I believe the quick pivot from face-to-face to virtual training is a common phenomenon that happened to most of us in the education environment, regardless of the institution. I belong to a healthcare institution in Toronto, Canada. Our education and training modality before the pandemic hit us was a combination of face-to-face, eLearning, or blended learning. Virtual training was something that our organization was exploring as a preparation for a significant education initiative. Then COVID-19 happened, and we had to quickly shift how we are teaching and learning. We initially used Zoom for our virtual classes, but because of the growing cybersecurity threats in using Zoom, our chief information security officer (CISO), sent a memo that we need to transition to MS Teams (University Health Network, personal communication, March 2020). As our organization continues to provide virtual training to all staff while preparing to bring the clinical learners back in the system, there is the issue of how to support educators and clinicians to use MS Teams as a tool for teaching, learning, and virtual care.
My focus is on supporting the educators and learners as we shift to using MS Teams for virtual teaching and learning. My problem of practice is how might we continue to enhance our skills in using MS Teams to facilitate virtual teaching and learning across the organization? Being recently involved in meetings and working groups on ways to support staff to increase their proficiency in using MS Teams, it seems that common themes are starting to emerge. For instance:
- There is a strong desire for educators to ramp up quickly to support the learners coming back for their clinical placement.
- There are groups in different disciplines that have created their quick reference guides specific to their needs and audience.
- Microsoft Office website has readily available tip sheets.
- Not all functionalities/features rolled out in MS Teams are deployed in our organization due to our strict security and privacy policies.
Considering what I know so far from the educators and the MS Teams working group I am part of, I created a mini-manifesto to articulate my values in designing a digital learning resource. They are:
- Stay curious
- There is no such thing as perfection, only continuous improvement
- Embrace the power of yes & and when building ideas- all ideas are welcome
- Work with what we have – use our resources wisely
- Move from consensus to co-creation
The design thinking for the digital learning resource I am developing is an evolving process. It will be continually improved as I learn from my peers’ experiences, perspectives, challenges, and opportunities. Hence, it is intentional that the title of my blog post shows version one. As Kimbell (2012) articulated, design in practice draws from the idea that it is impossible to have a singular design. Design is a continuous activity even when the product is developed and launched; there could be an infinite possibility of making the design better. The empathy map is a synthesis of my observation through my participation in meetings, education sessions, and informal chats with colleagues. The empathy map shown below informs my design document. 
Click Empathy Map for a larger view
As I continue exploring with an empathic lens and identifying needs and solutions to my problem of practice, I welcome your feedback and ideas. Do you see any potential gaps in my empathy map, any question or assumptions I may have overlooked, or areas that I should consider?
Reference:
Kimbell, L. (2012). Rethinking design thinking: Part II. Design and Culture, 4(2), 129-148. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2752/175470812X13281948975413
Hello Sue, I very much enjoyed your simple list for the mini-manifesto (understanding that simplicity is often quite a complex undertaking). I especially like the reminder to embrace yes. It’s a fun exercise to spend a whole day saying yes to everything, you never know where you’ll end up! One of the opportunities I see in your empathy map is inspiring and leveraging the use of creativity. There is nothing more frustrating than an obstacle to use (in the form of limited tools) in a learning platform. In your case, your educators are likely going to have to get creative making engaging learning materials with the Teams tools at hand. Exploring those options and sharing their examples with colleagues is critical. Perhaps engaging your users with a game called Barrier Defeat where they figure ways to go over, under, and through a seemingly scant platform to get at exciting learning designs. Learners can also play this game, but my guess is learners have enough on their plates in this Covid environment without having to find ways to be clever. Great possibility for designing a collaborative series of digital learning resources that take basic Teams tools to a whole new level.
Dang! I called you Sue. Sorry Sharon! I am working my way up the first name alphabet backwards. Seems I cannot edit my post and I had Susans on my mind.
Thanks, Jenni, for your feedback. Your suggestions on finding creative ways to create engaging learning tools are timely. I am facilitating a brainstorming session this week with educators, project teams, and technical groups on how we can keep supporting our staff as they continue learning with using Teams. There have been pockets of groups in the organization that have created their own tips and tricks and I have been invited in huddles/meetings to show a quick demo of Teams. You are correct that our learners are already overwhelmed with the new normal and trying to add another layer of learning activities on using Teams may be too much. Hence, the focus of my digital learning resource will be on the educators and part of this is how to support learners as they navigate this tool. Thanks