(Eric Wilson with students from Belize City / Project Management Workshop)
July, 2022
Our visit to Belize City and Belmopan inspired so many great ideas that we plan to implement in future collaborations.
Students, teachers, and mentors in Belize spent a day with Eric Wilson (CEO, The CPI Group) working on project management. Little did we know that Eric actually would have them apply what they learned by designing a space station. They even virtually met David Zuniga, (Senior Director, In-Space Solutions: Axiom Space) with the chance to share students' designs for future space stations.
Our next stop was Belmopan where students and teachers who participated in Martian Greenhouse 2.0 and Green Energy for All discussed how we could improve future collaborations. WOW! Every idea they shared is a gem.
(Laisha, Tana, Káim, Erin, Michael, Sonida, Consuelo, Felicity, Gregg)
Below are just a few of the ideas they had.
Improve Mentor Communication and Recruit More Mentors
Fall collaborations are easier than Spring.
Great organizational approach to the Energy project can be used to MG 3.0
Keep Legacy Leaders (peer-to-peer student leaders)
Host training for Legacy Leaders
Employ Breakout Rooms Regularly (Student Voice, More Time for Discussions)
Hearing from multiple Subject Matter Experts is important.
Organization: Some teams need more guidance. (balanced with the open-ended nature of things)
Increase School-to-School Interaction: (student lead discussions, jam board, etc.)
Formal Feedback from Mentors (frequency with a balance of informal with formal)
What will companies and industries do with student solutions? Do student solutions matter? Can student ideas be implemented in the real world? Did a company or industry implement something after the conclusion of the collaboration?
Keep the intent of the design as it helps students discover what they love. This gives a student an idea of what they want to do. It often changes his/her mind.
Provide opportunities for teachers or students to present related skills. e.g., animations, graphics, fluency in technology or tools, etc.
Create a student support system so that teachers have more freedom facilitate
Provide extra links to support students
Offer help on "How to lead a presentation."
Strive for even more interaction at every meetup.
More prep, organization, and guidelines will help those who get lost in what we are doing and how we are doing it.
Project Management Charter needs to be clearly communicated.
Create a Student Design Team to join and/or advice the adult design team.
Students learned time management, collaboration, and other soft skills needed to thrive in the future.
Showcase the Legacy Leaders
Make sure drawings and other creative forms of creating and showing solutions is emphasized.
Build a pool of teachers that can help with drawings, graphics, and other skills that help all teams.
The teachers wanted more to do as a facilitator. We can work on ways that the role facilitating can be expanded so that teachers, just like students, are empowered and free to explore their passions and what matters to them.
Special thanks to PathLight Belize, Consuelo, and the amazing teams from Belize.
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