Experience mapping or journey mapping
One of the societal problems experienced by the people living in the city of Sydney is the high number of school dropout among the youths. The issue of school dropout has negatively impacted the education system of the city as most of the youth hardly complete their education program. Following the public outcry concerning the increasing number of dropout cases within the city, we have employed various design thinking tools in order to find the alternative course of action and the root cause for school dropout which has now become a community problem. Design thinking can be defined as the non- linear, iterative process which seeks to find the solution to the identified community-based problem which has been the cry of every parent in the community following the increasing number of school dropout.
Design thinking tools have been applied by the group members in finding the most innovative solution to the problem at hand in every stage of design thinking as the design thinking tools are necessary for effective and up to date solution to the problem. The five stages in design thinking have been linked with different tools which have aided the research team that is the group members to find the most suitable solution and the root cause to school dropout cases in the city of Sydney. Based on the problem at hand that is school dropout cases within the community, the following design thinking tools have been applied by the group members to find the most innovative solution of the problem.
Design thinking tools
Experience mapping or journey mapping
The journey mapping tools have been applied in the first stage of the design thinking process that is the identification of the root cause of the problem at hand. The tool focuses on tracing the students’ journey as she or he interacts with the school management and friends while at school before they decided to drop out of school. The experience mapping or the journey mapping tool helped the team to identify the needs of the students and what might push or convince them to drop out of the school program before completion. The tool was preferred by the group members thus based on the above-discussed impacts on the problem at hand since by its application, we were able to determine the following possible causes of school dropout within the city of Sydney.
Drug and substance abuse- from the experience journey of the identified students who are no longer going to school; one of the root causes which has been linked to the school dropout cases is drug and substance abuse by the students. It was evidenced that most of the students who have dropped out of their respective schools are now drug addicts. This implies that they started using such drugs while at school hence due to the addiction by such drugs, they had to leave schooling program to find enough time to use drugs within
the city of Sydney.
The journey mapping process enabled us to identify some of the close friends’ and classmates of the students who were seen idling in
the streets of Sydney city, therefore from close nd intense discussion on the possible causes of their friends dropping out of school, the issue of drug nd substance abuse was suggested by good number of students as in most cases, they were seen walking around the city with the most wanted drug peddlers hence that could be the main cause for them dropping out of school.
Some of their classmates under the boarding program further confirmed that they were even carrying such drugs to school to use in the cause of the day while at school. They used to sneak out of the school to go and use such drugs like alcohol in the nearby pub therefore they could resume back while drunk nd disorderly in the school. This led to expulsion of most of them by the administration body as they could not stand their disorderly behaviors within the institution.
Peer pressure and bad company- peer pressure is the influence from members of one’s peer group like classmates or age mates. This has negatively influenced the young members of the community in terms of their school attendance as most of the students who have stopped schooling have influenced their friends and classmates too not to attend school. From experience mapping, one may succumb to peer pressure due the following reasons;
- Their desire to fit in
- to avoid rejection from friends nd to gain social acceptance
- hormonal inconsistencies
- Lack of structure at home.
Based on the above identified reasons for peer pressure, school attendance has been negatively impacted by the peer pressure activities as good number of student drops out of school because his or her friends are no longer going to school therefore chooses to stay with such friends who have been identified as the bad companies in the society. Peer pressures play an important role in school attendances as good number of students are easily influenced by the bad peer therefore affects their schooling life.
Poor parenting- parenting role directly impacts the students life and career choice since through parenting, one will be directed and molded into a more respectful, responsible citizens but due to lack of such services in life of students, controlling nd parenting such kids will be a problem both at school and at home as the issue of discipline has been compromised by the caretaker nd parents of such kids. This has impacted their stay at school since they find school rules nd regulations too demanding from them thus they choose to drop the schooling program. Poor parenting is directly attributed to the school dropout since some of the parents within the society do not find time with their kids to discuss some of the issue affecting them at school therefore due to pressure at school, most of the students will drop out of their various learning institutions. It is the responsibility of every parent to discuss academic matters with their kids in order to identify problems they might be experiencing at schools since some of the students do dropout of school due to the pressure from teachers and authorities hence with regular discussion and advice from parents, such students will be motivated to complete their studies.
Future steps to launch potential innovative solutions
In launching potential innovative solution s to the identified community problem that is school dropout cases among the youths, various steps in problem solving have been considered. Identification of the problem which is school dropout as considered the first steps thus followed by analysis of the problem which has been discussed in the report above and thirdly is to develop the innovative solution to the problem which are discussed as follows.
Provide career and technical education
From the research conducted by the group members, one of the most effective innovative solution to the problem at hand is to provide students with career and technical education classes as such classes will make schooling more interesting nd meaningful to students. It is believed that personalized learning is another way of making learning process more engaging and relevant to students therefore it will attract and motivate more students to continue with their education program despite the challenges they are under going. These will contribute to less number of school dropout within the city of Sydney.
Use technology to engage students
Educators can alternatively use technology as a tool to bolster learning and keep students attention at school rather competing with student’s smart phones while at school since student- centered learning allows teachers to practice more facilitative learning role in learning process which will make learning more engaging and interactive to students. Educators are therefore challenge to think or innovate various innovative ides of incorporating students’ already acquired technology like smart phones with the career development or education activities like online group forum where students will be allowed to access internet with their smart phones and be engaged by teachers in a discussion forum. This will make learning interesting thus motivate learners to continue with their learning programs.
Starting a mentoring program
Ongoing support to students thus through mentoring and tutoring programs will help to keep students on track to graduate thus upon completion their studies. Mentoring program to students will help to keep students in schools despite the challenges they might be experiencing in schools as they will be guided on how to overcome such challenges by the mentors of their choice. Schools might prefer to use various mentors like community volunteers, older students or college since as the main objective of mentoring program to students is to help students overcome challenges, motivate them based on their career path so as to successfully complete their studies.
Report summary
Following the above discussed design thinking tools in improving the community problem of increasing school dropout within the city of Sydney, considering of the innovative solutions to the problem will provide the best solution to the identified community problem.