This week I dove even further into the pressing question of “why are teachers leaving the classroom and pursuing EdTech?” to gain insight on the teacher shortage. Once I solidified my question/ problem, I worked on curating a survey to gather more information on this phenomenon. This survey went through multiple rounds of trial and error, altering each question’s format, wording, and place within the survey, before finally sending it out to participants. This survey was tweaked multiple times and probably still has room for improvement. The first round of iteration was done the day after the first draft was completed. Looking at the survey with fresh eyes allowed me to pick out grammatical errors, format issues, and wording mistakes. The second round was completed after a different set of eyes looked at my survey and spent the time taking it. This is where the most changes came in. This person was able to point out questions that were unclear, provide a realistic timeframe, and suggest ways the flow of the survey could be improved to optimize participation. This was the most beneficial step in my design process, as in most design processes. After receiving feedback from others who took the survey, I made key design decisions that were intended to maximize participation and encourage thoughtfulness throughout the survey. I took out a few questions that were unnecessary/ repetitive, clarified what other questions were asking about, and changed the entire format of some questions. This question was initially a free response, but after receiving different feedback about it, I decided it would be best suited as a matrix of responses. To see even more of this, feel free to take my survey!
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This week as I continued the process of narrowing down questions I had about my workplace to one ‘wicked problem’, I created a sketchnote video of my categorizing/ brainstorming process. Sketchnotes became increasingly popular when I was growing up, and I always wondered how these kinds of videos were made. What I didn’t realize is that many of the more popular sketchnote videos use apps and platforms such as Procreate, Notability, and Good Notes, and VideoScribe. Initially, I tried to use VideoScribe’s free trial to create my brainstorm video. After hours of frustration with the app’s lag and bugs, I realized that I had lost sight of the end goal and was more focused on completing the final video. I scrapped this entire video and went down a more straightforward path where I taped my thought process as I recorded my brainstorm on a whiteboard and physically moved my sticky notes around to different categories. This process, while not as visually stimulating as the VideoScribe product would have been, was significantly more effective in keeping track of my thought process through my brainstorming session. I was able to easily reflect on this video and narrow down my questions to 5 key inquiries, which will be used in my Wicked Problem Project. Why is the sky blue? Why do I have to take a nap? Are we there yet? These are a handful of life’s most important and pressing questions… from a child’s point of view. But what happens to these questions when children grow up? It seems that they suddenly disappear, or maybe we just get more comfortable with not asking questions and receiving answers. What are the most important and pressing questions in your life right now? And have you ever actually vocalized them? Have you ever thought about the questions that drive your life? This week while reading Berger’s (2014) A More Beautiful Question, I reflected on the ways in which I do and do not ask questions in my everyday life. I noticed that one of the most common questions, and one of the only questions I ask day to day is “what’s for dinner?”. I found that for many of my friends and family members in the professional setting, if unprompted, they will also go days without asking questions in their professional lives. Berger (2014) states that “frequently in various professional domains […] basic, fundamental questions can make people impatient and even uncomfortable” (14). I have seen this phenomenon in my professional life, as even while I work in one of the most encouraging and welcoming settings that I have ever been in, many of my coworkers still do not make the time to allow and welcome questions in the workplace. This in turn, conditions us to stop asking questions and waiting for answers. With the first two chapters of Berger’s A More Beautiful Question in mind, I participated in a “quickfire” activity. The results of this exercise are pictured below. In this exercise I set a timer for five minutes and let my mind freely ask questions about my professional setting- no constraints, expectations, or guidelines. It took my mindset a while to get into the flow of asking questions, and looking back on this experience I realize that I was experiencing many phenomena that Berger discussed. I had a hard time starting this quickfire of questions, as I wasn't sure what questions I was ‘supposed’ to have. I also didn’t think any of my questions were important enough, relevant enough, or inquisitive enough to be valid. Once I got out of this mindset and allowed myself to record any and all thoughts I had, the questions started coming to me easier. Something I noticed in this exercise was that my mind jumped to statements instead of questions. What I did with the last minute of my time left was exercise changing these statements into questions. It seems that I have an easier time making observations than asking questions, but many times these observations are really just questions hidden in a statement format… interesting!
Reflecting on this exercise, Berger’s first two chapters, and all that I came to know about my lack of question-asking, I decided to do this quickfire exercise centered around asking questions about my own life. Being already in the question-asking mindset and with some practice under my belt, the questions flowed much easier. I found that I was better about turning statements into questions and allowing myself to question my world with no restrictions. Due to personal privacy and safety, I have decided not to include the image of my results. This personal quickfire taught me a lot about where my mind was in the moment, what I need more of and less of in my life, and some of my personal goals. I would highly recommend this activity for anyone looking for a ‘mind dump’. Similar to my personal quickfire, my professional quickfire revealed a lot of my, almost unconscious, thoughts/questions that I have been conditioned to suppress. Even though questioning my workplace felt uncomfortable, exercising this ability to question opened my mind to new ideas and allowed me more freedom in thought that I didn’t know was possible. References: Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY One of the greatest challenges my colleagues have vocalized is overcoming states of depression, sprouting from daily isolation. Putting your best effort forward while not feeling 100% can be challenging, and struggling to complete daily tasks at full capacity can put both your work and job in danger. A suggestion for treating depression outlined by Kendrick et. al (2022)’s Management of Depression in Adults’ study, is guided self-help. This is one of the most basic forms of help for adults with mild depression. The tool, Headspace for Work, is a quick and easy mindfulness app aimed to help employees stay present and mindful throughout their workday. By incorporating this application into a workspace, employees who are battling depression will have the opportunity to practice self-help and mindfulness within their workday, and all other employees can work to maintain or strengthen their mental health. Other benefits of this app include a strengthened mental health through short and consistent practice, a better work-life balance by taking time for yourself throughout the workday, and a greater sense of calm and composure- all with the help of short 'courses' or 'podcasts'. As outlined in Bender&Farvolden (2008), being healthy mentally is key for work-life balance and the execution of work at full capacity. A 2015 study proved a direct correlation between severity of depression and productivity (Asami et al. 2015). Headspace for Work can boost productivity while preventing or minimizing the impacts of depression. For more information about Headspace for Work, watch the video below. Sources:
Asami, Y., Goren, A., & Okumura, Y. (2015). Work Productivity Loss With Depression, Diagnosed and Undiagnosed, Among Workers in an Internet-Based Survey Conducted in Japan. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 57(1), 105–110. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48500661 Bender, A., & Farvolden, P. (2008). Depression and the workplace: a progress report. Current psychiatry reports, 10(1), 73-79. Kendrick, T., Pilling, S., Mavranezouli, I., Megnin-Viggars, O., Ruane, C., Eadon, H., & Kapur, N. (2022). Management of depression in adults: summary of updated NICE guidance. bmj, 378. |
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