Human Agency Meets CIITeens
Last March, CIIT Philippines, one of the Top Multimedia Arts Schools in the country partnered with us, Hooman Design, for their 2021 Work Immersion Program. A requirement for 12th Grade Students under the K-12 Program. Work Immersion is one of the course requirements for graduation. A Senior High School student has to undergo Work Immersion in an industry that directly relates to the student’s postsecondary goal. Through Work Immersion, the students are exposed to and become familiar with work-related environments related to their field of specialization to enhance their competence.
Of course, we wouldn’t let the chance of being able to work with brilliant kids to just slip like that so we did sign up right away for the partnership and designed the experience for the CIITeens participating.
CX + PBL + 21C + Design Thinking
What we tried to do is to let them have and propose their own projects instead of just being assigned random tasks and given ‘workshops’. Hopefully combining Customer Experience, Project-based Learning, Design Thinking, and 21c Learning and Living frameworks.
After we briefed them about the company’s goals, we let them propose things they think and/or feel can be discovered, designed, developed, or dedicated to hitting the targets. With the agreement, we try to give them the resources and guides they need to do things they think/feel should be done. Hopefully actually immersing them to actual work where actual things should actually be happening.
Module 01: Research (1-3 days)
Objective:
Learn the process of doing customer research and understanding what they need to prepare for designing experiences.
Module 02: Design (1-2 Days)
Objective:
To learn how Design Thinking can help in creating sustainable materials that improve CX through utilizing research data.
Module 03: Implementation (3-5 Days)
Objective:
Understand the ins and outs of effective and efficient operations through accomplishing tasks coming from the Design Module.
Module 04: Evaluation (1-2 Days)
Objective:
To learn and understand how to present critical information about the project’s performance and next steps.
Since we’re a very lean and agile organization, we only have a small team so we can only accommodate 6 students. Luckily the 6 students who applied were very amazing ones. 3 developers and 3 designers. They were divided into 3 groups for specific divisions of our operations where they can help take things to the next level through their own views of the future.
The Young Humans
Team ERP, Sean and Jans, proposed to build a virtual assistant to help our ERP users get access to the knowledgebase without having to go to a new tab.
Team Digital Comms, Tippi and Francesca, enhanced our Website Management Manuals to make it more user friendly for our clients.
and Team LMS, Keischa and Mac, created an online course to enhance the training experience of our clients and make it more engaging and long-term.
All of these came from their own minds and we really really really feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to work with them.
There were also some lightning talks from the founders and partners during the WI period where Hoomans tried to share their experiences to the next generation of Designers and Developers.
So yeah. I guess we should really be the ones making coffee and photocopying stuff for them. ☕️🖨
Thank you, CIIT Philippines, Principal Ms. Hazel Angeles, and Student Affairs Officer Gab Fullon for sharing this opportunity with us to work with these brilliant kids. What they’ve accomplished in just a month’s beyond things even experienced people can do. We can’t wait to see what they’ll be building next.
I hope we old people keep giving kids the freedom to try out what they think is best to solve stuff. It’s not (it never was) our job to tell them where to go. Our job is to help them find their own paths and keep catching them until they can stand on their own.
Enjoy the road trip, kids. ✌️
