Heal-O #6: Using the Design Thinking paradigm: social connectedness

Social connectedness is the feeling of closeness and belonging with others and the social world. In Social Connectedness, SocialAppraisal, and Perceived Stress in College Women and Men, Lee, Keough, and Sexton draw from self-verification theory to demonstrate the relationship between these three feelings. I will use the Design Thinking paradigm to help me analyze this piece and to think about how I can initiate change in this area.

Design Thinking Paradigm: Empathize – Define – Ideate – Prototype – Test
(Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford d.school). Thanks Jacqueline for introducing this to us!

..:: Empathize ::..  

“the work you do to understand people” (pg 2)

Lee, Keough, and Sexton begin the article by sharing a student’s experience of seeing a counselor because she felt socially disconnected from her peers and her campus. This example is carried throughout the paper as a reminder of the experience and feelings that this student went through, potentially encouraging the reader to think about this type of students’ needs, values, and wellbeing. This makes me think about how I, as a staff at SFU, observe, engage, and listen to students every day to ensure we are mindful of their experiences.

..:: Define ::.. 

identify “…the challenge you are taking on, based on what you have learned about your user and about the context” (pg 3)

The authors define social connectedness as, “an enduring and ubiquitous sense of interpersonal closeness with the social world in toto…” (Lee, Keough, and Sexton, 2002). They provide foundational knowledge on social connectedness by defining what it is (and what it is not) and identifying the interpersonal impacts of low social connectedness to a student’s experience and feelings. They connect it to social appraisal and perceived stress. Several other papers define this issue in a similar light. Personally, I can relate to some of the relational feelings the authors identify when defining this issue – from both a student and a staff perspective. 

..:: Ideate ::.. 

“…mode of the design process in which you concentrate on idea generation.” (pg 4)

The authors surveyed 214 college students as a way to collect data and determine the relationship between social connectedness, social appraisal, and perceived stress. They found that women with low social connectedness are more likely to negatively appraise their campus environment and thereby experience greater stress. They found that men with low social connectedness are more likely to do so than women. The authors recommended the need to do more testing and studies in this area. They also recommend that the student affairs and counseling staff work with students who self-identify as being socially disconnected and to work on preventative methods to address the issue. Although I agree with these ideas, the direction of the paper did not warrant them to go into further details on how to handle this issue.

Here are some of my ideas or thoughts from other sources to address the issue of social connectedness on campus (easily implemented and “blue sky” ideas):

• identify the factors that contribute to social connectedness and social disconnectedness through a campus wide survey or other method of data collection
• offer grants to student-initiated project ideas that foster social connectedness and student success
• create regulations that encourage faculty to incorporate interactive learning within classrooms
• implement policies that address social connectedness
• create intentional campus spaces that foster social interaction
• design learning spaces (study spaces, libraries, classrooms) that are flexible
• close the gap between students and the deans of each faculty through casual town hall meetings that facilitate conversation
• ensure all staff and faculty know how to identify students who may be experiencing social disconnectedness and ways to address it (or refer to services that can address this)
• initiate a campus-wide campaign that highlights the importance of social connectedness and its relationship to stress, wellness, and student success
• have an event every week during the academic year with the purpose of bringing together the campus community
• ensure all new students attend ‘orientation’ (in whatever shape or form that comes in)
• have cohort-based programs as an option for each faculty/department
• if the student chooses to do so, partner new students up with a mentor
• have practical, community-based project work for every course so that it involves theory/history/content balanced with application

..:: Prototype ::.. 

