ter222’s Blog

Blog prompts (due Sunday 5/2 – as a team):

1. Identify two SPECIFIC funding sources for the design phase of your project and two SPECIFIC funding sources for the dissemination (implementation / distribution / commercialization) phase of your project. For each funding source, explain why this is a good fit for your project, and what SPECIFIC aspect of your project might the funding source support.
2. Identify five specific partnerships that you need to forge to advance your project forward with the ultimate goal of positively impacting Lehigh University AND ten other universities. Describe exactly how each partnership might help you achieve scale and why that entity might be willing to work with you.

1. Design Phase:
   • Davis Projects for Peace Grant
     • This grant will fund our travel to Sierra Leone which will allow us to speak to families and children, do qualitative research, test our screener, and further our partnerships. Our venture aligns with their mission of advancing research that promotes peace anywhere in the world: We encourage applicants to use their creativity to design projects and employ innovative techniques for engaging project participants in ways that focus on conflict resolution, reconciliation, building understanding and breaking down barriers which cause conflict, and finding solutions for resolving conflict and maintaining peace.
   • Lehigh University CORE Grant
     • This grant provides beginning research programs at Lehigh with $60,000 dollars to get them off the ground before they receive more funding sources. This grant will help with initial costs of the project, including funding the necessary tools for organizing and reporting our data. This grant is a good fit for our project because it is affiliated with Lehigh and is meant to support research programs conducted out of the school to ensure their early success. 
2. Implementation Phase:
   • The Simon’s Foundation Grant
     • This grant of $300,000 will help us to cover costs of paying staff to administer the screener over the first few years of its implementation. They are willing to work with us because their mission aligns with ours: to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.
   • Autism Speaks Grant
     • This $60,000 grant will also help to cover implementation costs and the salaries and staff we will need to expand our screener throughout the country. Autism Speaks funding, “seeks to be a catalyst for research breakthroughs that improve lives today and deliver a spectrum of solutions in the years ahead.” This directly aligns with our project goals. 

2.

• Sierra Leone Autistic Society 
  • Sierra Leone Autistic Society will help us to ensure the cultural appropriateness of our screener, as they have experience with Autism in children in Sierra Leone. They will help to ensure our access to families and children with Autism. Through our partnership, we have also provided them with communication materials and access to our knowledge on Autism research. The mutuality of our partnership, as well as their personal goal of raising awareness and opportunities for children with autism connects our overall missions. 
• World Hope International
  • World Hope International is dedicated to high-impact interventions that improve the health of the global population. They have connections and resources in Sierra Leone that they can leverage on our behalf. Their experience with grassroots projects that have positive impacts on local populations will prove to be invaluable as we try to implement and expand our work. They will be willing to work with us because our project falls under their goal of implementing projects that improve global health. We have previously met with a member of the organization and they expressed their interest in further discussions as to how they can help us.
• University of Makeni
  • The University of Makeni will help us to achieve scale through the collaboration of both local and foreign researchers and research materials. They will provide us with materials when visiting Sierra Leone, as well as assist us with developing relationships in the community. We can consult them while developing our screener for culturally sensitive opinions and experiences. They will work with us because they are interested in our research and the topic of Autism in Sierra Leone, and this makes them want to be involved in our venture. 
• GSIF/Lehigh University
  • GSIF and Lehigh University provide us with knowledge, grant money, and more. This partnership is interested in our project due to its potential for direct impact on the people and children of Sierra Leone. They are also interested in the success of our project advertising the school and program. 
• Sierra Leone Ministry of Health & Sanitation/Ministry of Education
  • The Government of Sierra Leone will assist us in the expansion of our screener throughout the country. They are also providing us with access to doing fieldwork in Sierra Leone. They are willing to partner with us because in recent decades, they have been working to improve the quality of life and education for their population. With increased knowledge of Autism in the population and how it affects children that our screener will provide, they can continue to make progress in these sectors. Inclusive education and teacher training will allow for all children to have equal opportunities in the classroom.

