Archive for the ‘People’ Category

Teaching: Sustainability Design Thinking (Part 3)

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023

In Part 2 of this teaching reflection, I had mentioned individual and team as groupings for assignments. There is also the possibility of pairings – in terms of fixed pairs, or speed dating-type pairs where changes in the pairing are made quickly. Pairings could be even more interesting if there was not just equity and parity in the pairings, but we could have intentional mentor-mentee setups.

But the grouping I wanted to really add for consideration in this course is a “committee” comprising students and instructors would serve as mentors. We could form committees of students where they would be responsible for organization and execution. This experience would involved design thinking at a very different level and allow for leadership as well as interpersonal group dynamics lessons.

In YCISL, we formed a committee for the Sustainability in Education Roundtable (oooh, could we have a student-organized roundtable please? Pretty please?). We have also included in our YCISL program proposals, the idea of an editorial committee to publish mini-conference proceedings. This would help us as well to deliver a reference from which we could design accurate and precise resume statements about a student’s experience in this course (use asking-questions design thinking).

Question: How to Get an Internship (with the YCISL)?

Monday, May 1st, 2023

While at the Mock Interviews at Foothill College last week, I noticed a flyer about “How to Get an Internship.” I snapped a photo of the flyer. I have some thoughts to share about what factors were involved in selecting mentor interns for the YCISL program. But first, I will disclose that I got my first internship as a junior undergraduate in college…and it wasn’t as simple as sending an email with a resume attachment. It took a lot of legwork and communication. It worked out great in the end because this was the start of my path to a PhD.

Then there was the hard work (and luck) to get a postdoctoral research position (an internship by form and function) at Stanford University where I was fortunate to build my career of about 30 years. For this opportunity, I mainly credit (a) timing & timeliness which is mostly in the form of luck, and (b) a personality matching click which is difficult to predict. If I had to highlight three specific factors, I would list preparation (resume and past work), good listening and response skills, and authentic interest. But I am just guessing.

I will now reflect on 5 things that I favor when I search for mentor interns for the YCISL program. This list is in the order that the factor runs through my brain…

  1. Resume. Stanford students applying for a YCISL internship would upload their resume (and cover letter) onto Stanford’s Career Center Jobs database (currently Handshake). Non-Stanford students (usually high school students) would be asked to email me a resume. I would usually take two quick scans of the resume: first for an overall style to reflect on attentiveness to detail, and second for…
  2. Experience, Interests & Activities. I specifically look for hooks with the activities that I have planned for the YCISL program or would make for talking points in an interview. I would especially note engagement in group activities as well as vivid detail.
  3. Cover Letter. I look upon the cover letter as an indicator of the ability to collect and communicate thoughts lucidly and to-the-point. Word choice and persuasive language are key. Humility is also appreciated. Usually about one or two applications per season get rejected because of an un-compelling cover letter.
  4. Personality. The resume and cover letter can hint at the personality, but it really comes down to the interview. First impression is really important, and this might include dress, eye contact and the first spoken words. Beyond the first impression which usually takes about 1 minute, I try to drive a conversation using the talking points and observe responsiveness and soft skills.
  5. Connection. A connection to Stanford University was usually required. That was an easy one for Stanford student applicants, but high school student applicants were often family of colleagues through my Stanford work, or had attended Stanford programs in the past. I used this as a means to make sure Stanford culture was an inherent ingredient of our YCISL mentor staff.

To summarize, there are two parts: the remote pitch with the resume and cover letter, and the in-person pitch with the interview. For me, I was looking for trustworthy and dependable interns with initiative and motivation  so that I could focus on the students in the program. It worked out well.

WSJ: For Top Students, Rejections Pile Up

Saturday, April 23rd, 2022

Each year, a few students ask me for a letter of recommendation for their college applications. This commentary is for their benefit.

