Summary:  Identify different types of students in the ATL and drive focused strategies to bring the best out of them all.

When we have students with different traits, abilities and talents at the ATL, engaging them becomes quite challenging.  Every individual is different in their interests, attitude, aptitude, temperament, approach, skills, etc.  What works with one individual doesn't always work with another.  The effectiveness of a common engagement diminishes when we have greater diversity in the type of students.  That is, one size doesn't fit all.  There is a strong need to continually adapt & change the engagement approach to bring the best out of all student-types.

The classification is based on students' interests, traits, attitude, aptitude, temperament, approach, skills, etc.  The classification is representative.  Not all students fit neatly into these distinct types.  Some students may fall into one or more types simultaneously or at different points in time.   The student-types may also change from one ATL to another.  By adopting different engagement techniques and strategies at the ATL, we can bring the best out of them all.

These students don't spend much time to observe, question, tinker, or innovate.  They also seem to be under pressure to excel in academics.  We call them Followers.  They constitute around 35% of all students attending the ATL.

The table below compares the key strengths & limitations of different student-types based on the characteristics and traits identified in the earlier section:

A good understanding of the strengths and limitations of each student-type will enable us to guide and support different students at the ATL better.  To start with, we can help students realize what their strengths and limitations are.  Next, we can guide individual students to work on their limitations and convert them into strengths to derive maximum benefit from the ATL.  

Now, we will look at how different student-types stand to benefit from the ATL.  In the absence of any formal measurement criteria, we can go with the simplistic approach that higher the involvement (in breadth, depth, frequency, etc.) of students at the ATL, the greater will be the benefits derived by them over time.  Even though this approach may not be an accurate indicator of benefits derived by individual student-types, it nevertheless gives us a sense of where each student-type stands in relation to other student-types.

The Involvement-vs-Benefit chart (shown below) shows the extent of benefit each student-type derives from their involvement at the ATL.  Students' involvement is represented along the X-axis, while benefit derived by the students is represented along the Y-axis of the chart.   

Positive Involvement indicates active time and effort put in by students in learning, contributing, communicating, coming up with ideas, problem-solving, ideating, tinkering, innovating, demonstrating, showcasing, collaborating, competing, attending mentoring sessions & workshops, guiding other students, etc. at the ATL, while Negative Involvement indicates resistance on the part of students to take advantage of the resources, facilities and opportunities available at the ATL.  

Positive Benefit indicates the gain in learning, knowledge, confidence, capability, achievement, skills, etc. that students derive from their involvement at the ATL, while a Negative Benefit indicates the loss of opportunity that students suffer from inadequate involvement at the ATL.

As can be seen from the above chart, the Stars, Action-Oriented, and Followers all benefit positively, though to different extents.  The Idea Hoppers & Obstacle Finders derive little benefit.  The Guest Visitors and Bored & Lost don't benefit at all.   

Not everyone can be Stars.  Every student will have his/her inclinations and capabilities.  However, all students can benefit immensely if they can gravitate towards the top-right quadrant in the above chart.  It is in this quadrant that students can expect to benefit significantly with positive involvement.  The Stars, Action-Oriented, and Followers are already in the top-right quadrant and are well placed to reap the rewards from their consistent involvement.  It is our responsibility to realize the "transformative-potential" of the remaining student-types and move them to the top-right quadrant in creative and unique ways.

On the surface, each student-type appears unique and dissimilar from other student-types.  However, deep within, some student-types may be more closer to other student-types than we may think.  With the right approach, we can positively transform one student-type to another, and in turn, help them derive greater benefits from higher involvement at the ATL.  However, if we employ an incorrect approach, we may inadvertently regress a student-type too.  The figure below shows three pairs of student-types.  We will look at each pair of student-type at a time, and examine how one student-type may be transformed or regressed to another student-type:

• Stars and Bored & Lost:  The Stars are what they are because they have found their passion and interest, which motivates them to involve positively and gain positively from the ATL.  The Bored & Lost have not yet found their passion or interest, which keeps them away from involving.  If we can guide the Bored & Lost to discover their passion and interests, we have the possibility of turning them into Stars !!  At the same time, if we don't sufficiently offer challenges to Stars from time to time, they can quickly become Bored & Lost themselves.

• Action-Oriented and Obstacle Finders: The Action-Oriented are highly productive by their indulgence in the utilization of ATL resources.  They are also rule-breakers by nature.  They don't conform to rules and regulations.  They find ways and means of getting around them.  However, Obstacle Finders get bogged down by obstacles, rules & regulations, and lose their way in the process.  While following rules & regulations may be necessary in the world outside, when it comes to tinkering & innovation, working around rules is a positive quality to have.  It indicates that the person is creative and can think out-of-the-box.  If we can help the Obstacle Finders to move beyond their obstacles through creative-thinking, then they can be as productive as the Action-Oriented.  At the same time, if we throw obstacles in the path of the Action-Oriented, we can very quickly turn them into Obstacle Finders.  They can get frustrated and leave the ATL.   