In order to further all of our partnerships, the main thing we need to do is increase our communication with them. By doing our fieldwork this summer, we will be able to speak directly with our partners which will help us to develop both our venture’s success and our relationships. Open communication ensures that there is a level of trust and transparency between our team and our partners which will lead to our overall success. Once our screener is officially developed, we need to continue to communicate with these partners so that they can help us reach our goal of 100% of children under 5 being screened for autism by 2026. The Sierra Leone Ministry of Health/Education partnership would be especially beneficial at this point because they can use government oversight to ensure the continued use and success of our screener. This partnership also requires more work than some of the others because we currently have very few connections with them. By keeping all of our partners in our line of communication, we will see success. 

Our general financial model can be seen in the table below. This represents our realistic estimates for expenditures and the current streams of revenue available to us. This creates total expenditures of $84800 in the first year of our venture and $33900 in years 2-5 of our venture. Our main sources of projected revenue come from grants including: Autism Speaks Grant, Autism Science Foundation Grant, Simons Foundation, Lehigh University CORE Grant, and the Davis Peace Projects Grant. 

A more optimistic estimate for our steady state over the coming years involves more grants and projected revenue becoming available to us. This also involves lower cost for staffing and equipment as prices fluctuate and stronger relationships with our partners provide resources we would otherwise have to pay for. A pessimistic view of our steady-state involves the opposite, and we would see very few grants adding to our revenue and no change in costs, or potentially even greater costs. 

It is difficult to create a financial model, as we are not selling a product for profit. We hope to get a better understanding of costs and resources when we go to Sierra Leone this summer.

In the context of our venture, our success is not measured by sales but by the number of children in Sierra Leone screened for autism using our screener. Our goal is to have 100% of children screened for autism by 2026, by expanding the use of the screener, training, and staffing to an increasing number of districts as our venture progresses. In the next two years, a realistic outlook/reach projection of our success would be 40% of children screened. In 2022, we aim to screen children in Bombali, Port Loko, and Kambia districts. By 2023, our reach would expand to include both the urban and rural Western Area regions. These projections are dependent on the success of our field work and working on improving the validity of our screener over the course of this summer and into the next semester. We also plan to train three healthcare workers at each healthcare facility and three teachers per school to administer and interpret the screener. These trainings follow the same reach projections as the use of the screener itself. Optimistically, our screener will be developed in a timely manner and we will be able to reach this goal, as well as possibly expand to more districts in a faster manner. From a pessimistic perspective, if work on the screener does not go as planned, or we run into unexpected delays, our reach projection for use of our screener may be delayed.

1. Business model canvas: https://canvanizer.com/slideshow/wTzhvQNx6rVIO

Cannot add visuals for some reason. It just adds a line of blank text. See Kelsey’s post for visuals on business model

1. Key Partners

University of Makeni

Sierra Leone Autistic Society

World Hope International

Sierra Leone Ministry of Health

Sierra Leone Ministry of Education

2. Key Activities

Developing a culturally appropriate autism screener for use in Sierra Leone

Screening 100% of children under age 5 for autism in Sierra Leone by 2026

Training educators about the signs of autism and how to implement inclusive education strategies

Training nurses and healthcare workers about autism and how to administer and interpret screener results

3. Value Proposition

We help children in Sierra Leone by screening them for autism so that they can be provided the appropriate classroom resources.

For teachers who wish to accommodate their teaching styles to children with autism, our trainings will provide the necessary guidance and education.

Our trainings will allow healthcare workers to become familiar with autism and be able to recognize and screen for its symptoms in the children of Sierra Leone.

4. Customer Relationships

Personal Assistance – Direct interaction between those administering the screener and the child, direct interaction between those training staff and staff

5. Customer Segments

Children with autism

Families of children with austism

Teachers of children with autism

6. Key Resources

Healthcare workers and nurses

Teachers

Faculty and resources at University of Makeni

MCAST Screener

7. Channels

In person training sessions with teachers and healthcare workers

Schools

Community healthcare workers

Public media outreach

8. Cost Structure

Physical production of the screener and related materials

Staffing of those who administer the screener

Travel Costs

Communications

9. Revenue Streams

Lehigh University Grants

Autism Science Foundation Grant

Autism Speaks Grant

Funding from the Government of Sierra Leone

Davis Peace Projects Grant

1. We help children in Sierra Leone by screening them for autism so that they can be provided the appropriate classroom resources.

