The Storytellers – Storytelling

Challenge

There is a group of graduated assistants that guide the academic laboratory practices. They take  the requirements of the teachers and then they have to develop the document that guides the  students during the practices. It is not an easy job, because these graduated assistants are also  students in the post grade program and they also have a lot of duties by their own. So this activity  used to be seeing as a tedious activity, as an administrative one and with a lack of impact for the  community because the evaluations that feedbacks from the students to them lacks of  motivation and the students felt that there was a lottery to have a good graduated assistant  guiding their practices.

The challenge then was to connect the graduated assistants to something deeper than just a  “job” they had to do and make some impact in the community and this way to increment the  evaluations not just in knowledge but also in motivation for the laboratory practices. I took this  role because I am the laboratory coordinator of the department and the graduated assistants  are my responsibility.

Selection

As Fernando Tapia, Global Leadership Development Director of Mars Inc, said “every great  institution has a story behind it” and “storytelling is there between solving a problem and  creating a cause”i, I wanted to (and still do) create a cause and that is why I decided to use the  storytelling tool. Because I need them to get really involved in this subject I thought that the  storytelling tool could be the one that generates more empathy between me and the graduated  assistants and between them and their students. “Luckily” this would put some additional points  to the motivation of the students.

Application a Insight

I started the process seating down with the graduated assistants and knowing what they thought  about their job, what was hard for them and what was easy. Lunch after lunch I received a lot of  claims about the high requirements of the professors, about the time they didn’t have to make  good practices guides and the lack of interest from some students to learn. The first couple of  meeting we were all drained out as I tried to give feedback to every claim they had and they felt  like there were anything to do. So I decided to start listed to a different story, I understood that  behind all the stories they were telling me, there was actually a message: “I don’t have control  over my practices or the students, I don’t have all the answers and I feel lost”.

So I decided to hear to this new story and started to ask the right questions: ¿how do you feel  when you get into the lab?, ¿how do your students feel about the course?, ¿how do you handle  a specific situation?, etc. and then the motivation of the graduated assistants increased, I  stopped hearing about the lack of time or effort or even the requirements of the professors,  instead I stated to hear about how something worked in a good way and how they used it in the  practices and how others could use them too. We built more empathy between me and the  graduated assistants, building trust along the way, and at the same time, they built more  empathy with their students increasing the motivation of the students even when the content  of the course didn’t change.

I have to say the truth and is that not all the graduated assistants went through the hole process,  some of them stopped attending to the meetings, I stated to work with 10 and I just kept working

with 8 but I understood that I couldn’t make empathy with all of them because as Jeanne said  in Lesson 1 “design thinking is not a one size fits all solution”ii. I will be asking for feedback from  them at the end of this semester as it is not over yet, I think I could use this tool as a new way  to connect with the graduated assistants and to motivate the students as they get conscious of  their role with them.

Approach

Another tool I could use was visualization, so the graduated assistants could see themselves with  the students and the role they play with them, with the academic guides and with the professors.  I think we would need more time to advance, share and give some feedback about it. It would  be bounding the fact that they could all make a picture of where they are right now and at the  end of the semester trying to bound the students and motivate them.

i Taken from the material of week 2: “Storytelling Tool”, Design Thinking for Innovation, Aya Moreno, Univerisity of Virginia trough Coursera.  ii Taken from the material of week 1: “Challenge Best: Suited for Design Thinking”, Design Thinking for  Innovation, Aya Moreno, Univeristy of Virginia trough Coursera.


The Storytellers – Storytelling Challenge There is a group of graduated assistants that guide the academic laboratory practices . They take the requirements of the teachers and then they have to develop the document that guides the students during the practices . It is not an easy job , because these graduated assistants are also students in the post grade program and they also have a lot of duties by their own . So this activity used to be seeing as a tedious activity , as an administrative one and with a lack of impact for the community because the evaluations that feedbacks from the students to them lacks of motivation and the students felt that there was a lottery to have a good graduated assistant guiding their practices . The challenge then was to connect the graduated assistants to something deeper than just a “ job ” they had to do and make some impact in the community and this way to increment the evaluations not just in knowledge but also in motivation for the laboratory practices . I took this role because I am the laboratory coordinator of the department and the graduated assistants are my responsibility . Selection As Fernando Tapia , Global Leadership Development Director of Mars Inc , said “ every great institution has a story behind it ” and “ storytelling is there between solving a problem and creating a cause”i , I wanted to ( and still do ) create a cause and that is why I decided to use the storytelling tool . Because I need them to get really involved in this subject I thought that the storytelling tool could be the one that generates more empathy between me and the graduated assistants and between them and their students . “ Luckily ” this would put some additional points to the motivation of the students . Application a Insight I started the process seating down with the graduated assistants and knowing what they thought about their job , what was hard for them and what was easy . Lunch after lunch I received a lot of claims about the high requirements of the professors , about the time they did n’t have to make good practices guides and the lack of interest from some students to learn . The first couple of meeting we were all drained out as I tried to give feedback to every claim they had and they felt like there were anything to do . So I decided to start listed to a different story , I understood that behind all the stories they were telling me , there was actually a message : “ I do n’t have control over my practices or the students , I do n’t have all the answers and I feel lost ” . So I decided to hear to this new story and started to ask the right questions : ¿ how do you feel when you get into the lab ? , ¿ how do your students feel about the course ? , ¿ how do you handle a specific situation ? , etc . and then the motivation of the graduated assistants increased , I stopped hearing about the lack of time or effort or even the requirements of the professors , instead I stated to hear about how something worked in a good way and how they used it in the practices and how others could use them too . We built more empathy between me and the graduated assistants , building trust along the way , and at the same time , they built more empathy with their students increasing the motivation of the students even when the content of the course did n’t change . I have to say the truth and is that not all the graduated assistants went through the hole process , some of them stopped attending to the meetings , I stated to work with 10 and I just kept working with 8 but I understood that I could n’t make empathy with all of them because as Jeanne said in Lesson 1 “ design thinking is not a one size fits all solution”ii . I will be asking for feedback from them at the end of this semester as it is not over yet , I think I could use this tool as a new way to connect with the graduated assistants and to motivate the students as they get conscious of their role with them . Approach Another tool I could use was visualization , so the graduated assistants could see themselves with the students and the role they play with them , with the academic guides and with the professors . I think we would need more time to advance , share and give some feedback about it . It would be bounding the fact that they could all make a picture of where they are right now and at the end of the semester trying to bound the students and motivate them . i Taken from the material of week 2 : “ Storytelling Tool ” , Design Thinking for Innovation , Aya Moreno , Univerisity of Virginia trough Coursera . ii Taken from the material of week 1 : “ Challenge Best : Suited for Design Thinking ” , Design Thinking for Innovation , Aya Moreno , Univeristy of Virginia trough Coursera .