This online memory game is designed to teach innovation competencies. In the game, players must match cards containing innovation competencies with their corresponding descriptions. When a correct match is made between a competency and its description, the cards turn grey. The game was developed as part of the Erasmus+ funded SINCOE project with the aim of helping students develop and enhance their innovation competencies in digital learning environments. Innovation Competences | Sincoe  

The statements below describe various innovation competencies that are useful both in studies and in working life. Go through the statements and think about how the innovation-promoting abilities described in the statements have come to the fore in your group work for the course. Do you yourself see a connection with innovation activities more generally, are they related to it? Why or how? 

Write down concrete examples, either of your own activities or of the other members of your group, of how the statements have been reflected in your activities, and also think about how your actions in accordance with them have moved your activities forward or perhaps hindered your work. Which statements were visible in your work? 

How did you do group work? If you worked online as part of your work, how did working online affect your teamwork and the expression of these competencies? Did working online affect motivation? 

The course was implemented as face-to-face teaching. If it had been online, what kind of benefits and challenges would it have brought? Explain with specific examples. 

How did you feel about doing the task as a group? Did it promote work? What about the expression of competencies? 

Also consider what significance these abilities ​have in​ your ​future profession​ and ​working life in general​ after you graduate, as well as in your current studies. Think about one future job where you will work as a professional. Are the competencies expressed by the statements in the list related to success at work? In what ways? 

CREATIVITY	​​Use intuition and own knowledge to​ generate ideas.
CREATIVITY	​​Find new ways to implement ideas​.
CREATIVITY	Create ​original solutions​ to ​problems or​ exploiting ​opportunities​.
CREATIVITY	​​Make suggestions to improve current process products or services​.
CREATIVITY	​​Present novel ideas​.
CREATIVITY	​​Show inventiveness in using resources​.
CREATIVITY	​​Search out new working methods, techniques or instruments​.
CREATIVITY	​​Refine ideas​.
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Use trial and error​ analysis ​for problem solving​.
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Develop and experiment with new ways of problem solving​.
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Challenge the​ current state.
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Face the task from different points of view​.
CRITICAL THINKING	Take into account multiple impacts.
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Ask “Why?” and “Why not?” and “What if​?” in a targeted manner
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Take an acceptable level of risk to support new ideas​.
CRITICAL THINKING	​​Adheres to the ethical principles and values of​ the ​field of profession​.
CRITICAL THINKING	Make decisions based on data and evidence.
CRITICAL THINKING	Analyze ​sustainability challenges, their interdependencies and the various aspects of​ ​issues and problems​.
CRITICAL THINKING	Use information ​in finding, implementing and establishing sustainable solutions and​ ​operating models​.
INITIATIVE	Foster improvements in working environment.
INITIATIVE	Dare to experiment new ideas.
INITIATIVE	​​Go beyond expectations in the assignment, task, or job description without being​ ​asked​.
INITIATIVE	Take action to convince people to ​support an innovative idea​.
INITIATIVE	Act ​systematically​.
INITIATIVE	Start actions without hesitation.
TEAMWORK	​​Be attentive when others are speaking, and​ responds ​effectively to others’ comments​ ​during the conversation​.
TEAMWORK	​​Invite feedback and comments​.
TEAMWORK	Takes constructive feedback into account.
TEAMWORK	Identify the ​sources of conflict between​ themselves ​and others​ and ​between other​ ​people and take steps to​ harmonise conflict situations.
TEAMWORK	Provide and accept ​constructive feedback, cooperation or help to​ and from team ​colleagues​.
TEAMWORK	​​Work well with others, understanding their needs​.
TEAMWORK	Consult about essential changes.
NETWORKING	Discuss with ​people with different kinds of ideas and perspectives to extend​ your own ​knowledge domains.​
NETWORKING	Bring ideas from outside into the group.
NETWORKING	​​Share timely information with the appropriate stakeholders​.
NETWORKING	​​Build​ formal and informal ​relationships outside the team​/organisation from the beginning.
NETWORKING	Interact well in multidisciplinary/multicultural/international environments.

This is a brief instruction, how to enrich tutoring by Sincoe@ Assessment Tool and persona canvas. 

WHY? 