For teachers who wish to accommodate their teaching styles to children with autism, our training sessions will provide the necessary guidance and education.

Our training sessions will allow healthcare workers to become familiar with autism and be able to recognize and screen for its symptoms in the children of Sierra Leone. 

The implementation of our screener will allow for 100% of children in Sierra Leone under the age of 5 to be screened for autism by 2026. Teachers and healthcare workers will be trained and empowered in understanding autism and providing appropriate resources. This will allow for more equal opportunities for children with autism and their families.

• Davis Peace Projects Grant: $10,000

1. Art of the Start:
   • Kawasaki makes the very profound statement that successful companies are those that start out trying to make meaning instead of making money. He expands on this, saying that if you make meaning then money will follow. However, if your goal is only to make money, you will not attract the people needed to achieve either outcome.
   • Kawasaki makes the point that starting companies should develop a mantra instead of a mission statement. This should be a few words, unique, and should capture the attention of employees and customers. Mission statements are often complex and difficult to understand, and they do not capture the passion of a project.
   • An important part of getting going is to find soulmates that compliment your passion and your strengths and weaknesses. Getting a project going requires teamwork, and the members of our team should add to it instead of just being a part of it. This creates balance in both knowledge and work atmosphere.
   • Guy Kawasaki uses humor appropriately to enhance his presentation. When humor is used incorrectly, either by offending viewers or reducing their respect for the speaker, it can detract from a presentation. Kawasaki’s humor often was used hand in hand with his past experiences, improving his credibility. This is something we can try to incorporate into our own end of semester presentation
   •  Kawasaki makes the point that we should niche ourselves to be successful. We need to differentiate ourselves from others with similar goals. For both business and our project, selling ourselves as unique will be essential to our success. As Kawasaki describes, a more unique product is more valuable to the customer.

2. Value Propositions

1. We help children in Sierra Leone by screening them for traits of autism. We empower teachers and nurses by training them to administer and interpret the screener’s results. We help parents better understand their child by educating them about autism. 
2. For teachers in Sierra Leone who need the ability to detect autism in their students our diagnostic screener is a tool that can be used by them to detect which students may have autism, allowing them to adjust their teaching accordingly.
3. For healthcare workers in Sierra Leone who want to better detect autism in the population our diagnostic screener is a tool that they can use to accurately screen the population for the condition. 
4. For the government of Sierra Leone who do not have the resources to screen everyone in their population for autism our diagnostic screener is a free utility that they can implement and use throughout the population of their country. 

3. Our total available market consists of schools, hospitals, and the government of Sierra Leone. The consumers of the screener are children of Sierra Leone, as well as healthcare providers and teachers. The screener would ideally be accessible to all economic groups. Our partnerships with The University of Makeni, Sierra Leone Autistic Society, and World Hope International helps to expand our available market beyond what we would reach without their pre-established groundwork in Sierra Leone. 

Our total addressable market currently consists of a few schools and hospitals within each district of Sierra Leone. These people are the teachers, healthcare workers, families, and actually children whose lives are impacted by autism, whether they know it or not. Healthcare workers and teachers want to address the needs of people they care for or teach. Families and children with autism want to avoid ostracization due to the condition and want to better their living conditions. We assume that we will be able to reach schools and hospitals within the districts of Sierra Leone and that workers within those areas will cooperate with us. We also assume that our screener is effective at finding autism and that our customers have the resources to implement the screener. We do not know the monetary value of the market we are addressing, however around 40% of the population of 7.8 million are children 14 years old and younger. Our plan is to screen a large portion of this population, especially those 5 and under, within the next half a decade.

Our team did not present during the midterm presentations. We have done our best to give examples of what we learned from watching the other teams present. 