“…the iterative generation of artifacts intended to answer questions that get you closer to your final solution..” (pg 5)

In this stage, it’s about thinking of ways to flesh out an idea. Let’s take the idea from the previous stage: “offer grants to student-initiated project ideas that foster social connectedness and student success”. We would need to…

- 

• come up with the project proposal that includes a funding proposal
• bring together an advisory committee to oversee and judge the student proposals
• determine the funding allocation for different projects
• determine the criteria by which the project selection would be based on
• determine the criteria for how funds will be used in projects (what is feasible? What makes sense?)
• identify ways of measuring success of such a program
• create a marketing and communications plan to promote this to students
• have resources (tangible, staffing needs) available that will help students and their projects be successful
• provide support for students during their progress

Going through these steps of the Design Thinking paradigm helped me think about social connectedness in a slightly different way. It is great to be able to use this as a tool to outline the literature that is available but also add my personal ideas in regards to this matter.

What do you think?

Heal-O #5: No horsing around in training horses

I woke up to a beautiful Saturday, earlier than usual, to meet with some of my cohort friends and venture out to Chilliwack together to attend The Mane Event.

When people ask me what the purpose is for attending this event and how it is linked to my course, I could not really explain it because I did not even know what to expect. After returning home and thinking about the event we attended, I appreciated the opportunity to learn about animal-human interaction and by extension, applying it to the non-verbal communication we experience within the context in which we learn. What happens when two people interact non-verbally? What happens in an educational or learning setting? Is it something physiological, psychological, or both?

..:: At the Mane Event ::..  

When we arrived at the event, the first thing several of us noticed was the fresh air coupled with the warm sun. It was noticeably fresh! Then we noticed the vast landscape against a mountain backdrop; this makes me think how fortunate we are to live so close to this type of environment that is different from the bustling city. 

[Source: Lehoa M., Oct 26, 2013]

[Source: Lehoa M., Oct 26, 2013]

After entering the barn, there were a lot of stimuli from the intriguing things around us – the products being sold, the people at the event, the people with the cowboy hat, and the very faint smell of ‘barn’. At one point, Mary Ann and I kept almost accidentally bumping into each other because our feet were moving forward but our heads and eyes were aimlessly looking in as many directions as possible. It was like we were kids at a candy store!

..:: The Challenges ::..  

It was amazing to observe that the trainers made a connection with the horse in such a short duration. Without verbal communication, the visual, sensory, and auditory cues become exponentially magnified. The trainer looks at the horses’ response to his touch and gestures as cues to continue, stop, or adjust the training. The trainer listens for the sounds from the horse to guide him in this training. In one of the challenges, I recall the trainer saying that when he mounted the horse, he needed to feel that the horse was ready for him to be there and to continue with training. What is this feeling? Is it some kind of energy that is passed back and forth between the animal and human? Have you ever looked at your best friend or partner and they seem to know what you are thinking? I imagine the horse is transferring this energy, much deeper than in humans, to inform the trainer, “he is ready”.

[Source: Lehoa M., Oct 26, 2013]

One of the trainers patted the horse to reward him for completing a task, but also noted that he tried not to do that too much. Rewarding a change in behaviour is challenging because you need to ensure you are not over-rewarding them to prevent expectations each time. In order to be successful in training, the trainer needs to know a great deal about horses in general, and likewise about the specific horse they are training. Each horse is individually viewed and likes to do and learn things differently. Not all techniques will apply and work with all horses.  They need to know what the horse prefers or does not find pleasurable. Extrapolating this to human-human interaction, educators also need to know a great deal about the students and the people they are working with.

In each of the challenges we watched, the trainer took out a tarp and continually increased its size, prompting the horse to step on it. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the trainer emphasized that he wants the horse to think that going over the tarp was the horse’s idea and that the trainer won’t force the horse to complete a task if they were not ready. There is a great element of trust that develops between the horse and the trainer. It is this trust that is innate but only surfaces when both feel safe, comfortable, and connected. Allowing the horse to “decide” whether they will go over the tarp shifts the onus of doing so to the horse, thereby empowering them. Forcing the horse to do something that they do not want or feel comfortable with is not effective.

[Source: Lehoa M., Oct 26, 2013]

..:: Within an educational context... ::..  

