2.     During the observation rounds I was able to understand the flow of patients from getting in the doors, to registration, to X-ray machines, and finally down onto the bleachers to await their dental service. At the oral surgery section, I was able to discern what the green and red papers being held up by dental assistants meant, after close observation, although I struggled a bit with what the red paper meant.

3.     The interviewing round was pretty interesting, as I was able to speak to a variety of different people who played different roles at MOM. It was fairly easy to initiate conversation with dentists, assistants, and patients about what they were doing and their experience with MOM. However, in such a fast paced environment it was a bit hard to continue a conversation and go a bit deeper with the people I spoke to.

 

- It was a huge event, on the first round where we had to try to observe everything that was more complicate, it was a lot going on and you couldn’t focus on one spot as much as you wanted to. In the observing one spot, it went well, because we got to observe what patients do the longest, wait for their turn but it was very uneventful but that was probably the most patient waiting room I’ve ever been in. 

 

- I like talking to people and hearing their opinions so it went well, and I luckily interviewed two very open individuals that told my partner and I a lot about their situation. I think at one point when we ran out of questions, that when things got complicated but overall I just talked to the person as I would to everyone else and it went well.

 

~I had difficulty at first to figure everything thing out, I wanted to go up and just ask questions, however this was the observation session where we could only observe. I was extremely curious and wanted to just ask questions. The second time going back out on the field I noted different processes happening that, such as volunteers holding up red, green cards communicating to other workers. 
 

~ I don’t think the interviewing person was too difficult because I like to speak to people that I don’t know. However, the difficult part was finding folks who wanted to be interviewed. A gentleman who looked like he was not in the mood after we told him what we wanted to speak to him about. 
 
 

3. I thought we’d have a difficult time interviewing people, as we didn’t want to ask questions that were too personal but definitely wanted to know more about peoples backgrounds. It turns out people were willing to be open with us and gave us a lot of personal information including information on their insurance and them being on disability. They even shared information about their families. I didn’t find anything to be very difficult about the interviewing round. 

2. During the observation round, I enjoyed seeing the clinic up close because I was able to put faces to the patients and volunteers who attended. I struggled sometimes with not understanding what I was seeing, and wanting to know more but having to assume.

3. Talking to the individuals at the clinic during the interview round really helped me to understand at least some of what brought the volunteers and patients to the clinics. Assuming what’s going on in someone’s mind can only get you so far; you need to speak with people to understand them and gain empathy for them. I struggled with the first steps of the interviews because I felt like I was overstepping and bothering people there.

The Fours: https://padlet.com/yazmeenlove/fours

Team Tie Dye paglet page https://padlet.com/jcoltran/5hfm11pbyk8

I think strangers play a very important role in the design process. They allow us the opportunity to investigate new perspectives. These new perspectives are based on experiences that may be completely different than that of our own and thus allow us a better understanding of the interview topic. I believe the purpose of sending us out to talk to strangers was to allow us to get more comfortable with interviewing people that we do not know, aka strangers. This is an important skill as we will be learning how to fit the community’s needs. If we are unable to talk to the community, we will never be able to build what it needs. 

https://padlet.com/surayyah_khan/jir3y7po1bnp 

2.)  An interviewing tip that I found helpful was to “Go With the Flow”. I found that not sticking to a script, but rather just having conversation flow between my partner, our interviewee, and myself made the conversation less painful and awkward, as well as more entertaining.

3.) TEAM PADLET:
GROUP I FOR THE WIN
https://padlet.com/612miha/teamiHLSA484 

2.     Prototyping and testing our invention is very valuable. By creating the prototype we are able to see some to extent the feasibility of our invention. Testing it out on others gives us feedback that can cause us to think of factors that we hadn’t previously. Hearing positive and negative feedback from potential users helps us to better create the invention, to suit them.

 

2.) Simply stated, the value prototyping and testing is gathering a variety of second opinions, and testing the feasibility of the idea. With respect to the barter for healthcare services, our group got a lot of great feedback that allowed us to alter and tune this idea. Without prototyping and testing this idea of bartering for healthcare, our idea would have been one-dimensional, limited, and inadequate to handle the “too expensive to seek treatment” solution that we were getting from our initial interviewees. 

