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designthinkersforfuture · 4 years ago

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Coming up with an MVP.[Problems of the Informal Sector]

The Indian economy feels that this sector does not generate any economic value to the society. Informal sector populace thus feel that they are not an integral part of the society and often consider themselves as inferior. Covid-19 pandemic has struck them badly and they often have a fear of losing their earnings, as they already have problems fulfilling their daily needs of life.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has negatively impacted around 90% of the street vendors. As no formal contracts are involved, thus even the security guards of our Country India get terminated without any reason. As these people are non-unionized, they further face many legal problems and need to pay money from their own pockets.

*I used SOME STAGES of DESIGN THINKING for trying to solve this issue to some extent:-

1. EMPATHIZE-

We took in account interviewing 5 People from the Informal Sector to actually know regarding what issues they face in their day-to-day lives and how it has impacted them.

We created a Demographic Profile Table of 5 People from the Informal Sector of India. (All these details were been put in a tabular form).

NAME & WORK

AGE

GENDER

EDUCATION LEVEL

PLACE OF MEETING

TOTAL NO. OF FAMILY MEMBERS

INCOME

ISSUES & CONCERNS

1. Ram Singh (Working in Panchkula as a Security Guard for the last 3 years & is from Ludhiana)

Male

School Dropout

Panchkula Sector 8

3 (He, his wife and one son)

INR 7,500 per month

-Growing expenses especially due to the farmers protest from Punjab.

-No proper lunch given by his owners after Covid.

2. Bini Singh (A daily wage Construction Worker working at a Government School in Panchkula, hailing from Kashipur in Uttarakhand)

Male

Class 12 Dropout

Panchkula Sector 7

4 (He, his wife and two daughters)

INR 300 per day

-Travel Expenses.

-Unstably employed.

-No decent clothing.

3. Sonu (Vegetable Vendor from Hisar and is currently living in Kanhaiya Village in Gurgaon.

Male

Bachelor of Arts

Sector 43 Gurgaon

3 (He, his widowed mother and younger sister)

Barely INR 400 per day

-Due to Covid Lockdown, his mother who is a maid didn’t get any work so he sent her to Hisar, which caused entire financial burden on Sonu.

-Also, Sonu said that the vegetables he purchases from the farmer become stale at his house, as the complete stock for the day is not been fully sold off.

4. Adnana (Fruit and Peanuts Vendor from Kanhaiya Village in Gurgaon)

Female

Class 10 dropout

Sector 43 Gurgaon

2 (She and her husband)

Between INR 500-700 per day.

-As she purchases fruits from the wholesaler, she finds it more expensive than what the farmers give.

-The farmers living in Kanhaiya Village are hesitant to sell her their produce considering her a lady and incapable of repaying the sum.

5. Susheela (A permanent house maid working in a house in Panchkula)

Female

5th Class dropout

Panchkula Sector 7

4 (She and her 3 children)

INR 5,500 per month

-As she lost her Husband (who used to work as a lab assistant in PGI Hospital in Chandigarh earning INR 10,000 per month) in August 2020 due to Covid, faces financial stress daily raising her 3 children.

*AN INNOVATIVE PERSONA CHART WAS DESIGNED OF Sonu:

2. DEFINE-

We then interviewed the 5 Sets of people in detail and further defined the main Pain Points that were commonly identified in all the 5 Categories of People. These were as follows:

*Financial Distress

*Feeling of Instability in Working

*Dissatisfaction from work

*Feeling that there is Unnecessary Wastage of their Resources.

3. IDEATION-

Taking in account the problems of every person, we generated a list of ideas for solving their concerns. These were:

*Creating a sample business plan using the SHG’s for these people where we can use financial modelling in it.

*Creating a Website Portal and a WhatsApp Group where we can interact with them regarding knowing their preferences for work and how much money they need to earn.

*Creating a Database for these people where we can register them with their details to further persuade B2B Businesses to bring fresh startups for them to work in.

*Basic Tuition Classes on Technology and Gadgets will be kept twice a week to teach these people so that they can use it in the Tertiary Sector these days and get employed with a better income.

