Value Tree

While developing the simulation, the team constantly looked for meaningful activities to be included during the 7 minutes of school time and work time for the participants. For those who are unfamiliar with Eye Empathy, the participants have to either attend 'school' or have to 'work' to support their families. They have to spend approximately 7 minutes in their respective school/workplace.

One of the difficulties we faced was that 7 minutes were too short for any discussion or for most activities. Secondly, we hoped to create a form of continuity between each 7 minute session, so that the attention of the participants will not be lost. We want them to know that every action which they take during the course of the simulation will add up, either positively or negatively. Ultimately, we want to create an environment whereby the students work towards a common goal.

With this in mind, we create an activity known as "Value Tree". Basically, Value Tree represents an eco-system whereby differents parts of the tree contribute to its survival. Starting with a simple sketch of a big tree, participants are to collect these missing parts and place them on the tree. They do this by fulfilling the various missions in their personality cards throughout the game . These missing parts contain certain values which Eye Empathy is trying to bring across to them. The locations in which participants place the values will mean differently.

To build the Value Tree, participants have to collect the values by accomplishing their missions. "Positive" missions will give "Positive" values, while "Negative" missions will yield "negative" ones. Regardless of the type of values gotten, they all make up the Value Tree. 7 minutes in each week will allow the students to build the trees.

At the end of the 4 weeks, the participants will be given the opportunity to present and explain the appearance and location of the values of the trees. They will need to understand and relate the relationship(i.e. position) of the different values they have 'earned' in the 4 weeks.

Debrief pointers

One particular area which was lacking in the first workshop(16th May) was the structure of the debrief. It was not comprehensive enough and we did not manage to engage the participants well. It is partly due to time constraint, we had only 40 minutes to wrap up the game with the debrief.

The role-playing of the families is part of an elaborate simulation to expose the students to the financial difficulties of the lower income group. The simulation serves as a common experience for everyone to discuss their viewpoints. This jumpstart the discussion, avoiding the inertia and reluctance to share during discussions.

The simulation would have provided them a wealth of experience to talk about. By engaging everyone, we allow them to share their thoughts and experiences with other participants. With this in mind, I now have a clearer picture on how we can conduct the discussion.

Improvements

• The facilitators should place more emphasis on engaging the participants.
• Less one way communication. Instead the facilitator should talk as little as possible but provide provocative questions/pointers to guide the discussion.

Rationale

• Facilitators are not much older than the participants. They are more suited to guiding the participants and getting them to voice their thoughts.
• The simulation is meant to create an experience for them to share about with the rest. So by talking about it, it enforces the lessons learnt.
• The participants derive their own lessons from the simulation. We do not dictate what they learn. On the other hand, we must be able to guide them in the direction we want through directed questions.
• Such a format is less demanding on the facilitator as well, he is no longer expected to deliver an hour long 'lecture' on empathy. Instead of focusing on content, we now focus on developing the facilitation skills of our trainers. It is also easier for high turnover rate, i.e. with such a format, new trainers can easily fit into our programme.

Facilitation Tools

Since we are running such workshops, it is important that we develop a toolbag of facilitation skills. The first tool I would like to introduce is Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC). ELC provides the framework for our discussion. A simple ELC has 4 stages.

1. Experience: First we get the participants to share their experiences during the simulation.
2. Reflection: Get them to share their feelings.
3. Rationalisation: Get them to explain what caused them to feel in this particular manner.
4. Action: What does it mean for them in real life? What can they do about it?

Another good tool to use is ACTS

1. A: Acknowledge what the participants said
2. C: Clarify any doubts with what was said
3. T: Taichi the points to the rest
4. S: Summarise what was being say.

This is especially useful for engaging the participants. Try it and you will know.

Updates

Despite a long period inactivity on the blog, the team has been working on the development of the game throughout the last school semester. It is a good to make use of this blog to keep track of the updates of EE along the way.

Welcome to EyE Empathy!

EyE Empathy (EE) is started by a group of young people, wanting to do something for the society, for the other young people.

We believe that young people hold the keys to changes and improvements for society. Social empathy is what EE wants to achieve.

Do come back often to this blog to check for news and updates!