For my digital learning tool, I plan to create some sort of library of resources to help my colleagues to navigate a shift toward teaching in a BYOD environment, and to also help our students navigate the same transition.
I understand the concept of empathy better when it comes to my colleagues, since I too will be making this transition along with them. According to Kouprie and Visser (2009) having an emotional/affective response to my colleagues’ emotional state, and being able to reflect on that by assuming a similar cognitive perspective seem to be the core mechanism of empathy. Since I am experiencing the exact same thing as my colleagues, empathising with them is more straight forward since I can inform my design based on my own experiences.
Where I think I will struggle more is with empathising with our students. Teeneagers today have grown up with technology, and I know that in Canada for the most part, technology is a large part of formal classroom based education. Students, in general, know how to use Google Apps for Education, Microsoft Office, and are familiar with many web 2.0 tools like Prezi and Mind Meister. In Colombia, this is not necessarily true. While most of these students have been exposed to all of these tools, very few have been shown how to use them, or had any significant amount of time spent using them as an educational tool in a classroom setting. Shifting to a device and student centred learning platform for them will be a big leap, and I am not sure how best to prepare them for it.
I plan to make a series of short video tutorials about how to use applications efficiently in a school setting, but I am not sure how best to address the training to help them to think differently, and for themselves: somethng they are not currently doing with any degree of success.
Part of the issue, I realise, is the ESL barrier. My students are at varying levels of English proficiency. They all speak it well, but I am never sure how much of what I say actually gets absorbed. For the most part I feel like Charlie Brown’s teacher “waw waw, waw waw waw wah.”
I know this because after I am done my increasingly brief instructions and ask “are there any questions?” (there never are) there is a calamity of Spanish discussions as the more able students regurgitate what I have just said in Spanish to the less capable students. I know that there is some empathetic insight to be gained here. I understand that language is part of the barrier to general understanding, and I can empathise with this on a personal level, because even though I have been here a year, my Spanish is pretty shoddy. So I can relate to what it means to not understand.
However, I could really use some proactive insight to move me forward regarding pratical ideas for designing solutions that are rooted in empathy. How do I enable my students to gain independence and confidence in their navigation of digital learning resources? Video tutorials are a start, but how do I ensure comprehension of text based digital resources without standing there and spoon-feeding them? This is ultimately my empathetic design challenge, and any advice or insight would be greatly welcomed and appreciated!
References
Kouprie, M., & Visser, F. S. (2009). A framework for empathy in design: Stepping into and out of the user’s life. Journal of Engineering Design, 20(5), 437-448.
Hi Marshall, I totally understand your predicament working with students who may not be as tech-savvy and are ESL. For my design challenge, I’m also figuring out how best to prepare adult continuing education students for blended learning. Many adults in my school board are ESL and do not have the background of using technology not just in their childhood, but adulthood as well.
Although I’m not a teacher, in speaking with our teaching staff I have learned of a method they use to engage ESL students. To help with language, a Google Translate widget is placed within our learning management system. After selecting your language in the widget, the entire webpage is translated. According to students, while it’s not perfect, at least the general ideas are transferred and I would like to believe that an English to Spanish translation would be fairly accurate than compared to let’s say English to Arabic. Hopefully this helps.
Hi George, thanks for the comment! A Google traslate widget would be a great idea, and would be an extension of what the kids are already doing since, at present most use their phones to translate the instructions anyway. My plan was just to be allow usage of such technolology, but to have it embedded, would be so much more sstraight-forward! In addition, there has been some resistence from school admin to allowing devices to aid in comprehension, but hopefully no that tehy have green-lighted the BYOD scheme, this will no longer be a barrier.
Marshall, it sounds like you are struggling with learners who are still developing basic life skills, such as digital literacy, while also trying to communicate with ESL learners. Not an easy challenge! You mentioned communicating instructions and then asking if there are any questions. I’m implying from your description that your instructions were delivered verbally. Do you also provide written instructions? I found when I was learning French, I was often able to read the language better than I could understand it when spoken. George’s suggestion to use Google Translate is also spot on. Perhaps you could write out your instructions in English, put it into Google Translate, and then transcribe the instructions onto a chalkboard for students. You may also want to consider embedding tooltips in Spanish into some of the English-language software applications you’re using. Where tooltips aren’t part of software functionality, linking to a PDF with tips/screenshots can provide support in context. Good luck!
Hi Amber, thanks for the feedback! I do provide instructions both in written form and verbal form, as Spanish Second language learner myself, I understand better when I can see the words that are being spoen to me as well, and was hopeing to incorporate this in some capacity into my design. I had not considered making complete Spanish instructions for the software functionality, but this was an obviosu oversight on my behalf, I think in part because the school wants us to be using English as much as possible in all situations, but in my view it is the academic end products that are the most important, and if a little Spanish tool and activity instruction helps to create a better English final academic product, then I am going to push for it!