The Challenge

Although all Student Councillors (SCs) were expected to carry out Relations work to establish positive relationships with the student body, the Year 1 SCs lacked the adequate skills and confidence.

Hence I lead a team of 3 Student Council Teacher Advisors (SCTAs) to craft and conduct a workshop that would be engaging and relevant, balancing dispositions and techniques that the SCs could easily adopt.

My Role

1. Problem definition
2. Project management
3. Instructional design

Timeline May 2021

Context 2-hour school workshop as part of CCA Curriculum

Tools Miro, Zoom

Problem Definition

Background

Prior to 2020, Relations Committee officers in the Student Council conducted cohort-wide surveys and dialogue sessions to understand student body sentiment. In 2020, the Student Council was restructured, re-distributing the Relations work equally amongst all members.

After the restructuring, we realised that not every SC was equipped with the right mindset and skills to establish good relations with the student body.

We found a window of opportunity to carry out a 2-hour face-to-face workshop with all the students in a single venue. We opted for this format because relations work is conducted primarily in-person.

Bringing the Experience Online

At the end of May 2021, CCA was suddenly changed to an online format due to COVID-19 guidelines. With one week to go, I led the transformation of the workshop.

Some challenges I foresaw:

• Creating a digital environment for open, honest sharing within a group of students just getting to know each other
• Technical challenges such as poor connectivity and lack of familiarity with digital platforms
• Zoom fatigue

I suggested using Miro, an online whiteboard tool, for the following reasons:

• Miro is able to host a group of our size (36 SCs and 6 SCTAs) simultaneously without lag.
• Being an in-browser tool, it is easier to onboard students as they need not install new software.