Mind Mapping to solve online rural education during COVID 19 in Peru

Challenge

In Perú we have a rural population almost entirely disconnected of the world. Almost 90% of rural  population does not have access to Wi-Fi: this due to the plains, mountains and difficult access  accompanied by the neglection of the government. During the pandemic, all schools closed and the  only alternative to continue all children´s education was through TV or online classes.

Peruvian public education is low quality, so the scarce quantity of families in poor areas who had  smartphones or TV received 3-4 hours of class in only two subjects: math and communication. This  classes were not personalized, and children ended up with many questions and were unable to  understand nor learn at all.

A group of young university students, including me, had the idea to create a program to give tutoring  sessions to kids in really poor areas through our smartphones. “Por un Perú Mejor”- (For a better  Peru, in English) At first, we thought the whole organization would be easy, but after a few weeks  we created a page in Facebook and Instagram hundreds of parents contacted us for free tutoring  lessons on many subjects. We needed to create a new way to manage all this information of children  entering to the program and, we needed to include more tutor volunteers and manage them  correctly, like a real NGO.

Selection

As we learned at Unit 3 of this course, Mind Mapping is a useful tool to find patterns among wide  amounts of data. Having many inputs on the educative problems many Peruvian children were  having during online classes, making mind maps within the organizational leaders of our  organization, we were able to group ideas and solutions to manage better the children and  volunteers to better help children learn adequately.

Application

Analyzing our databases, we saw that Math, English and Communication (Spanish grammar, reading  and writing) were subjects highly requested for tutoring sessions. So, after viewing this problem, we  made a mind mapping workshops where we exposed the actual challenges of the organization. We  all visualized the problems and concluded that we needed to prioritize the organization of the  volunteers.

After this, we made another mind mapping activity were each member proposed a solution. The  most common solution was to separate the volunteers in groups and supervise them constantly,  give them feedback, give them workshops and help them make their tutoring sessions better. After  a discussion we separated our organization into subjects, making teams of volunteers, assigning  heads or leaders for each subject to supervise tutors while prioritizing.

Insight

I think that having knowledge on how to correctly mind map to organize ideas in a group of people  has make our journey easier going. We are a lot of people trying to help as best as we can in our  children education. We all come from different backgrounds, careers, universities and we have  different ideas that we need to first visualize and organize to start working upon a well-thought  solution. I studied Industrial Engineering and found this tool very useful when following a Design  Thinking process not even in a group but alone. One single mind can draw a lot of solutions to a  problem, we can be very enthusiastic taking into consideration we as engineers think we can have  a solution to everything. The key on mind mapping is to prioritize and visualize which solutions are  the best for that moment.

Approach

Mind mapping has also helped along when trying to decide what we were going to do with the  money many Peruvian organizations gave us to better our tutoring system. First, we thought on  giving free internet to some rural areas but that was expensive and not all children in the program  will have access to it. We have many ideas on what to do with the money just because we had it.  But after a mind mapping session we realized that just now we don’t need to use that money. We  were just starting and maybe we should try save it and first organize our internal processes. Mind  mapping gives you many solutions but sometimes you need to question every solution by  understanding if it is a short- or long-term solution what you need right now.

This course and this tool opened my analytic ability to approach data, problems and solutions. From  now on I am not looking data as before. Data speaks by itself and is extremely valuable to every  organization. Even more for an NGO that tries to help people with this information.


Mind Mapping to solve online rural education during COVID 19 in Peru Challenge In Perú we have a rural population almost entirely disconnected of the world . Almost 90 % of rural population does not have access to Wi - Fi : this due to the plains , mountains and difficult access accompanied by the neglection of the government . During the pandemic , all schools closed and the only alternative to continue all children´s education was through TV or online classes . Peruvian public education is low quality , so the scarce quantity of families in poor areas who had smartphones or TV received 3 - 4 hours of class in only two subjects : math and communication . This classes were not personalized , and children ended up with many questions and were unable to understand nor learn at all . A group of young university students , including me , had the idea to create a program to give tutoring sessions to kids in really poor areas through our smartphones . “ Por un Perú Mejor”- ( For a better Peru , in English ) At first , we thought the whole organization would be easy , but after a few weeks we created a page in Facebook and Instagram hundreds of parents contacted us for free tutoring lessons on many subjects . We needed to create a new way to manage all this information of children entering to the program and , we needed to include more tutor volunteers and manage them correctly , like a real NGO . Selection As we learned at Unit 3 of this course , Mind Mapping is a useful tool to find patterns among wide amounts of data . Having many inputs on the educative problems many Peruvian children were having during online classes , making mind maps within the organizational leaders of our organization , we were able to group ideas and solutions to manage better the children and volunteers to better help children learn adequately . Application Analyzing our databases , we saw that Math , English and Communication ( Spanish grammar , reading and writing ) were subjects highly requested for tutoring sessions . So , after viewing this problem , we made a mind mapping workshops where we exposed the actual challenges of the organization . We all visualized the problems and concluded that we needed to prioritize the organization of the volunteers . After this , we made another mind mapping activity were each member proposed a solution . The most common solution was to separate the volunteers in groups and supervise them constantly , give them feedback , give them workshops and help them make their tutoring sessions better . After a discussion we separated our organization into subjects , making teams of volunteers , assigning heads or leaders for each subject to supervise tutors while prioritizing . Insight I think that having knowledge on how to correctly mind map to organize ideas in a group of people has make our journey easier going . We are a lot of people trying to help as best as we can in our children education . We all come from different backgrounds , careers , universities and we have different ideas that we need to first visualize and organize to start working upon a well - thought solution . I studied Industrial Engineering and found this tool very useful when following a Design Thinking process not even in a group but alone . One single mind can draw a lot of solutions to a problem , we can be very enthusiastic taking into consideration we as engineers think we can have a solution to everything . The key on mind mapping is to prioritize and visualize which solutions are the best for that moment . Approach Mind mapping has also helped along when trying to decide what we were going to do with the money many Peruvian organizations gave us to better our tutoring system . First , we thought on giving free internet to some rural areas but that was expensive and not all children in the program will have access to it . We have many ideas on what to do with the money just because we had it . But after a mind mapping session we realized that just now we do n’t need to use that money . We were just starting and maybe we should try save it and first organize our internal processes . Mind mapping gives you many solutions but sometimes you need to question every solution by understanding if it is a short- or long - term solution what you need right now . This course and this tool opened my analytic ability to approach data , problems and solutions . From now on I am not looking data as before . Data speaks by itself and is extremely valuable to every organization . Even more for an NGO that tries to help people with this information .