The Pen Pals Five

1. The Pen Pals Five SI 501 Contextual Design & Inquiry

2. Who are the Pen Pals Five? • Lance • Emi • Chen • Emily • Kevin

3. “K-grams is a mentoring and learning program that pairs up college and elementary school students through a suite of programs. An entirely student-led organization, K-grams brings people together from all facets of the University of Michigan campus and the local community. “ • Completely Student Run (All Undergrad)‏ • Non-Profit • Part of developing a rich college experience • Focus: Involving Students in the Community

4. Core Program: Letter Writing

8. Methodology Interviews

9. Methodology Models

10. Constraints • Money • Time • Expertise • High Turnover

11. Findings

12. Findings • Transitions

13. Findings • Transitions • Communication

14. Findings • Transitions • Communication • Technology

15. Finding 1 Transition Issues • Recruitment • “We start recruitment at the beginning of each year” • Collecting and processing applications takes a lot of time • Training • There is no formal training process for directors • Rely on binders to communicate information from one year to the next ”Transition is our biggest challenge” -Director

16. Finding 1 Transition Issues What does institutional memory look like?

17. Finding 1 Transition Issues In most organizations, much institutional memory is passed from person to person. ”New things are tried every year, so if they don’t work, someone may still try the same thing again two years later.” –Director

18. Finding 1 Transition Issues At K-grams high turn over causes a reliance on artifacts.

19. Finding 1 Transition Issues What do years of institutional memory look like?

20. Finding 1 Transition Issues What do years of institutional memory look like? “The transition binder was poorly done last year.” -Director

21. Finding 1 Transition Issues What can K-grams do?

22. Recommendation 1 Transition Issues • Recruit and train Directors and Swing Kids early: • Allow for training based on personal experience and relationships rather than artifacts. • Let Swing Kids get involved in the training of pen pals

23. Recommendation 1 Transition Issues • Recruit and train Directors and Swing Kids early: • Allow for training based on personal experience and relationships rather than artifacts. • Let Swing Kids get involved in the training of pen pals • Rethink role of binders • Use binders as reference tool rather than as a means of training • Consolidate old binders • Standardize the content

24. Finding 2 Communication: Sharing the Love • Strengths • K-grams members are very excited to be involved with the program • Members are motivated by the mentor relationships with kids “I get a lot of joy out of doing this” -Director

25. Finding 2 Communication: Sharing the Love • Strengths • K-grams members are very excited to be involved with the program • Members are motivated by the mentor relationships with kids • Top to bottom • communication • Swing Kids and Pen Pals are out of the loop • Lack of feedback “The swing kids don’t always know what’s going on.” –Hall Head

26. Recommendation 2 Communication: Sharing the Love Short Term Begin emailing periodic newsletter to announce current activities and future events • Informal Engagements

27. Recommendation 2 Communication: Sharing the Love Short Term Begin emailing periodic newsletter to announce current activities and future events • Informal Engagements Longer Term Send out online/paper survey to pen pals and teachers after every semester. K-grams blog

28. Finding 3 Technology: Tools for Success • Website • Only one director knows how to use database and website • Outdated information • Content has been compromised: inappropriate spam “The Website is a mess” -Director

29. Finding 3 Technology: Tools for Success • Website • Only one director knows how to use database and website • Outdated information • Content has been compromised: inappropriate spam • Applications Processing • Pen Pal applications are not standardized between web and paper models • Online applications are sent to a g-mail account and must still be entered into the K-grams database manually “The Website is a mess” -Director

30. Recommendation 3 Technology: Tools for Success Short Term • Clean up website content • Update static web content • Remove guestbook altogether

31. Recommendation 3 Technology: Tools for Success Longer Term • Redesign Website • Find volunteer in University community to implement overhaul of website • Configure content management platform • Integrate online application and pen pal database

32. Recommendation 3 Technology: Tools for Success Longer Term • Redesign Website • Find volunteer in University community to implement overhaul of website • Configure content management platform • Integrate online application and pen pal database • Institute Maintenance of Web content • Recruit from within K-Grams • Use Pen Pal application to locate recruits with website experience • Consider creating a position responsible for electronic communications

33. Conclusions • Summary of recommendations: • Continue the good work! • Recruit and train early to reflect roles in the organization • More person-to-person training, use binders as a reference • Enhance the feedback within the organization and with schools. • Update the website and recruit students with technical expertise.

34. Questions