Week 5: Presenting our progress & Empathy Map

This week, our team's main focus was refining our understanding and validating the scope of our project. Our main task was preparing a comprehensive presentation that clearly articulated our project's foundation and direction.

The Preparation Process

Building the presentation was an intensive process that forced us to meticulously organize and defend our findings:

• Deepening Our Focus: Compiling the material—from defining the user (the Educator) to structuring the narrative—helped the team connect even more profoundly with the core challenge. This process allowed us to further refine and focus our direction.

• Market & Solution Research: We researched what currently exists in the market to address classroom social dynamics. We listed existing tools and approaches, including:

  • Systemic School Solutions: Local, school-led initiatives focused on social integration, such as gradual support and guidance around field trips and external activities.

  • "Taatzumot" Project: A sociometric-like solution where students answer questions about their classmates to provide the teacher with a social snapshot of the class.

  • "Be Friends" Tool: A digital tool that performs social mapping of the class using a smart algorithm, providing recommendations for each student.

• Empirical Research Confirmation: To back our identified need, we searched for academic support and found a great article - "Promoting Social Inclusion in Educational Settings: Challenges and Opportunities". A key finding from this article that strengthened our focus was the concept of Homophily : Students tend to choose friends who are similar to them. Another crucial information we learned from the article was the broad impact of isolation: The research also highlighted the extensive negative consequences of social isolation on the student. Crucially, it showed that when educators adopt a proactive approach to help a student integrate socially, they also enable that student to be better engaged in learning and academic tasks.

Defining the Challenge

We grounded our presentation in the real-world experiences of educators. We used a powerful visual and quote to emphasize the emotional burden and urgency of the need.

Empathy Map

Additionally, this week we created an empathy map for our persona — a middle-school homeroom teacher. While building the map, we revisited the interviews we had already conducted with teachers and also carried out new ones, allowing us to gather the missing pieces of information — like completing the final parts of the puzzle.

Mapping the teacher's worries, pain points, unmet needs, and what they see, feel, and think truly helped us step into their shoes. It shifted our perspective and allowed us to understand the challenge from their point of view. The insights we gained will guide us as we work toward shaping a solution that is both meaningful and helpful for teachers.