1. Seven minutes may seem long when preparing to present, but the time passes very quickly. Some teams struggled with pacing their presentations. When we go on to present, we need to work hard to properly pace our presentation over the seven minute window. Efficiency when using time can separate a good presentation from a bad presentation. We have learned that we cannot include everything we want to, but we should include what is necessary.
2. Looking through peoples’ feedback through the presentations, a lot of them noticed when presentations included strong introductions. We should make sure to dedicate an efficient amount of time to a strong introduction when planning our future presentations. A strong introduction will increase interest in our presentation and improve our credibility. This also gives us an opportunity to address the next point.
3. A big criticism of presentations was a lack of enthusiasm while speaking or talking like reading from a script. Although it is very difficult to show passion while presenting over zoom, we should actively think about these potential criticisms while prepping for our next presentation. We should remind ourselves of the goals of our project to bring out enthusiasm. 
4. Some presentations did not have visuals that contributed heavily to their presentation. Other presentations had strong visuals that actually enhanced what was being said. We’ve learned that large amounts of text should be avoided while making slides, so the images become even more important. Although we have some strong diagrams and images from past presentations, we should try to make more. Especially as we get closer to fieldwork, diagrams and images that illustrate what we will be doing in Sierra Leone will be very important. 
5. When responding to referees questions, it is important to make sure that you are answering what they are asking instead of straying from the question. It can be stressful when being confronted with a question about your project that you might be unprepared for, but it’s also important to remember that you won’t always have the answer to every question and it is okay to admit that you need to do further research instead of rambling and losing clarity and the audience. 

Five techniques that teams did particularly well:

1. It was very obvious which teams had rehearsed their presentations and knew what to say confidently and seamlessly. For our final presentation, we should rehearse our presentation at least a few times so that we are fully prepared and know our content inside and out. 
2. Another technique that teams did particularly well follows the last point, but certain teams were much more prepared at answering questions than others. These teams most likely discussed which team member would take which type of question/which member would have expertise in certain areas. We can use this type of strategy to plan how we will delegate questions. 
3. Team members made sure to dress appropriately and professionally, as well as to have an appropriate background and an environment that was quiet. This ensures that the presentation will be clear with no interruptions, and ensures that the presentation is professional. It’s often easy to lose “professional” etiquette when on zoom, but we can use this strategy to make sure our project presentation is taken seriously and our goals understood. 
4. One strategy I felt could also help our presentation was using a timeline visual during the presentation, especially regarding current and future plans. Although our project is currently not active, we can use this strategy to emphasize what we will be doing when conducting fieldwork and beyond. 
5. Finally, a technique we can use to make our final presentation the best it can be, is to make sure we describe both the macro and micro problems that we are addressing through our venture. It is important to showcase how the project will directly affect the communities we are working with. Especially in the case of our project, where we are trying to help shift public perception of autism, it is essential that we hold those we will be trying to help to a high standard. Using this strategy during our presentation will make sure our true motivations will come across and add to the integrity of our venture. 

We discovered a few common themes between our ideas while performing the SKS exercise. One thing that we both wanted to start doing was meet with our group more. Because our project is not actively doing work this semester, it is not necessary for us to meet in a professional capacity. We want to meet with our group even if there is no work to be done. Doing this will improve intergroup relationships and help prepare us for working together during fieldwork. It will also allow us to update our team members on work done during class. Something else we would want to start doing as an extension of these meetings would be to start meeting in person when possible. As the world recovers from the COVID pandemic and more amenities open up, meeting in person would be a powerful improvement to team synergy and mental health. Especially since we need to be COVID 19 vaccinated to go to Sierra Leone, meeting in person becomes more possible every day. We will reach out to our group members and try to set a meeting time to accomplish this change.

