Empathize

Who are the diverse set of people with proximity to the problem (PPP) and why were they chosen? 

For this project I talked to a variety of students and invited all students in my classes into the project as long as they were beyond their first year of game design and development. In addition to the open call, I had a few students who, for scheduling reasons, couldn’t take a programming class unless it was the one this project would be done in. I ended up with twelve students attached at the core of the project with an additional five students supporting the project in some way. Over the course of the project additional students were onboarded for specific components such as modeling and art that were not in my game design classes or even my classes at all. Ultimately, twenty-one students touched the project in some way and skills were as varied as computer science, level design, user experience design, 3D modeling, project management, technical communication, and presentation skills. Students selected across the entire project came from different backgrounds, different levels of experience, different age groups, and different content areas. The students were selected because they were the ones that said yes, wanted to be a part of something that mattered, and that had a desire to make their learning about something real. I had conversations with professionals in both the education and computer science spaces to see where the gaps are/were for creating a talent pipeline. Our partners on the project include the Space Foundation, KitBash3D, the Strategic Systems Programs office of the U.S. Navy. I also talked with one of my alumni to discuss these issues, which ultimately led to her agreeing to come on board as a cofounder of a company.

How did you create a safe space for honest sharing?

It is important to let students be students, to create a space that encourages risk taking, and to create a space grounded in the idea that the students are valuable because they are human beings. In general, I try to do this by sharing my own experiences in this space as a learner, creating opportunities for students to see me figuring things out alongside them, walking students through opportunities for discovery on their own, and then reflecting on the journey with them. For some of the students who had been with me before we already had a relationship built on this kind of authentic approach to discovery, but for students who had not had me as a teacher before, who didn’t know my style, or who weren’t sure about coming onto the project, I tried to have one on one conversations. I also worked to create an opportunity for students to have an equal voice in the space. Over the years I have established a reputation with many students where they generate that expectation in others when coming in the door for the first time. With professionals, I try to enter the room as a learner myself and share out prior experiences with students working on projects, both the good and the bad; sharing the pain points and sharing the process of building builds trust in my experience.

How did you listen to and learn from PPP?  

In both formal and informal conversations I tried to surface the frustrations and celebrations of the school system in order to build a better system for the students in my classes and beyond. I have been doing that for years, but the opportunity this year was to take actionable statements from students across the years and compare their responses to the group that was specifically brought on board for this project. The concerns and desires of the group mirrored in many ways what students have been saying in my classroom for years. Students from different backgrounds, ages, genders, and demographics shared their experiences in conversations and through feedback forms and surveys. The students shared some of that information directly to me, but they also shared it to project partners, who, in some cases, shared their responses with me. I tried to consider my own role in the process, my own identity, my own biases, and I tried to quiet those parts of myself to truly listen and hear what the students and partners were saying. I synthesized their different perspectives but only after having the chance to listen fully in the moment.

How did you hear from PPP across lines of difference? What did you learn through this process? 

Everyone is different with different goals, desires, plans, and limitless potential. Having conversations with many people one on one helped to surface some of those differences, providing anonymous surveys provided some opportunities, and having people other than me talk with the students and partners helped bring some of those different aspects to the front. For the last 20 years I have been working with kids and for the last 12 I have been working with outside partners, and this whole experience really drove home the idea that people want to be seen, want to be valued, and want to feel like what they are doing matters. While there are differences in what that looks like, regardless of the age, role, experience level, or starting point, the people on the project want to see that their work and learning on the project matters. Every person on the project is coming from a different place, but all of them are hoping their contribution makes a difference.