Within an educational context, non-verbal communication is just as valuable as verbal communication. It may sound like I am making a distinction that there are two different types of communication, but I think that communication has both verbal and non-verbal aspects. The information we have gained from sensing how the student is responding to a certain question and seeing the body language of the student often overpowers what the student says. For example, if the student says they understand how to dribble a basketball, their gestures and comfort can be observed and may paint an entirely different picture. However, it is also important to further prompt and inquire what the student really means and how comfortable they are in exploring something different or new. It is also important to address each student as an individual and cater the lesson based on their needs, preferences, and abilities.

Thank you, Stephen, for introducing me to this event – it was very insightful and quite remarkable.

Another thank you goes to Paula for safely getting us there and back!

Heal-O #4: The effects of extraction

I had my wisdom teeth extracted this past weekend and am currently recovering. The ice pack/warm compress and my Magic Bullet became my best friends during this time. My biggest concerns were not being able to eat healthily and losing weight (I’m already really tiny!), so a few days before the surgery I spent quite a bit of money on food even though it was not that necessary (to the extent that I went to anyways...). I also prepared a few meals (like mashed potatoes/yams and soups) and purchased frozen fruit to make some delicious smoothies.

[Source: Lehoa M., Oct 15, 2013]

..:: Sitting around ::.. 

I was so focused on taking time off work, planning my meals, and cancelling all my meetings, appointments, and activities to prepare for 'resting', that I forgot to incorporate some of the other things that might have made me heal faster – such as physical activity. I was told to ‘rest’, but does rest really mean to sit back on the couch watching TV for days at a time? That was my plan until the third day post-surgery, where I was starting to really feel helpless and had very low energy. Don’t get me wrong, it was really nice to sit back and do nothing for a few days, but after that I felt like I couldn’t sit around much. I missed my weekly zumba class this week and didn’t realize how much of an impact it had on me. On one of the days, I came home from grocery shopping and felt so exhausted that I had to nap in the middle of the afternoon! There are probably several other factors that contributed to how I was feeling but most of it was likely attributed to the change in my physical activity levels and eating habits.

..:: Venturing outdoors ::.. 

When I got over the fact that I was a “lopsided chipmunk” (only one side was slightly swollen), I ventured outside to gorgeous and crisp Fall weather. The sun was shining gently on my face; the temperature was comfortable enough for a sweater but not too cold for a jacket; the colourful autumn leaves painted a beautiful scene for my walk. It was so refreshing and made a huge difference in my physical, emotional, and mental health and vitality. I love fresh air! Speaking of fresh air, check out this Tedtalk by research Kamal Meattle on how to grow fresh air (indoors!).

  

The Raphael readings for our upcoming class on food insecurity made me think about my ability to be able to purchase and prepare different kinds of food that cater to the temporary change in my eating capability this week. Living close to an affordable grocery store and having the equipment and means to do cook alternative food options makes such a difference. I think I have always known this, but this week just made me realize it even more so. What about those individuals who do not have the means to adjust their food budget? What can be done to address this larger issue of food insecurity?

  

..:: Giving thanks ::.. 

I have so many things that contributed to my recovery – from access to a microwave that heated up my heat compress pack; to a magic bullet that allowed me to create so many different food options; to amazing support from my friends (my best friend came by and cooked up an amazing post-wisdom-teeth-surgery-friendly shepherd’s pie) and family (my sister who didn’t take a video of me after I woke up from being sedated and for her constant care and reminder to take my antibiotics). I know it’s just wisdom teeth, but it made me think back about my previous surgeries and treatment…my recovery would not have had the same effect without these supportive factors I am very fortunate to have.

I am so grateful to my parents for creating the life I live today. Their perseverance during the tough times immigrating to Canada to their boundless generosity in providing the support for my sisters and I are so greatly appreciated.

Back to my warm compress pack! I cannot wait to bite into an apple!

Today I’m ending the post with My One Thing…to say thank you to my friends, family, heat pack, and magic bullet.

What’s your one thing?