Innovation Assessment 1: Evidence-based digital and collaborative innovation
Our group began by brain-dumping. We looked at the diverse problems we were facing within our schooling context, and noticed key themes kept arising around hauora ‘student well-being’. As a collective it was clear that this was a challenge worth solving and as indicated in the Mind Lab lecture focusing effort on diagnosing the situation and not on the symptoms or solutions is about first understanding the problem and not jumping to conclusions (The Mind Lab Session 17, 2022). Diagnosing the situation in our collaborative group it was evident that we would not be working through steps of the design thinking process, but we would be weaving in and out of the different phases (Brown, 2010).
In the design thinking phase empathy, GP Strategies (2012) explains this as the phase where we get to know our audience in the truest sense and that we need to have the capacity to understand and feel what another person may be experiencing. We identified during this phase that the well-being of our learners and their parents were immensely impacted by numerous factors as outlined in our collaborative brainstorm below. We understood that within the empathy phase we needed to uncover and hear the voices of our stakeholders and remove any bias that we may have towards or about our stakeholders (Denning, 2013). Rangahau (d.u) talks of the Māori principle Āta which is explained as the principle relating to building and nurturing relationships. Knowing that we work in predominantly Māori and Pasifika schools, being aware of the principle āta when initiating, building and maintaining genuine relationships with our students and their whanau are part of culturally responsive practice (Tapasā, 2018).
This essay will critically analyse our professional and social context and will then identify opportunities for innovation. This essay will then present a digital and collaborative innovation using an evidence based approach that addresses identified opportunities. Throughout this essay we will critically analyse how kaupapa Māori principles have informed our innovation design. The essay will then conclude with how our group will plan, lead and implement the first stages of our innovation.
As our group collaborated we critically analysed our professional and social context. We identified multiple opportunities to address some of the needs within our schools. Through reflection, discussion and utilising thinking and design tools, we decided to focus on the Hauora (Well-being) of our students and whānau, as students’ wellbeing is the core of their success in education (Education Review Office, 2015). It was evident through our observations with the lived experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic, that the well-being of our students and whānau had been impacted in various ways. Schools had to be adapted and safety protocols were implemented to keep everyone well and safe. The COVID-19 protocols in school have restricted whānau engagement and have limited face to face interactions between the school and community. This has also caused challenges for students who have had to transition back into a foreign school setting that is constantly changing. In our group we discussed some of the changes. These include building and rebuilding relationships, bubble classrooms, change in routine and the absence of whanau within the school setting. We also empathised with our new students and their whanau. Prior to COVID-19, new students were accompanied by their whanau as they met their teacher and explored their new classroom and school surroundings. This is a valuable moment for them as they move into another journey of their lives. However in these times new students are starting their first day at school where whanau and families have to leave them at the gate which impacts on the well-being of students and whanau. The COVID-19 Wellbeing guide created by McCormack, (2020), has also highlighted some of the behaviour concerns for students at school that include separation anxiety, fears around COVID-19 and anxiety and avoidance of school.
As our group reflected we realised that through communication with our families that there was a need for all whanau to be connected with their child’s school learning environment. Many questions were asked by our whanau about what the school protocols were around COVID-19 and what learning was happening around the school. Further to this three-way conferences did not take place in schools where whānau usually have the opportunity to meet the teacher, ask questions and physically see the learning within the class. The Voices of Pacific Communities report Matauranga (2019), highlights that parents, whanau and communities want to be active participants in the education of their children. Additionally Māori learners' success is strongly linked with how well parents and whanau relate to the school staff (Mckinley, 2000). As our group reflected we found that regardless of the circumstances that we face during this time, we as educators have the responsibility and obligation in being committed to our learners, families and whanau (Education Council, 2017). Therefore our group saw an opportunity to create positive changes for our stakeholders. Fullan (2013), brings to light that education systems on a global scale are better at acquiring technology rather than utilising technology to create change. We have decided to utilise technology to create 3D- Virtual reality tours of the school and learning spaces, in the hopes that it will address the problems we have explored. Each member in our group works in schools that have a high percentage of Māori and Pasifika learners. We understand how important culture and Identity is for our students and families which is why our group has decided to create our 3D Virtual tours in Te Reo Māori and Pasifika languages.