One thing that we determined that we want to keep doing as a team is putting forth effort into the blog posts, which require us to think differently about our project and our place in it. Working as a team on the posts also improves team synergy. Blog posts often require us to write down plans and motivations of the project. By writing down our goals and how to achieve them, we advance our project and give ourselves a better idea of our place in it. The blog post on gaining institutional review board approval was also very relevant to our project and required us to learn about and summarize the process. IRB approval is something we will work on in the near future, and writing down how we can go about the process will help. Future blog posts will probably ask us about Sierra Leone and our fieldwork. The more that we plan for our fieldwork, the better, and future blog posts can help with this. It would be easy to put the bare minimum amount of effort into every post, however that does not benefit our overall project. Although more work can always be put into these posts, we are satisfied with the work that we do and plan to maintain the current level in the future. 

One thing that we want to stop doing as a team is work in isolated teams. Partly because of the pandemic and partly because of the nature of our project, our work last semester and over the summer before it divided the team into subgroups. This meant that we were able to work more efficiently, but it also meant that communication between the two subgroups was limited. In the future, when dividing into smaller groups, we want there to be more communication between them. This could be accomplished through more consistent overall team meetings or more frequent check ins with our faculty advisor. Doing this will be especially beneficial if we go to Sierra Leone. While working in the field, we will most likely have to divide ourselves into groups and go to different locations. Ensuring proper communication between groups will be very important. Taking the steps described above will go a long way towards improving teamwork within our project.

Build Your Collaborative Plan

At a team meeting, recall the critical success factors of your best Team Experiences from your Individual Profiles as you discuss your Goals (small g and BIG G), Roles, Procedures & Relationships, using the prompts you see below.  Document your discussion and agreements by filling in this Collaborative Plan Template, removing each prompt as you respond to it, or using the blank template that follows as a guide. The template expands: use as many pages as you need.

• Watch Guy Kawasaki’s talk “The Art of the Start“
• Write down at least 10 solid takeaways from the video

1. Guy Kawasaki uses humor appropriately to enhance his presentation. When humor is used incorrectly, either by offending viewers or reducing their respect for the speaker, it can detract from a presentation. Kawasaki’s humor often was used hand in hand with his past experiences, improving his credibility. This is something we can try to incorporate into our own mid-semester presentation.
2. Kawasaki makes the very profound statement that successful companies are those that start out trying to make meaning instead of making money. He expands on this, saying that if you make meaning then money will follow. However, if your goal is only to make money, you will not attract the people needed achieve either outcome.
3. Kawasaki makes the point that starting companies should develop a mantra instead of a mission statement. This should be a few words, unique, and should capture the attention of employees and customers. Mission statements are often complex and difficult to understand, and they do not capture the passion of a project.
4. An important part of getting going is to find soulmates that compliment your passion and your strengths and weaknesses. Getting a project going requires teamwork, and the members of our team should add to it instead of just being a part of it. This creates balance in both knowledge and work atmosphere.
5.  Kawasaki makes the point that we should niche ourselves to be successful. We need to differentiate ourselves from others with similar goals. For both business and our project, selling ourselves as unique will be essential to our success. As Kawasaki describes, a more unique product is more valuable to the customer.
6. 10-20-30 rule. We should have 10 slides in a presentation. The slides should be presented in 20 minutes. The smallest font used should be 30 point. This helps you know your presentation and ensures you are not just reading off a script.
7. The key influencers in an organization are the workers, not the higher level management. Designing and implementing products with these people in mind is essential to success.
8. Test drives are important for selling a product. Allowing test drives tells people that you think they are smart enough to try your product and smart enough to buy it. Find ways to test drive products to boost sales.
9. Your business model should be specific, simple, and you should ask a variety of types of people about your business model.
10. Set milestones that are significant but realistic.

1. Does your work require IRB approvals…right now? At a later stage? If Yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy. If No, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

Because we are doing work that involves intervention or interaction with people to obtain data for research purposes, our work is considered human subjects research. The basis of our trip to Sierra Leone is to collect data for the development of our screener from the local people. If we hope to go to Sierra Leone this summer, then we will need IRB approval sooner rather than later. Even ignoring the (hopefully) upcoming trip, we would eventually need IRB approval anyway,  as we plan to develop our screener and use it on actual people while still gathering data. To cover our bases, we will most likely want to apply for a full committee review of our research. An expedited request may also be possible for our research, but we will need more information before committing to that process.

