Using Learning Launch to experiment on what attracts our teenagers towards

joining our church online Youth Fellowship.

Challenge

Teenagers are an important phase age group who will need guidance, mentoring, support and friendship.  This is the age group which faces many challenges internally within themselves and have so many  unanswered questions. The current pandemic situation in Sri Lanka has shut schools and we see only  private schools are having online education functioning.

The teenagers are under tremendous pressure and many of them are facing depression, boredom,  laziness, and locked down within their homes. They are unable to travel, play with their friends, meet their  friends, and feel lonely.

Selecting Learning Launch

The video from  (Not sure if I am spelling the name correct), guided us through a wonderful  practical presentation in this area. I was very impressed and thought of using this wonderful tool to  experiment with some of the ideas the core committee had brainstormed in attracting the teen group to  join their online YF Meetings (I am a mentor for the group). I believe this tool will help us align our ideas  and look at how they could be implemented and learn from the outcomes to improve our decision-making  skills.

Application

In this application we have planned to filter the best ideas gathered through the brain storming sessions  we had, and now it is time to align ourselves and select a few ideas which could be a wow factor in reaching  out to these teenagers.

First, we developed a hypothesis on one of our Ideas, which was to have an online Talent show, the  specific target audience will be the teenage group in our church. The identified need was that we knew  many have not been able to engage in external activities and have been locked down within their homes,  we also identified that many of them had great gifts or talents as we call them which could be brought  out. We knew that by bridging the identified problem with our solution, we could provide an opportunity  by starting a platform for these teens to display their talent, would not only give them a breathing space  to think of something creative, but get out of the pandemic bubble and be refreshed both physically and  mentally. We also wanted to ensure that even some of the teens who were shy to perform on a physical  stage, would be comfortable to present an item from their own in their own comfort.

Based on this assumption, we wanted to validate the idea if this would be suitable by selecting a sample  size of 9, a mix of both sexes within 3 age groups (13– 15, 16 – 17, 18 – 20) out of the 30 members.

We also listed some disconfirming facts as to what could stop them from not being a part of this  engagement. And some them were, non-availability of Smart Phone or devices, Non availability of Data  or coverage, No resources to do their act (If it is a painter, he or she might not have a drawing board or

paints available to be purchased due to the lock down). This helped us identify challenges they might have  and address them beforehand.

Insights & Approach

When we approached the groups, we observed that mostly all of them were very much interested and  pleased with the idea and were willing to participate in the Talent show. But raised a few concerns in the  same lines as resources. We also felt that based on the feedback we received, we needed to support them  in acquiring some resources and also give them sufficient time to prepare and also may be reward them  for their hard work through certificates and awards.

And other great element which we felt was very helpful was the process where we segregated confirming  and disconfirming facts which really assisted us in better presenting the idea to the team.

We hope to run through some of the other key ideas generated through our brain storming sessions  through the learning launch tool, to bring a better and effective outcome to our ideas and also identify  some of the ideas we might feel great, but when actually going through the process, we might identify  them as being not very practical or implementable.