Innovation can be almost anything, for example a new idea, product, strategy, method or solution. According to Hive (2020) Innovation encompases these two components - 1.New and 2.Valuable. The notion that innovation must always be something new or not yet thought of is a misconception. If an idea or product is just new without value then it is considered to be an invention (Hives,2020). True innovation is thinking and creating new ways of solving problems for people . An innovation is valuable when it adds a gain, alleviates pain or solves a problem for your stakeholders. The distinction between what is true innovation and what it is not is paramount. This allows us to navigate through the process as we create conditions to succeed in providing a solution for our stakeholders. Although creative ideas are important in the process of creating solutions It is the implementation or putting your ideas into action that is considered to be true innovation (Hennessey, B.A. & Amabile, T.M. (2010). The next part of this essay will present our digital and collaborative innovation using an evidence based approach that addresses our identified opportunities.
Our digital and collaborative innovation saw our group using IDEO’s evidence based approach. This part of the essay will explain how we addressed our identified opportunities. IDEO’s Design thinking model is explained by Denning (2013) as the means to intentionally focus a design around concerns, interests and values of the users. We chose this model because of its human centred approach (Brown & Wyatt, 2010) and the more we interacted with the model we saw how the process is indeed as Brown et. al (2010) describes it as ‘deeply human’. This aligns with not only the values of the members of our group but those of our stakeholders: Kia ngakau mahaki - make research a practice in humility (Smith, 1999) it is always about the people. Our process began in the inspiration space which is explained by Brown et. al (2010) as the space where you are able to identify an opportunity or problem that motivates people to find a solution.
Content in the image shows the collaborative thought process using a shared padlet.
Firstly we reviewed our notes that we gathered through the empathy stage and began to categorise/synthesise this information into common themes and patterns . We noticed that the majority of the stakeholders we spoke to felt concerned that they felt disconnected from the school environment due to COVID-19 restrictions. Furthermore, we noticed that there was an increase in anxiety, particularly around children starting brand new to the school in red traffic light - where their whanau were unable to support them due to COVID-19 restrictions. Rangahau (n.d) explains that in kaupapa Māori the principle of whānau sits at the absolute core of kaupapa Māori, and acknowledges the importance of whānau engagement. Tapasā (2018) a Pacific lens framework acknowledges the importance of family engagement and explains how schools need to build relationships with parents, relationships and the wider community. We recognised that this was not possible under the COVID-19 restrictions, but that did not mean that nothing could not be done about it. Tapasā (p7) states “According to Pacific learners (and Pacific parents) ‘a good teacher’ knows that I want my parents to be a part of my learning journey and that my parents value being a part of that journey. This is relevant as we keep in mind who our stakeholders are and what is important to them.
Content in the image shows the collaborative thought process using a shared padlet.
Moving into the ideate phase Brown & Wyatt (2010) explains this phase as the one in which offers a time to explore solutions and opportunities for change. We took our “how might we?” questions and we started to ideate on these. We remembered to keep in mind that it was not about coming up with the right idea, but about generating a range of possibilities (GP Practice, 2021). We did our best to set a time limit, stay on topic, refrained from passing judgement and encouraged a safe environment where we could put forward our ideas no matter how outrageous they may have seemed (GP Practice, 2021). Finally we invited ‘outsiders’ people who had no connection to the collaborative group and asked them to provide feedback on our design thinking process to give us fresh perspectives and varying views (GP, Practice, 2021). It also ensured that we were avoiding Groupthink, a term explained by Lunenburg (2010) as one in which a group may have the tendency to reach consensus on issues without offering, seeking, or considering alternative viewpoints (p4). We did not want this to be the case with our group as we all felt we were on the same page with the same thoughts. We then categorised what ideas would be doable, considered a wild card and a disruptive idea as suggested by GP Practice (2021). These can be seen in the image below.
Content in the image shows the collaborative thought process using a shared padlet.
As we move into the prototype phase of the design process, our intention is to build a quick prototype (User Testing, 2018) of our idea which is to create an interactive tour of the school setting and make this tour bilingual to engage more of our community. Engaging children and communities through using their home language is important and should be included in school interactions and programmes (Tapasā, 2018).
Siegle (2019) explains virtual reality as a way for students to explore 360-degree, and three dimensional worlds. Parents will be able to come into the school environment where they won’t be physically present, but will feel they are experiencing the school environment (Siegle, 2019). Our spin on this is that our community will be able to do this tour in their own language. It is our plan that students will eventually become content creators and will be able to create their own interactive experiences and tours in the future. Shulman (2018) suggests that in order to make the classroom more innovative that children should be able to use the design thinking process to inspire creativity in the classroom. Virtual reality could enable students to go through the design thinking process to approach complex, real world problems (Naghshbandi, 2020) As a group, going through this process will better prepare us to assist our community and learners when we do get to that stage. The design thinking was a useful strategy that has helped us approach complex, real word problems (Naghsbandi, 2020). Although we have linked kaupapa Māori principles throughout this essay, our group will briefly touch on principes that we found important as they informed our innovation design.