To submit an application for IRB approval, we must submit a New Protocol via IRBNet. The link for the lehigh page with instructions for this process can be seen below. 

https://research.cc.lehigh.edu/irb-submit-new-protocol

This application process will essentially involve creating a new project on IRBnet and filling out the application form before attaching it to our submission package. We will also fill out any relevant supplemental forms and attach them. The submission package must also be shared with all team members (faculty and students)  so that they can digitally sign their approval for the submission. The relevant faculty member (Dr. Kristi Morin) should select their role as the principal investigator when signing the submission package. All others should select a different role from the list provided. After every team member has signed the submission package, we can submit it. We should make sure when submitting it that we list the Lehigh University IRB as the reviewing board. Once we have submitted our application, the Research Integrity Office at Lehigh will conduct a pre-review of our submission and inform us of changes or additional materials required before the IRB reviews it. Any further steps in the process for IRB approval will depend on the board’s decision while reviewing our application. This entire process should take 4-6 weeks and we should plan accordingly. 

2. Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations. What supporting evidence will you provide for each point? How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

Due to the amazing work of our team members in previous semesters, we have a strong basis to work off while developing our presentation.

• Introduction
  • Introduce ourselves and our team members
  • Tell our audience our overarching goal
    • 20% of children in Sierra Leone screened by year 3 (2022)
  • Describe who we are partnering with 
    • Focus on Sierra Leone Autistic Society and the University of Makeni
• Describe the problem
  • Misinformation, stigma, and danger of Autism in Sierra Leone
  • Lack of Autism research in non-Western countries
  • Describe model used in previous presentation
    • Consult with group member who designed it to better understand how to explain it
• Describe the work we are doing and why it is important
  • Describe timeline of plan (seen in districts graphic)
  • Metasynthesis findings (problems with current screeners)
  • Talk about work on feasibility of current screeners
    • Readability, cost, cultural sensitivity
• What have we been up to recently
  • Work has slowed due to need for field work
  • Currently looking for and applying for grants
    • Success of Davis Peace Project Grant
  • Last semester we continued to work on submitting papers and conducting meta synthesis of current research available on disabilities in Africa 

We will boost our credibility in multiple ways during our presentation. A large part of this will come from the presentation of our presentation, if you get my meaning. We should be passionate and clear while speaking about our work. This is our research and our goals that we are presenting, and acting like we own them will greatly improve our credibility in the eyes of our audience. Throughout our presentation, it is important to mention what we have accomplished in order to further demonstrate our credibility. Mentioning the papers that we have published/are working on publishing, the grants that we have successfully applied to, as well as the individual work done by Dr. Morin and our grad students will increase our credibility. A final way to improve our credibility outside our actual presentation of the material is to discuss our partnerships with organizations in Sierra Leone. Talking about our relationships and planned collaborations with other organizations will go a long way to establishing our credibility and helping create an image of our place within the larger picture. We hope to establish and maintain credibility throughout our presentation this semester.

1. Waking up to an alarm early in the morning and wanting to go back to sleep
2. Making a meal that you can share with others
3. Laughing with someone else over almost nothing
4. Listening to a new song and really enjoying it
5. Remembering the scene from “The Giver” where the protagonist sees colors for the first time
6. Drinking chocolate milk
7. Meeting new people
8. Talking to a random stranger while at an airport
9. Procrastinating
10. Oversleeping and then waking up not remembering where you are

My philosophy of engagement in regards to the work done during GSIF is to make a meaningful and lasting impact while building relationships between both myself and others and myself. I should engage because the kind of work we are doing matters. It matters to the people working on the project, it matters to the people that the project will help, it matters to the advancement of autism research, it matters to other people engaged in the GSIF program, it matters to Lehigh university, and it matters to many many more. When asked in these blog prompts why I was interested in GSIF, time and time again I’ve answered by stating that GSIF affords to opportunity to actually make a difference. Developing a screener to help diagnose children in Sierra Leone is a tangible and impactful goal. It would pave the way for expanded knowledge and services regarding autism throughout the country. I should be engaged, as should other involved in the project, because real people will be affected by it.