Using innovation competences self-assessment and persona canvas combined may help in communication with student by focusing in separated areas (competences, interests, personality qualities etc.) instead of one big formless mass of things from different levels in life. After beginning the self-assessment and filling the canvas can be defined, re-focused and updated whenever by the student and in the following tutor discussions with the tutor. 

WHAT & HOW? 

1. Student fills the self-assessment survey before the tutoring meeting / in the beginning of the tutoring relationship.  

2. Student and the tutor teacher have a session, where they discuss the results of the survey and use the persona canvas in creating the common understanding: student's self-reflection and tutor teacher’s professional observation, both in the spirit of high acceptance.  

Neither the self-assessment survey nor persona canvas should be any kind of permanent or fixed as a final set of skills levels and personality, but as a point where the tutor discussion has begun and then continues and develops further. 

This is a brief instruction on how to use student personas to make sure that your courses and teaching are in parallel with your different students. 

WHY? 

There is very much variety in students, and the distance between the lives of students and us teachers, easily gets bigger year by year. For that it may be a relevant thing to check from time to time, who we are teaching and how we do it. 

WHAT & HOW? 

Personas is a method that is used in service design for designing better services for the users, people. Basically, in the same way, personas can be used as a tool for designing better fitting teaching and courses for variety of different students. We teachers know many things of our students already after few executed courses, not to even mention the years of teaching, but to create realistic student personas we also probably need fresh student perspective. This short presentation does not focus on different possible ways of that pre-research, but at simplest it can be short questionnaires and little discussions with students during or after lessons based on the results of questionnaires.  

When creating personas, it may be a good idea to take the personas a bit to the edges from the average. That way you can get clearer characteristics and needs to fulfill. By creating a few extreme personas from the different sides of the edges you get the average student covered too. As in service design, it may be a good principle in education too, to include some flexibility to the “service” for different personalities, learning styles etc. Again, as in service design, also in education, there are no one and only right ways for doing things, but it always depends of the content, teacher’s personality, students etc. constantly changing elements. 

Persona canvas is a good tool for persona creation. There are many different canvases available, and one can also quite easily be created by yourself for your own purposes. Here is one example that is developed for creating student personas. By creating some (three is a good amount to create enough variety) student personas using the canvas, you can you’re your understanding of the students’ possible needs, preferences, wishes, fears and dreams of studying and life. Also, it can include different personal qualities that student has. By making these few personas a bit extreme, you can better test and simulate your different ideas and the flexibility of them. Overall, by creating student personas you can foster student perspective and get guidelines for course design and implementation. 

Here are brief instructions for the teacher using the student role cards: 

 What: 

The student role cards exercise involves assigning specific roles to students within a group project. Each role has distinct responsibilities that contribute to the overall success of the project. 

 Why: 

This exercise helps students develop innovation competencies such as critical thinking, initiative, creativity, teamwork, and networking. It encourages active participation, enhances collaboration, and ensures that each student has a clear purpose and contribution to the group. 

 How: 

Assign roles: Distribute the role cards to students, ensuring each student understands their specific role and responsibilities. 

Explain objectives: Clearly outline the goals of the project and how each role contributes to achieving these goals. 

Facilitate collaboration: Encourage students to communicate and collaborate effectively, leveraging each other's strengths. 

Monitor progress: Regularly check in with the groups to ensure they are on track and provide guidance as needed. 

Reflect and provide feedback: After the project, have a reflection session where students can discuss what they learned from their roles and provide feedback on the exercise. 

Different ways to use role cards: 

1. Role-switching

How it works: After a set period, have students swap role cards with each other. 

Purpose: Encourages empathy and deeper understanding by seeing the situation from multiple perspectives. 

2. Role expansion

How it works: Add extra information or additional objectives mid-way through the activity to deepen the complexity of roles. 

Purpose: Keeps students engaged and challenges them to adapt to new circumstances. 

3. Team-based roles

How it works: Group students into teams with complementary roles. 

Purpose: Promotes teamwork and shows how roles can collaborate to achieve a common goal. 

4. Mystery Roles

How it works: Keep certain roles secret or ambiguous so others have to deduce each student's role through their actions or statements. 

Purpose: Adds an element of critical thinking, deduction, and creativity. 

5. Reflection of roles

How it works: After the exercise, ask students to reflect their learnings still in the role. 

Purpose: Deepens engagement and helps students connect their roles to real-world concepts. 

or 

How it works: After the activity, give students a different role card and ask them to analyze how their new role would have approached the situation. 