2. I think prototyping and testing is extremely important in any process of invention. For our idea, it really made us realize what we needed for our idea to be realistic and showed us if there was anything missing from our initial plan. The fact that we showed our prototype to UMD students, who were our target population as well as specifically commuters (we were able to converse with non-commuters as well) proved valuable as they were able to provide their input on what they felt was lacking.

I think that value of the prototyping and testing is being able to test your  idea in the real world in order to get feedback on it then using this feedback to improve our design.  Presenting our prototype to strangers and possible users brings up flaws that we could've over looked in our project and helps us fix them.

The value of prototyping and testing in this process is definitely important in the way that our ideas and drawings of a design can sometimes be very distant and difficult to translate into the world in which the product will be used. By creating a prototype, we make it possible to sit down with a real version of our idea and figure out which aspects are worthwhile and which parts need to be revised or discarded. it is also far easier to sell to potential customers when they have a prototype. The user can give feedback when they can see what we are trying to sell them on rather than just telling them an idea and hoping for the best. 

Because the design thinking process involves a lot of trial and error, set backs are inevitable. Major setbacks can stall a project which discourages group members and cause anxiety and mental blocks. Learning how to cope with stress makes it easier for us to get over these hurdles and come up with new ideas/ ways to modify our existing idea. 

- Im extremely pleased with two great interviews my partner and I conducted. They did go out of topic but they were valuable interviews and had the person important views. Sure our first interview didn’t want to talk to me, screamed at me, told us the mona center shouldn't have been built and the over population is a problem but he has lived in that area for 50 years and has that opinion so I have to respect that. The second interview was with a very knowledgeable man who said words that suck with me, he said “Give back what you take from the community.” Meaning to always help the community, he told us how he set up a computer so a child can do his homework and has provided shirts to people that need it. He did think the community garden was pointless idea, because he could think of many other things that would help, but it was still a good interview. 

- The Mona Center inside looks extremely nice, i did not think it would look so nice from the outside but they did a lot with the limited amount of space they had. The community also looks like it needs help which makes placing the Mona Center there even better.

2. One high point was being able to hear a lot of opinions from people of different ages. A triumph I had was being able to empathize with the community members.
 3. I wonder if the next time we visit, more people within the community will be aware of the Mona Center.
 
 

2.)   A triumph for our group of three was definitely the ability to have a lengthy discussion (over 45 minutes) at a local barber shop. The entire barber shop engaged with us and gave us great perspective on the dynamics of their community, how they feel about the Mona Center, and how the Mona Center can address healthcare issues that trouble their community. In addition, many of them offered advice on how the Mona Center can be integrated/unified with the Temple Hills Community.

3.)   Personally, I think that the Mona Center is an amazing and modern facility. Although our group tried to empathize with people of that community, many of them were not as receptive as we had hoped. Many of them were skeptical of the change that the Mona Center would bring, and thought that there was some “catch” to the services being offered. 

I think having the mona center there is a great idea that is helping the infrastructural development of the community since many of the people talks about safety and shelter that will bring attention to some of the police, and the center will be a great opportunity for the people in the community. 

It was a challenge to find people who were willing to share their perspective and thoughts with strangers. A lot of the businesses I went to were closed during the second round or members from the class already spoke to them. I don’t think I really struggled with anything, I really enjoyed talking to the people in the community and initiating conversations. 

2. What was a high point? What was a triumph for you?

One of the high points was talking to a resident in the community who clearly did not want to be bothered. One gentlemen stated “I don’t want nothing from you, I have health insurance!” Initially, my partner thought that gentleman was going to be hard to talk to. However, after a few minutes of talking with the gentleman he began to open up and discuss his concerns about the community. 

3. Share any other thoughts you have about this first site visit, empathizing with a community,  seeing the Mona Center, etc.

The Mona Center is a state of art building that has many great essential healthcare components that will be extremely beneficial to the community. However, I was concerned about the lack of advertising or promotion the Mona center has. A lot of the residents and business owners within the community are unaware about the location of Mona center and that it even exists. I believe proper lighting, signage, posters, and flyers will go a long way with increasing awareness of the Mona center. 

