important to empathize with others because that gives you the opportunity to have an open mind about things. Everyone has a different story and with these stories you're able to learn new things.
I feel my solution relates to real-world situations and problems because this solution could be used in offices for different companies in how things can be adjusted. Also, I believe our solution can to be the change for the betterment of the work community, other schools, and companies.
What I would do differently if I were to approach the same problem would be go the route I intended for my group to go. This route was to have the Student Leaders be the ones to host training sessions for faculty and staff. These sessions would allow for discussions to be discussed on the students POV along with the professors. Every two weeks, surveys will be sent out to students were they can discuss their thoughts on professors have improved on teaching practices. This information can then be given to the professor.
Credits:
Created with images by sanuas - "people discussion meeting discussion" • Firmbee - "ux prototyping design" • ulrichw - "idea brainstorming teamwork"