• Idea Hoppers and Guest Visitors:  Idea Hoppers have interests that are closely aligned with what the ATL offers, and as a result, they are highly enthusiastic in their involvement.  On the other hand, Guest Visitors have interests that are not aligned with what the ATL offers, and as a result, they show lukewarm response to the ATL.  If we can expand the scope of engagement at the ATL to include many additional areas, activities, and disciplines (such as arts, soft skills, etc.), we have the potential to increase the involvement of Guest Visitors at the ATL.  At the same time, if we don't offer sufficient guidance to the Idea Hoppers, we may fail to tap their potential fully.

• Followers:  Followers are right in the middle.  They have some valuable qualities such as hard-working, process-orientation, diligence, persistence, and perseverance that puts them on a higher pedestal than others.  We need to encourage these qualities in them and keep them moving forward.  At the same time, if we go over-board, these students may shy away from the ATL because they feel tinkering and innovation activities require a significant investment of time and effort.  They also fear that it keeps them away from academic studies and hobbies.  Our job is to ensure that the students do not feel involvement at the ATL is tedious or burdensome.  We also need to help them learn how to take initiatives so that they can become Action-oriented and Stars. 

If we can manage to transform the Bored & Lost to Stars, Guest Visitors to Idea Hoppers, and Obstacle Finders to Action-Oriented, we will have moved all students from the bottom-left quadrant to the top-right quadrant of the Involvement-vs-Benefit chart (discussed in the previous section).  This requires that we equip them with several 21st-century skills such as initiative, self-direction, digital literacy skills, technology skills, creative thinking, critical thinking, inventiveness, among others. 

The below table shows how each of the seven student-types fare vis-a-vis 21st century skills.  The rankings (on a scale from High to Low) assigned to each student-type are based on corresponding strengths and limitations.

As can be seen from the above chart, the Stars, Action-Oriented, and Idea Hoppers have high self-initiative and creative thinking abilities.  On being self-directed, only the Stars and Action-Oriented score high.  On teamwork, the Stars, Action-Oriented, and Followers fare only moderately, while on collaboration, most of the student-types fare poorly.  In terms of critical thinking and being innovative, only the Stars score high.

On the whole, it is quite clear that most student-types lack strong skills in one or more 21st-century skills.  Without these key skills, no amount of tinkering will enable the students to go far.  If we can guide students to shape-up on these skills, they will be able to engage better at the ATL.  To begin with, we can determine where our students stand vis-a-vis 21st-century skill-sets.  This can be approached in two ways: 1) students identify their skills using a simple self-assessment questionnaire, 2) we assess students based on our observation and experience of engaging with them.    We can then devise suitable strategies to address skills-gap in students.  

Different student-types are at different levels of learning and engagement at the ATL.  Their involvement is different, their skills are different, their interests and aptitudes are different, etc.  However, we often fail to consider these factors when designing or conducting mentoring sessions, workshops, or tinkering activities at the ATL.  More often than not, we bring together diverse students into a common program without paying much attention to the session's objectives or it's suitability to different student-types.  While such common programs are more convenient from our standpoint, it may not necessarily be value-adding from the perspective of students.  As a result, such common programmes fail to achieve their intended objectives.  Only a few students resonate with the program, while the rest are just hanging around and waiting for the program to get over, let alone benefit from it.  A better approach would be to design and conduct different programs for different student-types. 

The below table provides a summary snap-shot of focused strategies that mentors, teachers, ATL in-charges, and school managements can adopt in engaging different types of students at the ATL.

It is quite tempting for us to focus on the Stars and Action-Oriented (who are most active and involving types) at the exclusion of all other student-types.  This can bring results in the short-term and showcase things in a positive light.  However, if we don't adequately cater to all student-types, it will not serve the true purpose of setting up ATLs.  We will be left with a large student population down the road who are unprepared to take on the rapidly changing world.  As such, it is highly imperative that we focus our efforts and energies on all student-types, pay attention to their inherent talents & interests, understand their strengths and limitations, determine whether they are deriving sufficient value & benefits from their involvement at the ATL, assess their alignment with key 21st-century skills, and continuously evolve methods and strategies to inspire, motivate, guide and support students to transform themselves as well as move forward in a direction that prepares them for the future.

At the same time, keep in mind that we cannot push the students beyond a point. Who are we to judge them, mold them, or fit them into a pattern of our liking? It is for the students to decide what to take in and what to leave.  So, use these strategies with due caution and put them into practice as long as the students are receptive to them.

Role of School Management:  Identify the different student-types at your ATL and come up with focused strategies to bring the best out of them.

Role of Students: Identify which type of student you are at the ATL.  Know your strengths and limitations. This will help you get better over time.

Role of Mentor(s): Support the school management and the ATL in-charge in coming up with focussed strategies to bring the best out of different student-types.

Role of ATL In-charge:  Classify students into different types and drive focused strategies to engage each student type.

Identify different student-types at your ATL and come up with focused strategies to bring the best out of them.  Put the strategies into action and gather feedback.  Refine and improve continuously.   Submit details of the initiative / intervention you have undertaken at your ATL to bring the best out of different student types.