4. MVP (Minimum Viable Product)-

For this we took ahead a combination of Ideas 2 and 4 and used it as an MVP for our recipients.

*I took a class of Susheela (the house maid) and three other ladies she knew. *I taught her the basics of Computers/Laptops.

I Started to teach them about what is a PC, what all is been done on it and how it can help them in their life ahead. They before starting to learn it, raised 2 issues like:

*How will we poor people afford this Computer? *Our husbands won't allow us using the Computer.

5. MVP VALIDATION-

*As they had a Touch Screen Mobile-Phone and WhatsApp in it, so I told them to connect with me on WhatsApp Video Call and I will teach them from Gurgaon twice a week.

*I made a WhatsApp Group of 3 Maids working as a part of the Informal Sector in Panchkula. This will enable me to interact with them on a daily-basis.

*I had taken 2 Classes uptil now and it showed a very positive feeling and motivation from their side, as well as they showed a lot of interest in understanding and learning about other problems like, Environmental Pollution and Waste Management.

*All the three ladies wanted to HAPPILY continue this learning method further.

THANKS

#designthinking

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designthinkersforfuture · 5 years ago

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Improving Education during COVID-19 (Case of Dreadful December)

Solving this issue starts with making a Visual Story:

During this pandemic period, both teachers and students are craving to visit their respective work environments and to operate from there itself rather than through home, as they both while operating through online modes face a number of internet difficulties and application problems in carrying on their daily work processes which may cause frustration and dissatisfaction most times.

Using the Design Thinking Process/Approach we will try to come up with a very unique solution that could be very effective and efficient for the long term: -

Empathize- In this stage, we will first conduct a survey through use of google forms to actually understand the current and past position/situation that the teachers and students are actually facing post pandemic lock-down. Knowing the current reality will further help us to research in depth.

QUESTIONNAIRE USED-

1. Do you feel that the new system of teaching/learning through online modes is helpful for you?

*Strongly agree

*Somewhat agree

*Somewhat disagree

*Strongly disagree

2. Which mode (App) out of the following do you use the most for teaching/learning during this pandemic period?

*Google Meets

*Zoom

*Microsoft Teams

*Google Hangouts

3. Do you frequently face Connectivity Issues/Network Problems while using any of the above-mentioned Apps?

*Yes

*No

4. Do you feel that the new system of home teaching/learning is much better and convenient for you than going to the actual location you used to go to before this pandemic?

*Yes

*No

5. Do you prefer the use of more Visuals than Plain Text for the online teaching/learning?

*Yes

*No

6. Do you prefer the use of more Pictures & Videos than the boring text material for the online teaching/learning?

*Yes

*No

7. What kinds of experiences do you get while teaching/learning through online modes?

(Try answering in terms of the good and bad experiences you have achieved so far).

8. For how long do you feel this new system of education (both teaching and learning) will last after November 2020? (Give answer in Months).

9. Do you feel that India as a Country should bring up more innovative Apps than the already prevailing Apps for online teaching and learning?

*Yes

*No

10. Give some of your valuable suggestions that can be considered in improving the online education system and making it further more interesting.

(Give at least 2 suggestions).

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Define- Here we have defined our target population to be only the urban populace across the Country, that are the teachers of schools and colleges, as well as the students of MBA and school children for our study.

The challenge faced by the teachers and students during this pandemic period is related to them not being able to join their regular work/study environments, as well as them facing several glitches or problems due to the online modes of education.

Here we also defined all the problems identified by teachers and students that we gathered from the questionnaire. The main problems seen were:

1. The students muting or removing teachers while they are teaching them through online modes.

2. Students take advantage of the teachers not being physically present in front of them, so they tend to create disturbances while the teacher teaches like, playing sounds & music.

3. Lack of concentration noticed from the side of both students and teachers.

4. Some students felt that due to connectivity problems, teachers did not repeat that topic again.

5. Some students also feel that most times the lectures seem monotonous and repetitive, also nothing new being brought up by the teachers that further reduces the concentration levels of many students of schools and colleges.