The high point of the trip was hearing each individual answering our questions with full responses!  That was the best feeling ever to me honestly. The second beauty hair salon store we all walked into was a little reluctant about answering our questions about the community and the Mona Center, but after Nyajei stated to the store owner and the hair stylists that me and her were from West Africa they automatically started to open up more. It surprised me when her mood changed after hearing we are from the same country, this shows me that being from the same background helps anyone feel comfortable talking to you.

The Mona Center is a phenomenal, remarkable, and stunning building that has remarkable diverse healthcare elements that will beneficial towards Temple Hills in a extraordinary way. My main concern is the lack of advertising from the center itself. I only live 5 minutes down the straight from Temple Hills, not once have I see flyers or anything in the newspaper about it. The residents who live in the community did not know what the center had to offer to them. This is very sad to see since I grew up around this community almost all my life and to know the center is not using every inch of a marketing platform for these people breaks my heart. 

In fact, now that I think retrospect, steering our conversation in an impromptu fashion really came to fruition as it enhanced our cohesiveness as a group, and it did not artificially force us to become close. And simply stated, it was incredibly enjoyable to engage in meaningful conversation. That in turn helped us when it came to the “Define and Ideate Activity” because each member of our team really focused on encouraging and listening to each other, while being resourceful at the same time to devise a solid idea/point of view statement that really helps us define our target audience, and how we can really try to help them and make an impact in the Temple Hills CommunityIn fact, diverging away from the psychological safety questions” really proved that our group is not afraid to be venturesome and step out of our comfort zone to really make substantive progress for DP3.

The prototyping process was also a great deal easier as compared to the first and second DP. Physically, we were more aware of the materials within the workspace, which in turn made it easier transition between the idea constructed in our minds and the physically constructed prototype. Additionally, we were able to more efficiently add on our own individual  ideas to the group constructed prototype.

The testing phase also went much smoother during this DP. We knew how to summarize our ideas in a cohesive, streamlined pitch. Additionally, we also had a better idea of who would be responsive to our prototype. For example, instead of picking a random person, we chose individuals of an older age (older than college aged students), as our prototype dealt with adopting clubs or events for children at  the Mona Center. While in the prototyping process, we all had our designated roles that played to our individual strengths. 

                I would also argue that individuals of the UMD campus, both students and older faculty served, were more receptive to our prototype, as they were more willing to listen to our presentation. Individuals of the Temple Hills community were unwilling to listen if they thought the prototype would not apply to their needs (i.e. do not have children, do not know of children who would need our services.) Those of the UMD campus would listen, even if the information was not relevant to themselves, and were willing to provide feedback about the nature of the design. It appeared those of the Temple Hills community were less willing to provide feedback to our ideas. 

 The Barber's Den find themselves in. Therefore, their feedback seemed kind-of diluted. And in fairness, our group was "testing" an idea that was not designed with them in mind because many, if not all of the students we "tested" on have never experienced the hardships, dilemmas, and continuous obstacles that those living in a disadvantaged community face daily.
However, the constructive criticism we got from our visit in Temple Hill was not only upfront, but it was also genuine in that they were providing us with feedback that was based on actual hardships they face. They then provided us with the perspective and guidance to help us formulate a solution to incorporate in our DP3 prototype. This in-turn led to an honest dialog both times we visited that shop on separate occasions the same day. Our DP3 prototype is 100% based on what they told us that millennials in their community needs. However, even with that being said, they still told us that they would not go to our program at the Mona Center, not because we didn't meticulously organize the logistics and thoroughly present the details, but rather because they didn't think we would ever come back after semester ends and "Back-up our talk". They even questioned our integrity in that do we really want to help their community or are we just doing this for a school assignment grade. To best honest, I told them that we were doing it for both.

Simply stated, at the end of the day, "testing" on millennial students on campus was not as nearly as eye-opening and revealing as "testing" with the millennial at The Barber's Den. In fact, people at that shop were invested enough to exchange contact information with us, and ask us to keep coming back to visit more frequently, not for haircuts and shape-ups, but rather the conversation. Conversely, students on campus didn't seem to care one way or the other.