The article “For Top Students. Rejections Pile Up” by Douglas Belkin in the April 22, 2022 WSJ (Print edition) really misunderstands the purpose of the college admissions process. Note that the Digital edition of this article is “To Get Into the Ivy League, ‘Extraordinary’ Isn’t Always Enough These Days” which really demonstrates how the misunderstanding probably won’t get corrected. While I am not involved in undergraduate admissions at Stanford University, I have been Freshman Advisor to several students, had a few undergraduate assistants, and had some undergraduates enroll in my courses.

First, note the second paragraph in the article which attempts to establish a reference point for the rest of the article…

“She took her first advanced-placement course as a freshman, scored 1550 on her SATs as a junior at McKinney High School near Dallas and will graduate this spring with an unweighted 3.95 grade-point average and as the founder of the school’s accounting club. Along the way she performed in and directed about 30 plays, sang in the school choir, scored top marks on the tests she has so far taken for 11 advanced-placement classes, helped run a summer camp and held down a part-time job.”

For what is said in this paragraph, the profile is not extraordinary.  But especially absent is mention of academic achievement of valedictorian or salutatorian honors. At best, her extracurricular activities put her in a 1-in-1000 group, but for Stanford a 1-in-25 is more appropriate.

Later in the article: “Harvard has said it believes enrolling a diverse student body is important”…Stanford has the same diversity aim as well…but diversity can be widely interpreted among an admitted cohort and any same-ness with other applicants will at least give an applicant a chance. None-ness though such as generic qualities or lack of features can be a dealbreaker. And it’s a trap many applicants get caught in.

In the YCISL ITW skillset, there is Positivity. And in the WSJ article: “Ms. Younger wrote in the applications about her history of depression and anxiety to explain the two B’s she earned during her sophomore year.” Unless this is connected to a success story of overcoming the challenges or motivational change, this is actually a red flag in any application. In the Stanford application where there is the Letter to Your Roommate part, is revealing depression and anxiety a good idea? Also, be sure admission staff are looking carefully for those who would succumb to the “Stanford Duck Syndrome” which relates to the probability of academic success.

When I am in group discussions about college admissions – applications & outcomes – I say that most admission offers are based on an experienced belief that there is a good match and reasonable chance for academic success. Near the end of the article: “She plans on attending Arizona State University to study business on an academic scholarship. The acceptance rate there last year was 88%.” Chances are ASU is the best match and a happy result. Assuming she had made her best effort in the application (and the recommenders have checked the box that this applicant is in the top 1% of students they have ever known), she had simply applied to too many reach schools.

Here are three recommendations for any YCISL student in the process of college admissions:

  1. Apply Creativity. Make it a pleasure for someone to review your application & read your essays. Would they learn something new & useful? Give your application a chance to be remembered.
  2. Apply Design Thinking. Make an emotional connection by framing a story & practice EQ: show self-awareness & self-management, and use social awareness & social management to include the reader in the story. There may be a close connection in interests, but even a distant interest connection would be better than no connection at all. Use the Who? What? Where? When? Why? & How? Asking Questions method of YCISL Design Thinking to provide vivid details.
  3. Apply Design Build. How can a particular college help you grow, adjust & change? How will the college phase of life influence & support you? College may seem like a black box, but it really isn’t. Quality input, quality output. It’s that simple. Recall the elements of our Elevator Pitch & Water Bottle Feature List exercises.

 

BOOK: “Learning by Heart” by Corita Kent and Jan Steward, Second Edition

Saturday, March 19th, 2022

I was sparked to learn more about Corita Kent from a section of Austin Kleon’s book “Keep Going.” I watched a bunch of YouTube videos (eg, Art + Life Rules from a Nun) and wandered through the Corita Art Center website. Already fascinated by the art, mindset & story, I ordered the book “Learning by Heart” from Amazon.com.  I learned a lot from this book & have some notes to share here especially in the YCISL context.