6. Even students face the same problems like teachers regarding connectivity issues and fellow classmates removing each other from the Microsoft Teams meeting. Due to this, there was lack of communication seen among teachers and students, so the students weren't able to freely clear their doubts and ask further questions.

7. Students mentioned that they regret the lacking social interactions a lot, which they used to have before the pandemic situation.

The positive aspects seen were as follows:

1. The students mentioned that as the lectures get recorded in most of the online modes, so they can access and review them when needed.

2. Students also stated that their daily transport cost and time was much saved as they were not required to visit the exact location to gain education. The same holds for the teachers also, as they found it more convenient than tiring.

3. Both teachers and students stated that their Computer and Software Skills had improved a lot.

4. Students mentioned that they don’t need to get up early in the morning and get ready.

Ideate- Here we will use the responses gathered from our questionnaire and generate many feasible innovative ideas that can be incorporated for use in our solution bringing. We got many innovative ideas after receiving the responses of how teachers and students felt regarding the new online education system adopted during Covid-19 Lockdown.

Some of the useful IDEAS received were as followings, which we can consider for use to bring more ideas in our study further:

1. Cameras during online classes should be turned on always in order to have the same feeling of the social interactions.

2. Teachers must be given proper and full training on using all the necessary vast & complex elements in the various online applications of teaching, in order to save time.

3. Students stated that teachers must use Games, Quizzes, and also storytelling more often to keep students indulging in learning the concepts well.

4. This online education must be made accessible to all irrespective of economic status by making the study materials available to students offline most times.

5. Most MBA Students said that they need more of Conceptual PPT Lectures than just going through plain text that most teachers use today.

6. Few students said that they require more of informal discussions to make them interested in that particular lecture.

7. There must be use of more videos used by teachers, and also good debating sessions should be there in every class to help students grow in decision making and idea generating.

8. Some students also said that the lectures recorded should be uploaded on YouTube so that they can easily view them when they feel like.

Prototype-

In this step, we will do experiments and test with a set of students and teachers from different states of the Country where the pandemic has affected the most. We will develop and use a persuasive approach for the State Government by making it compulsory and mandatory for all teachers to-

1. Switch on their cameras as well as tell students to switch on their cameras also, in order to enable more social interactions like before.

2. Use more of interesting study material for teaching students of the schools and colleges, that contain more of videos and visuals than just the simple written content.

Bringing a further new alternative will be much easy then, after using these two approaches.

Test-

It was observed that after testing the above two proposals by placing a virtual interview with many teachers from different metropolitan cities, some teachers resisted towards these methods, and they said that there were uncontrollable disturbances created by children when the teachers adopted the first approach. In this case, we suggest that the teachers must also conduct more virtual sessions that involve all students engaging in fun activities like eating breakfast together and taking classes along with that. The feedback then obtained was incredible as teachers said that this solution worked for them and now students were more engaged in studying than before.

Also, when the teachers used more of YouTube Videos for teaching, it showed a very positive response from children as now there was full attendance seen than before, as in contrast to before this, the students used to leave the online meeting and not attend it frequently as they used to find the lectures boring and repetitive.

Thus we have arrived at 2 Unique Solutions to solve this problem as follows:-

An innovative request letter will be written to the State Government by me and my think pair partner as qualified design thinkers, making it now mandatory for all teachers and students to have more well-coordinated lectures with use of more Videos (YouTube or other platforms) than plain PPT Slides, as well as some informal interactions to be conducted by the teachers at least twice a week with the students of schools and colleges to enhance their interest towards studies as long as this lock-down will continue. This change will enable both teachers and students to carry on education processes without coming to school amidst this increase in COVID-19 Pandemic.

We will try making a new App in which there will be no option to switch off Cameras. This solution will help people have social interactions to the fullest and there will be more satisfaction to both Teachers & Students. Also, Teachers & Students will not feel that they are missing upon their past regular life having friendly and open interactions with one another.

We will surely think of adding some more unique features to this App of ours.

#designthinking

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