28 August 2020

Access denied

A few weeks ago, we reviewed the possibility of a pivot into the space of past year paper (PYP) in digital format. However, as we discussed our expectations and needs of the pivot, we come to realise that it might be beyond our reach. For example, to produce custom papers would require a significant amount of man-hours that we do not have the capacity for as the University semester has begun.

Furthermore, our email enquiries to numerous organisations have gone unanswered. We have approached community centres, charity organisations and groups but only received 2 replies from the charities and none from the community centres. The replies were polite rejections for which we understood their reasons and thanked them for their time. We have attempted to call and expedite our enquiry but have not been able to get in contact with the proper personnel.

Small victories

While we may not have met success in some of our attempts, we have seen small victories in other efforts. Following our attempts to connect with external organisations, our team has approached personal contacts with requests to conduct trial lessons. From our friends and family members, we have conducted trial lessons for 2 primary school students and respective feedback sessions to gain some insights from the client's point of view. Our team member, Ryan, conducted these lessons and have collected some thoughts on the process and how we can improve.

In one of our outreach interactions (that eventually ended in rejection), was insightful for us as the gentleman provided feedback on our approach and model. On top of that, he has indicated that he would like to open up possible collaborations in 2021 if we are open to that opportunity. We reached out to the gentleman to further discuss our approach and how we can improve. It is also to our pleasant surprise that there are groups who have went ahead and posted our initiative on their channels to further spread the word.