  1. “Looking is the beginning of seeing.” p.33. This is meaningful to me because I often go from one place to another without being aware or appreciative. I often think back a minute or two, and wonder where I had just been. More of a blank than a blur. I think this is a good reason to have photo essay & video assignments in the YCISL program: taking a blur and trying to sharpen the important parts. Even in a more focused design thinking state of mind, this expression helps remind us to practice divergent thinking (look) & convergent thinking (see): we can look through Corita Kent’s Finder to quickly find a variety of framed content, stories & perspectives, then choose one to evaluate for a closer look (our prototyping phase).
  2. “The concepts of limitation, structure, and boundary are sometimes looked on as inhibitors of our creative energy.” p. 82. I am particular excited to see the phrase “creative energy” because that is one of the concepts that YCISL started with. This also connects with our use of Gamestorming where we have the Open phase which is made up things like “limitation, structure, and boundary.” Creative energy really comes into play mainly in the Explore phase. Still, remember that creative energy can be applied in the Open and Close phases if we choose: we can be creative about setting the rules (eg, our YCISL ping pong exercise) & reaching closure (eg, our YCISL launch presentations).
  3. “Every child is creative – until the time when teachers, parents and other adults in her world begin to patiently explain the way things should be, what connections can or can’t be made.” p. 104. This reminds me of Sir Ken Robinson’s TEDTalk “Schools Kill Creativity” and the idea that creativity is suppressed starting early in life. I like the graphical image of creativity conjured by the word “connections” where our creativity process really is about making connections – demonstrated by our YCISL Fast Thinking exercises especially the Associative Architecture “What do cows drink?” question.
  4. “PLORK…we need a third word – one which combines the two concepts and allows us to recognize them together as one responsible act necessary for human advancement.” p. 159. In the YCISL program, the words “fun” and “party” are introduced in at the start of the workshops with the intention of setting the senses & mindsets to a dynamic mode. The combination of play & work also reminds me of Tim Brown’s “Tales of Creativity & Play” where he says “And if you’re starting a design firm, let’s say, then you probably also want to create a place where people have the same kind of security. Where they have the same kind of security to take risks. Maybe have the same kind of security to play.”
  5. Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules. p. 176. Also known as the 10 Rules Poster. I am surprised by the absence of an explanation of these rules in the book. I imagine these reflected the mindset expectations in that college setting. Still, we can gain wisdom by connecting these rules to our own settings. In particular, note the rule “The only rule is work” in large type, serif type and bold type for obvious emphasis. This attaches to many ideas quoted in YCISL that it takes work, often “hard” work, to be creatively productive.

Reflection: NIFTI Roundtable 2021 “Sustainability in Education”

Monday, February 28th, 2022

“Envision an education where sustainability is a core academic subject. Imagine students empowered by global sustainability actions. The NIFTI Roundtable 2021 will bring together education stakeholders to brainstorm and shape a platform of curricula, courses and experiential learning programs to re-define how we learn about sustainability.”

The first NIFTI program (August 14 – October 2, 2020) was a seminar series coupled with a group discussion. In an idea for a followup activity, a NIFTI Roundtable was developed where there would be an organizing committee comprising a small select group of invited NIFTI students. The seed idea was to reverse the students’ roles as audience to organizers, and provide a leadership opportunity. The initial scope called for the students to invite an audience comprising students and educators from their school. The purpose of the roundtable would be to share viewpoints and experiences on a sustainability topic.

We had our organizing committee kick-off meeting on December 18, 2021. There were initially 4 students on the committee. We floated topics that would interest us as well as our prospective audience. At the second meeting on January 15, 2022, the topic of Sustainability in Education eventually stuck. We then discussed organizing timelines, roles and the agenda. We decided to have a Zoom meeting instead of a webinar mainly to allow for stronger engagement.

Progress on organization was slow with students managing with the disruptions to their schooling caused by Covid-19-related responses. After more than 8 months of intermittent progress and passed deadlines, the NIFTI Roundtable was scheduled as part of the Fall 2021 NIFTI program. The audience became the students in that NIFTI program and the panelists comprised educators and students. That firmed up the event date and audience. We then focused on the agenda to make it attractive and fresh.

We had the NIFTI Roundtable on December 3, 2021. We learned a lot about what the educators and students at Sekolah Bogor Raya were doing in the area of sustainability in their school environment. Several students shared their experiences in organizations addressing sustainability. Committee members served as hosts and engaged the panelists and audience in dialog. We had a Mentimeter poll. We had Zoom breakout groups for social networking. We had a brainstorming session. We created an Instagram hashtag so students could post ideas for educational activities on sustainability.