Purpose: Encourages reflection and diverse thinking about alternative approaches. 

6. Role customization

How it works: Allow students to modify or "build" their roles based on factors you set (e.g., traits, goals, or relationships with other roles). 

Purpose: Promotes creativity and ownership of the exercise.  

 

Student role cards: Instructions for students 

What is this exercise? 

You will participate in an activity using role cards to take on specific roles or perspectives. Each card provides information about your role, including your objectives, responsibilities, and key details. Your task is to act according to your role and contribute to the overall activity or discussion. 

Why are we doing this? 

This exercise helps you: 

Develop innovation competencies such as critical thinking, initiative, creativity, teamwork, and networking.  

Understand different perspectives. 

Improve collaboration skills by working with others in varied roles. 

Practice problem-solving and decision-making in teams. 

Engage in active learning, making concepts easier to understand and apply. 

How to use the role cards? 

Read your card carefully: Understand your role, goals, and any key information. Feel free to ask questions if anything is unclear. 

Engage in the activity: Actively participate, staying true to your role. Use the information on the card to guide your decisions and contributions. 

Collaborate with others: Listen to their perspectives, contribute your own, and work together towards the activity’s objectives. 

Reflect afterward: After the exercise, think about what you learned from your role and how it contributed to the overall task. 

These examples illustrate how each role can contribute to a successful group project. 

Critical thinker - A student analyzing data from a science experiment to identify patterns and draw conclusions. They question assumptions, evaluate evidence, and consider alternative explanations to ensure their findings are robust and accurate. 

Initiator - A student who takes the lead in organizing a group meeting, setting the agenda, and assigning tasks. They proactively seek out resources and suggest new approaches to tackle the project, motivating the team to stay on track. 

Creative mind - A student brainstorming unique ideas for a marketing campaign in a business class. They use mind maps and other creative techniques to generate innovative solutions that stand out and add value to the project. 

Team player - A student who excels at facilitating group discussions, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard. They help mediate conflicts, encourage collaboration, and coordinate efforts so that the team works efficiently and harmoniously towards their common goal. 

Networker - A student who reaches out to industry professionals for insights and advice on a project. They build relationships with external experts, integrate their feedback, and bring valuable external perspectives to enhance the group’s work. 

 

Steps

1. Pair your students up
2. Take a topic your class is working on and give each group 2 minutes to write down 20 questions about that topic.
3. Give them 10 minutes to sort and organize their questions into 3 groups.
4. Ask them to answer their questions.
5. Ask them to organize their answers into a presentation.

Rationale

Critical thinking hinges on the kinds of questions we ask. If you just give an answer when asked, it means you're just repeating what you know without much thought. But if you respond to a question by asking more questions, it shows you're really thinking it through. This approach means you're not just taking information at face value; you're digging deeper, challenging assumptions, and exploring the topic more thoroughly. It's a clear sign of engaging with the material on a deeper level.

Source Frank Marsh (August 22, 2013)

How to empathize with your students?

To discover the needs of students through a deep understanding of their interests and concerns requires empathizing with them in order to gain insights that guide the design of the learning experience. Persona tool has been widely used in the field of marketing and, more recently, in education, as it facilitates understanding how users think, their desires, and habits.

The persona represented through the tool is a fictional character that describes the demographic characteristics and defines the personality of a group of users. Maria is one of the characters who was characterized as a result of various interviews with postgraduate students interested in training in: Design Thinking focused on Innovation for the Healthcare. She represents a group of students who share common characteristics.

Let's innovate in the classroom!

https://www.teachersguild.org

How to enhance the student experience?

The "journey map" is a graphic visualization tool for mapping the user experience of a product or service. It has a matrix structure where horizontally, it defines a timeline of the service process, and vertically, it gathers insights aligned with user actions: touchpoints, emotions, and pains. The bottom row serves as a space for collective construction of improvement opportunities in the user experience, considering the cause of the pains to mitigate them and understanding the reasons for joys to enhance them.

In this case, the student's experience has been mapped before, during, and after the pilot as a way to identify resources, timelines, needs, and more for pilot planning. I hope this tool helps you have a systemic view of the course from the student's perspective.

https://servicedesigntools.org/tools/journey-map

https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/designing-a-journey-map-consider-these-tips