Challenge & Selection    Our team provide self-access language learning services to all students in our university,  mainly in the form of 30-minute one-to-one consultations, and 1-hour workshops. All  services are booked through an online system and normally happen on campus in a learning  common building. Due to the pandemic, we have moved all of these services online through  Zoom and since then, our numbers have dropped significantly. We had to find out the  reasons for the drop in numbers and try to get them back up.    While our team has employed all four tools in the process of trying to solve this unknown  problem, I believe mind mapping has played the largest role in our journey of uncovering  and targeting unarticulated needs. During meetings with team members, leaders and users,  we have used mind mapping to gather insights, and then found patterns from the sea of  ideas and reflections. This was paramount to the problem solving process by helping us shift  our discussion from what is to what if.    Application    First, we used the software Notion to create a series of cards with the various concerns and  observations from our team members during a meeting. As we were working remotely, this  was a good replacement of sticky notes and whiteboards, as we could later drag and drop  these cards into different columns of categories.    Starting with concerns and observations allow us to first look at the issue from a personal  way – we were essentially interviewing each other. Through this first step, we have  generated more than 30 cards containing our own reflections and accounts. They covered  problems such as

• Lowered booking rates,  • Lowered accountability on the students’ side (meaning they would be absent from

bookings),

• Students being very assignment-oriented rather than aiming at long term learning,   • A shift in our main customer group from the large undergraduate population to the

smaller postgraduate population.

From these observations, we tried to generate possible reasons through grouping these  cards together under one heading, mainly decreased student motivation in a general sense  and a lack of effective advertisement opportunity now that we cannot use posters and class  visit in an empty university campus. With these insights from the team, we have also  interviewed a group of students informally, and they cited intense coursework and a lack of  study space in their own homes being the major factors discouraging them from using our  services, as Hong Kong homes are often small and lack personal space for interactive  activities. This helped us realise that undergraduates are overwhelmed both by academic  workload and their lack of balance and space in their lives during COVID19. In fact, it was  more of a workload and emotional burden issue rather than being a marketing and  advertisement issue. Postgraduates were not as affected as they did not have too much

coursework in general, and are usually more independent in both thinking and lifestyle  (many of them have private space of their own).  Insight & Approach    As a result, we advertised from a different perspective – we encouraged students to come  to us in the early stage of an assignment. Rather than helping them with the end product,  we are telling them to come get help with thinking, study skills, and critical reading, which  requires less work on their side, but create even greater impact on the product (their  coursework) through a nurturing environment that engages them in the more formative  stages of learning. We also loosened our rule with turning on the camera, or even using the  microphone. We encouraged students to voice out in the most convenient and comfortable  way possible, which could be typing in the chat box, or sending us emails, instead of  mandating a video conversation while their parents or siblings are also in the same space  learning and working. We also put a lot of our learning and teaching materials online so as  to allow more flexible, asynchronous learning.    Ideally, in the future, we could survey and interview a larger group of students to figure out  the problem with more of their input, but I think mind mapping with our team was a great  starting point for thinking about the issue in a more in-depth way. Perhaps keeping these  questions about learning style and stress in our usually year end focus groups would be a  good way of continuously assessing this problem if the pandemic persists, or if we are hit by  another event that leads to the campus shutting down.


Challenge & Selection Our team provide self - access language learning services to all students in our university , mainly in the form of 30 - minute one - to - one consultations , and 1 - hour workshops . All services are booked through an online system and normally happen on campus in a learning common building . Due to the pandemic , we have moved all of these services online through Zoom and since then , our numbers have dropped significantly . We had to find out the reasons for the drop in numbers and try to get them back up . While our team has employed all four tools in the process of trying to solve this unknown problem , I believe mind mapping has played the largest role in our journey of uncovering and targeting unarticulated needs . During meetings with team members , leaders and users , we have used mind mapping to gather insights , and then found patterns from the sea of ideas and reflections . This was paramount to the problem solving process by helping us shift our discussion from what is to what if . Application First , we used the software Notion to create a series of cards with the various concerns and observations from our team members during a meeting . As we were working remotely , this was a good replacement of sticky notes and whiteboards , as we could later drag and drop these cards into different columns of categories . Starting with concerns and observations allow us to first look at the issue from a personal way – we were essentially interviewing each other . Through this first step , we have generated more than 30 cards containing our own reflections and accounts . They covered problems such as • Lowered booking rates , • Lowered accountability on the students ’ side ( meaning they would be absent from bookings ) , • Students being very assignment - oriented rather than aiming at long term learning , • A shift in our main customer group from the large undergraduate population to the smaller postgraduate population . From these observations , we tried to generate possible reasons through grouping these cards together under one heading , mainly decreased student motivation in a general sense and a lack of effective advertisement opportunity now that we can not use posters and class visit in an empty university campus . With these insights from the team , we have also interviewed a group of students informally , and they cited intense coursework and a lack of study space in their own homes being the major factors discouraging them from using our services , as Hong Kong homes are often small and lack personal space for interactive activities . This helped us realise that undergraduates are overwhelmed both by academic workload and their lack of balance and space in their lives during COVID19 . In fact , it was more of a workload and emotional burden issue rather than being a marketing and advertisement issue . Postgraduates were not as affected as they did not have too much coursework in general , and are usually more independent in both thinking and lifestyle ( many of them have private space of their own ) . Insight & Approach As a result , we advertised from a different perspective – we encouraged students to come to us in the early stage of an assignment . Rather than helping them with the end product , we are telling them to come get help with thinking , study skills , and critical reading , which requires less work on their side , but create even greater impact on the product ( their coursework ) through a nurturing environment that engages them in the more formative stages of learning . We also loosened our rule with turning on the camera , or even using the microphone . We encouraged students to voice out in the most convenient and comfortable way possible , which could be typing in the chat box , or sending us emails , instead of mandating a video conversation while their parents or siblings are also in the same space learning and working . We also put a lot of our learning and teaching materials online so as to allow more flexible , asynchronous learning . Ideally , in the future , we could survey and interview a larger group of students to figure out the problem with more of their input , but I think mind mapping with our team was a great starting point for thinking about the issue in a more in - depth way . Perhaps keeping these questions about learning style and stress in our usually year end focus groups would be a good way of continuously assessing this problem if the pandemic persists , or if we are hit by another event that leads to the campus shutting down .