While the organization and delivery of this event was not easy, it was a worthwhile effort to bring us awareness about opportunities to get sustainability to a top tier level in education. The journey has just begun. And we hope others will join this effort to elevate sustainability in our lives.

Epilogue: We are planning on publishing an e-book on this experience. The organizing committee has been invited to contribute chapters covering the organizational effort and event notes. I also plan to author a YCISL White Paper on my reflections about what I learned about Sustainability in Education from this activity.

NewSchools Venture Fund: A YCISL Perspective

Tuesday, September 14th, 2021

Last week, I sent in a job application for the position of Associate Partner, Innovative Schools at the NewSchools Venture Fund. My cover letter stated that I was seeking flexible part-time activity that would complement my Stanford youth creativity project. Apparently what I was offering was a non-starter which is not a big surprise. But since I found what they were doing quite interesting in the education space, I will write a brief entry here to share my views of their mission and strategy.

Their “Our Model” statement is quite compelling. The words “philanthropy”, “partnership” and “innovative” are the three keywords that I would pick out for their main feature list. To choose one sentence that I feel represents the overall effort, it would be “We seek out promising innovators from around the country, and invest in those with the greatest potential to improve student learning and make a positive impact.” A highly revealing design thinking statement. It has the Who? Where? What? How? and Why? that I ask for in the YCISL Asking Questions Design Thinking method. There is no When? element here or elsewhere in the Our Model statement. I think it should be added.

On their Core Values page, they list Bold, Passionate, Connected, Inclusive and Accountable. This reminds me of my visit with the Lili`uokalani Trust – in several respects. Admirable. In terms of a YCISL review of the core values, I think of Satoru Iwata’s GDC Keynote statement about his business card, mind and heart, and there is a fairly good connection with these core values: Accountable->Business Card, Connected & Inclusive->Mind, Bold & Passionate->Heart. YCISL-type words that may work better in characterizing the needed effort include: Mindful, Uplifting & Optimistic (reflective of our fondness for emotional intelligence and positivity).

Actually, even beyond the inconvenience of the flexible part-time condition in my application, there is admittedly sparing overlap of interests. Awkward momentary silence. The YCISL program is based on a premise that there is a universal lack of creativity in education and that leads to educational misses. The YCISL program is open to all and we have hope to assist any young person at any interface who will take personal ownership and has a desire to improve their own life. Let’s just say our napkin doodle may be quite different from their napkin doodle. Still, we can learn from each other.

 

LinkedIn: The Lego Data Story

Saturday, September 4th, 2021

You know, YCISL and “Lego” (the pieces) have been together since the start. We’ve had our Lego Exercise since our first workshop in 2011. We’ve used it to demonstrate creativity, visualization and team collaboration.

In my LinkedIn newsfeed this week, I saw a graphic that uses Lego pieces. I managed to trace it back to a company called Hot Butter Studio and a photographer named Brandon Rossen. The LinkedIn version is an extended modification of the original and I found yet an even more extended version on Reddit in an article titled “The Lego Data Story, adapted from original image by Monica Rosales Ascenio.

I find the LinkedIn version thought provoking when it comes to design thinking. In our YCISL ITW-DTI design thinking workshops, we are using an asking questions method to acquire pieces of information that subsequently get architectured into a story worldview. This model also fits well with our Divergent-Convergent Thinking Feature List exercise where we gather as many options as possible, categorize them into priority levels, and use select attributes to differentiate for innovation.

I feel the “Explained with a Story” step enters the emotional intelligence realm by applying resources with purpose and meaning. The prior four steps (data, sorted, arranged & presented visually) are essentially analysis steps and would be considered part of the knowledge intelligence …and as per the YCISL KI + EI -> LI formula, we need to flex our EQ to achieve leadership and success.

