… Now what???

Ideation and finally brainstorming those solutions

To todays class, each team member brought a list of 10 ways they think we could create something that would help fulfill our job to be done. We all agreed that there were no bad ideas, and that to just write without thinking to hard so that we could get the brainstorm booming. Below were some proposed ideas:

• An app that provides a forum for free chosen peer mentorship
• An App that organizes the preexisting peer mentorship programs
• A slac section for general guidance
• A program that provides mentorship from Alumni
• A chat forum for Alumni and students
• A branch of mental health organization that offers guidance and specific resources for being an adult (i.e, leasing an apartment, finding a job, career choosing)
• Student peer mentorship program between seniors and freshman that’s incentive driven
• Improve the US1100 peer mentorship program (make it a required class for both freshmen and upperclassmen)
• A service that allows you to input a problem and it will provide a list of resources available to you
• A pairing program that involves incentivised volunteers that can offer guidance in any area

There were many more proposed ideas, and out of all ideas proposed we decided on 5 things that seemed the most feasible:

• We wanted to build off of pre existing systems to fit the needs of students better
• We wanted to improve US100
• We wanted to make it easier to navigate club website (which included updating orgs and making the club list more user friendly)
• We wanted to create an app that organizes the mentorship programs for access in one place

We based these ideas off of our survey results, it seemed many students didn’t feel that the university lacked resources, but rather that it was difficult to find what they really needed in the monstrous pile of resources.

Because of this, we struggled with figuring out whether the resource to alleviate this problem should be organization affiliated or independent. We had originally hoped to create an individual app so that if the resource might grow, it would not be stunted by Texas State perimeters. To see whether or not we should be indvidual or School affiliated, we created the pro-con list below:

Organization affiliated:

Pro:

Does Not need new traction

Might add to the app bc social aspect

Already used by students

Funding not needed

Con:

Possibly Censorship

A little bit out of place (less utilitarian)

Not as expandable

Might not support the social aspect of the idea

More indirect peer support (Initiative needed)

Independent:

Pro:

Freedom to expand

Better for the social aspect of the idea

Social Aspect allows for direct peer support

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Con:

Students don’t want to download another app

Needs funding

Needs to gain traction

After consideration, we decided to develop further onto the existing Texas State App, rather than create yet another resource which students would have to seek out and learn about on top of all the other information that is thrown at them.

After all of this discussion, I left with the individual task of finding other resources that are already available that do the same thing we are hoping to accomplish, and why they need to be improved. Below is a short pro con list of what I found:

SOC: (student organizations council):

Pros:

• Includes Name, Category, Description and contact info for most clubs
• Searchbar with key words
• An available catalog of all clubs

Cons:

• Not up to date
• Impossible to search if you don’t know the name of the club prior to researching
• Slow
• Not particularly structured, just a long list of clubs
• No way to find new clubs by filling out interests

TXST App:

Pros:

Offers News, social events, athletics information, student billing, NSO information, Course information, account holds, Safety, reports, printing, academic calendar, bobcat mail, maps, canvas, dining and shuttles all in one place

Cons:

• Does Not offer a personal chat forum
• Does Not offer connection with other students/alumni

Us1100:

Pros:

• Provides faculty connection with students
• Upperclassmen peer mentorship

Cons:

• Impersonal
• Only one peer mentor per full class of students
• A requirement that wastes time
• Can come off patronizing
• Not versatile

Conducting this research really allowed us to see what to avoid when coming up with our new solution, which we we plan on perfecting next class.

As always, thank you for reading, and I’m rooting for you!

Best,

Emily