Kaupapa Maori principles informed our design thinking process in numerous ways. We know we have a responsibility to our learners and our community to keep the principles of kaupapa Māori and Pasifika values at the forefront. Rangahau (d.u) explains how the Maori principle ‘kaupapa’, the principle of collective philosophy, refers to the vision and aspirations of the community. We needed to ensure that we were always keeping what was important to our community about this project at the centre of our decision making. To our group this meant Kia whakaute, kia whakamānawa i te tangata - respecting and showing gratitude towards people (Smith, 1999) knowing that we were handling our communities intellectual property, kaua e takahia te mana o te tangata - not trample over the mana of people (Smith, 1999). Maimoatia te mana o te tangata - protect and celebrate the mana of each person including the researcher (Smith, 1999) and doing this process with absolute aroha - empathy, compassion and love (Barlow, 1990). This essay will now show our plan and how we will lead and implement the first stages of our innovation.
Our plan will be to talanoa (converse) with our stakeholders face-to-face or via the platform Zoom, sharing the prototype of our interactive tour. We planned this form of communication as we know that Māori kanohi kitea - a face to face approach is preferable (Smith, 1999). In addition the Tapasā framework acknowledges the Pasifika value of collectivism, this is being aware that pacific people operate in communal settings and that teamwork, consultation and engagement in a collective manner is achieved by working together to achieve a common goal or consensus (Tapasā, 2017).
Working with diverse communities such as the ones we are a part of will mean that we will be leading with different leadership styles. There will be times where we know we will have to be servant leaders within our consultations with our community and will see us having to facilitate conversations, remove obstacles and create a safe environment (Beck & Andres, 2004). The prototype we will be putting together is of the floor plans of the areas we intend to use when creating the virtual tour. We plan to collect data using the points of consideration outlined by the Center of Collaborative Action Research who suggests knowing: what data will need to be collected, what is the reason for collecting this data, who will collect the data, what permission or consent will be needed to collect this data and how long will be needed to collect this data Rangahau (d.u). We recognise as a group that we will need to construct survey questions and plan to use a mixture of the Lickert style questions - where the stakeholder will click agree-disagree type questions and also we will use other similar types of survey questions such as multiple choice and open questions. To ensure validity we plan to get someone outside of our group to read over the questions we plan to ask, and then we plan to test our survey out on a small number of respondents. Mightyfields (2019) explains how a digital survey is beneficial in that it is easy to grant access to the stakeholders, it saves on time and costs, therefore we plan to have our survey accessible digitally rather than a printed survey. Our plan is to then annalyse, interpret and look for patterns with the data collected so that we can construct evidence (Villanueva, 2011) that we are meeting the expectations of our stakeholders. Furthermore, we plan to gather and analyse our data in an ethical way. Singh & Major (2017) explain that gathering data from indigenous communities involves many ethical aspects, we need to ensure that we have our relationships in place with our stakeholders and that we are checking our own values and beliefs and not letting these impact on the way we collect, interpret and analyse data. Agile leadership will see us being able to accept that change is inevitable and can happen at any time (Herrmann, 2016) especially when going through this process of consultation with our community. In order to ensure we are all aware of the roles and responsibilities, it will take to complete each part as a team. We will set up a Kanban similar to the image below that we used for this collaborative assignment. We chose the Kanban board as we found it to be effective as a visual tool of what tasks needed to be completed. We were able to pick up jobs rather than have the work ‘put on us’ (The Mind Lab, 2021). It was also great motivation for us as a team to see the cards move to the completed stage of the project. We understand that working collaboratively will mean that we will have to move between leadership styles within our own collaborative group.
Agile leadership will see our group leading this plan in a way we keep sight of the big picture while working with each other with resilience, passion, commitment and execution (Herrmann, 2016).
In conclusion, going through each component of this essay has helped us to develop sound evidence-based approaches, informed by kaupapa Maori principles to the application of innovation in digital and collaborative learning. It helped us to critically analyse the professional and social context of innovation in education. Finally, through this essay we had the opportunity to reflect on our leadership in an educational innovation intended to bring change for our learners and their whānau.
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