Mind Mapping

Challenge

I am currently a college student taking up a bachelor’s degree in Digital Illustration and Animation, the

main reason I took this course is because it is somehow relevant to my dream career. Which is closely related

to arts, design, and innovation. If there are any challenges I, or any of my classmates, face today is the heavy

weight of demotivation that causes us to perform poorly on our online classes due to the pandemic. That

being said, I would like to conduct an ​innovative ​way to regain our motivation by applying the things I have

learned in this course. Since I am in a course filled with creative people, I would like to implement

Mind-Mapping. Which is a tool that uses patterns and illustrations that I am confident my classmates would

appreciate and engage with.

Selection & Application

Due to the pandemic, I am unable to meet with them in person so I ought to conduct my research through

social networking sites that enable us to communicate the challenge. I used a detailed ​map ​with patterns and

descriptions of questions, ​what causes, what hinders, what are the possible solutions, ​and ​what actions ​in

order to give them the idea of ​what is ​the research about and how can this contribute to them as students

struggling in the midst of a pandemic.

I showed and explained to them the causes of demotivation and what hinders them from performing well in

class, which are (1) the boundaries between home and school were breached and the adjustment is hard, (2)

the underlying discomfort of the chances of being infected, and (3) the learning environment does not suit

their homes. Next is to show the possible and feasible solutions and actions to take, which are (1) come up

with a routine that separates their educational, personal, and familial responsibilities to rebuild the

boundaries between academic and chores, and (2) indulge; do something for yourself (e.g. exercise, cook,

bake, eat, play games, etc.)

Insight

At first, I thought my ideas were well thought out and easy to implement. But upon hearing feedback from

others, I’ve learned that the causes I have given were not only the reasons for their demotivation, it included

and opened my eyes to a more complex and broader horizon. I’ve learned that not only was it the

boundaries​, it was also the strain in the students’ and their families’ relationships. I’ve learned that not only

was it the ​discomfort,​ it was also the paranoia of  the possibility of being infected. I’ve learned that not only

were their homes not ​suited ​for an educational environment, it was also the lack of devices to use for the

class. Therefore, I had to learn these deeper reasons in order to present new and feasible solutions to these

problems.

Approach

Now that I know better, I may be able to rearrange and reconstruct my mind-map into a more well thought

out plan that could better give solutions to the problem I intend to fix in the first place. My shortcomings

were not failure, it is a new opportunity for me to approach this research in a different perspective. For as

long as I am learning through them and from them, I can always come up with ways in order to help solve

the problem.