If we also remind ourselves of Sir Ken Robinson’s thought that “In fact, creativity — which I define as the process of having original ideas that have value — more often than not comes about through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things.”…we also can appreciate the Actionable (Useful) extension of this graphic because the energy we put into our own creativity is intrinsically motivating when we receive feedback that we are serving something of value (further credit to Richard St John’s thought “…you’ve got to serve others something of value.”)

Activity: Mentoring Short Essays

Monday, July 19th, 2021

I have asked the mentors who have participated so far in the current season’s ITW-DTI workshops to compose short essays reflecting on their experience interacting with students and the life skills involved. The opportunity to mentor in a creativity setting is as significant to the YCISL program is as the opportunity to participate. The concepts of design thinking are as relevant to mentoring as they are to ideation and product realization.

This short essay collection assignment for the mentors is an additional chance for me to inspire these few students to be leaders lifted by emotional intelligence and deep thought on their journey. I have a few ideas in mind on how to fulfill this request:

(1) Storytelling. Through our YCISL technique in storytelling, we paint world views which detail the setting and circumstance, and enliven it with actions.

(2) Elevator Pitch. Using our YCISL “The Art of the Executive Summary” technique, we edit scenes and storyboard them in different orders to check for flow and meaning.

(3) Your Personal Story. Using our 3-part YCISL Your Personal Story technique, we build a resume-like chronicle of our past experiences, our present mindsets and behaviors, and ideas on our aspirational pursuit of meaning and fulfillment.

This could turn into one of those procrastination-type endeavors, so I am setting a 30-day goal of completing this assignment. Better this way anyway as the ITW-DTI workshops are still quite fresh in memory.

Activity: YCISL Design Thinking Incubator

Friday, July 2nd, 2021

In June 2021, the first YCISL ITW-DTI (Design Thinking Incubator) was launched. The second was just concluded yesterday. The ITW-DTI focuses on design thinking iteration in order for students to get the feel for revisiting design ideas in a fast succession prototyping manner. This gets the “raw-ness” out of the ideas which we thought would be a useful lesson for design thinking newbies. Previous to the ITW-DTI, we had the ITW (Innovators Toolkit Workshop) which was more broadly skills-based and ended with just one presentation. In the ITW-DTI, students have had to give their presentations three times where each time there was a blast of experiential learning.

Innovators Toolkit Workshop (ITW) Design Thinking Incubator (ITW-DTI)
4 days (2 weekends)
Skills: Asking Questions, Fast Creative Thinking, Divergent-Convergent Thinking, Filling & Crossing Gaps, Positivity
Project: Smart-ified Space or Object
Presentation: 1 Group Pitch
Exercises: Design-a-Tent, Invent-an-Ice Cream Flavor
Core: Out-of-Box Design Thinking
4 days (consecutive)
Skills: Asking Questions, Brainstorming, Divergent-Convergent Thinking
Project: Design-a-Club, Design-a-(Smart) School Space, & more…
Presentations: Team Practice, Group Practice, Faire
Exercises: Problem Statement, Solution Concept, Feature List
Core: Asking Questions Approach to Design Thinking

The ITW-DTI is a much faster program, but also attends to the “5-second Rule” phenomenon that was dragging the ITW program. By this rule and the more highly packed ITW-DTI schedule, the design thinking brainwork stays in the fast lane. Quick acceleration is key, but only needs to be pushed once. Making incremental improvements is a lot simpler too.

Compared to the earlier YCISL workshop programs that were on-campus and totaled many more contact hours, the ITW-DTI is an effective means of experimenting with design thinking with the potential to connect presence with action (EQ-talk). So long as the ITW-DTI experience along with all other YCISL programs spring the Aha! moments for students, I think we have something worth pursuing.

 

 

SCMP: Chinese university professor complains ‘lower IQ’ daughter is ‘mediocre student’ due to poor primary school results in viral video

Thursday, June 3rd, 2021

 PRNT 101: Introduction to Parenting. Introduction to the parenting of children emphasizing modern soft-skill engineering principles: object-oriented design, decomposition, encapsulation, abstraction, and testing. Emphasis is on good parenting style and the built-in facilities of parenting languages. No prior parenting experience required. 

This is a YCISL analysis of the article “Chinese university professor complains ‘lower IQ’ daughter is ‘mediocre student’ due to poor primary school results in viral video” written by Alice Yan and published by the South China Morning Post on June 1, 2021. This article refers to a video showing a person, presumably Associate Professor Ding Yanqing, sharing his experience parenting his daughter and lamenting her school performance. A video of a news broadcast on this story is posted on Baidu.

I am relying on the translation into English that is reported as quotes in the SCMP article.

“I tutored her every day. But she still finds it difficult to study. There is a big gap between her scores and that of the second-last student.” This reminds me of Daniel Pink’s TED Talk “The Puzzle of Motivation” where he said “When I got to law school, I didn’t do very well. To put it mildly, I didn’t do very well. I, in fact, graduated in the part of my law school class that made the top 90% possible.” The question that should be asked is whether the student was (1) in a class that would allow her to succeed; was she placed correctly? (2) in a school that would allow her to succeed; was the teaching a good fit for her learning? (3) in a place that would allow her to succeed; are there any non-academic co-factors?

“I am at a loss: this is destiny. I can’t do anything about it.” So he might be at the bottom of the parenting class? If anything, this should raise empathy. The other possible thought is that he is actually responsible for this outcome. Was there any attempt at prototyping? – “fail early, fail fast” as I like to suggest during prototyping – to consider several promising candidates and invest energy and resources wisely. I would also suggest that he reflect on what successes he encountered in this experience. Finding the positivity in failures is crucial to avoid worse outcomes.

“…force her to study or do homework.” In the YCISL, we use the idea of oblique change forces as well as setting up for an exploratory time period (Gamestorming framework). Is his daughter in peak mental and physical health? Are there distractions? The parenting question is what can you integrate with the need to study and do homework that would have a better chance at better learning? A 15-minute nap? A nutritious snack? A caring “how was your day?” chat? More information is needed to analyze this properly…perhaps she has a love of learning for certain subjects, but not others? How much sleep does she get? Does she have active listening filters?

“My daughter is definitely not a wonder child. Her IQ is far lower than both of us.” Any idea about her EQ? And have they all really been tested for IQ? Is it possible that he has a parenting bias because he has a daughter, not a son? Reminds me of the story about Gillian Lynne told by Sir Ken Robinson in his “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” TED Talk.

“No matter how outstanding you are, your child may be just an ordinary person.” Hmmm…humility appears not to be one of his strong points. I wonder if cultural toxicity is unusually high in his worldview.

“Ding admitted it was 95 per cent likely that his daughter would not be able to achieve scores good enough to be admitted to PKU in the future.” Ummm…did you ask your daughter whether she wanted to go to PKU? You also never know. I am at Stanford now…but I am quite “ordinary” and happy.

“Parents should identify their kids’ unique qualities in different aspects other than academic studies. They should find a path suitable for the kids to develop and assist them in that direction.” Finally, some good advice. But let’s add some design thinking to this statement. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? The Who? should be more than just the parents and kids…it needs at the core to also include the school community as well as social support network. The Where? needs to identify the places where the love of learning thrives. The When? should be addressed through optimized time management that promotes well-being. The What?, Why? and How? is up to each family to explore in their own worldview.

Here is a suggestion for parents in similar situations: Find a list of careers. Imagine your child in those careers. Are you able to accept that your child may be in that career? Can you imagine them being happy in that career? This is just a conditioning exercise. Whether the careers are feasible is not of concern for this purpose. Let’s try to picture a worldview with our children succeeding in each of the ways told to us by Richard St John in his TED Talk “8 Secrets of Success.” Another one of the YCISL “Simple, but not Easy” practical designs.

I will also share a thought that Assoc. Prof. Ding shared this story so publicly because of his academic interest in “reforms of Chinese compulsory education” (listed on his PKU web page) and was actually trying to stir and spin with connection to recent governmental reforms in education. This might explain the narrow thoughts early, and the final “good advice” thought.