Engagement can happen in many different ways. People can engage from up close or afar, people can engage physically or mentally, people can engage voluntarily or for some sort of payment. I, and other people in GSIF, must engage in a way that ensures long term development. When working on my project, I should be thinking about the future and working on the project in a way that ensures long term success. GSIF is based upon making a lasting impact, and lasting impact cannot be achieved without actively working in a way that promotes it.

The GSIF program is highly interconnected. Outside of our individual project, we must engage with GSIF leaders, other groups within the program, the university, guests and speakers presented by the program, etc. We should engage with these groups in ways that are mutually beneficial. We should help other groups if they request it, while also relying on other groups to be prepared to help us should we need it. We should actively listen to and learn from guests, so that their time is not wasted and we actually gain something from their presentations. We should conduct ourselves with respect and integrity as members of Lehigh University, and in turn the school will provide us with resources we otherwise do not have access to. Our individual project also involves engagement with the people and government of Sierra Leone. Our ultimate goal is to help children in Sierra Leone, as well as educate people about autism. Our primary relationship should be with these children, with these people, as well as the teachers and healthcare workers that we will train to administer our screener. It is important that we engage with these people, or our project will mean nothing.

We should care about challenges, opportunities, and approaches that benefit our project. It is easy, when working on a project, to seek opportunities or approaches that ultimately do not benefit the work. We should ensure that every time that we pursue an opportunity or approach to our project, that we understand why we are doing what we are doing and how it will advance our project. No project is without challenges, and we should care about each challenge we face. It would be easy to give up when facing a challenge, or to believe that it is not worth the effort. We should approach each challenge with conviction and purpose. Although sometimes it may seem easier change our approach when facing a challenge, we should ask ourselves whether changing approach would benefit our project more than overcoming the challenge.

When the question of the epitaph was presented last semester, I answered that I did not know and that I believed that was ok. Not knowing what I want on my epitaph means that it could ultimately have anything. I still agree with this, I want my epitaph to stay a complete mystery. 2020 was a year that no one expected. It was a year of conflict and suffering and change. I think that year demonstrates, more than anything else, that life is full of the unexpected, both good and bad, and I want my epitaph to reflect that.

The main goal of our venture is to design a culturally appropriate autism screener for use in Sierra Leone. In order to design this screener, we first had to study the readability and validity of existing screeners to determine cultural appropriateness. As a part of the design process, we also are in the process of publishing a meta-synthesis on the perceptions of disabilities in West Africa. This prior research and publication will provide us with research to cite during the design and implementation of our screener, as not much existing research exists currently. We will then travel to Sierra Leone, which we are able to do through grants and funding which we have applied for. Each of our team members comes from different majors and specialties, some studying special education, some psychology, and some neuroscience. This wide range of knowledge allows for a well-rounded team with the ability to problem solve and successfully interact with a large range of people, which will be integral in the success of our venture. Once traveling to Sierra Leone, we will work with our partners to integrate their opinions on our screener and make the necessary improvements. We will then test the validity of our screener and use our community connections and partnerships to start the administration and use of the screener. Our team’s combination of undergraduate and graduate students allow us to combine idealism with experience to make a cautiously optimistic design process that is both ambitious and practical.

Sierra Leone Autistic Society

• They have a variety of their own partnerships which could be useful to our venture (i.e. Disability Africa UK, The Freetown Society, Ravera Children Rehabilitation Centre, the Government of Sierra Leone)
• They have pre-established community connections with schools and teachers where they provide school sensitization trainings 
• They have already been working on raising awareness about Autism in Sierra Leone, and their progress will provide a starting point for our goal of raising awareness
• As a Sierra Leone based organisation, their involvement will assist our team in navigating the cultural differences associated with the perception of disabilities 
• They have started the implementation of expanded inclusive education across Sierra Leone, something that is a possible long-term outcome for our venture

World Hope International

• As a large organization, they receive much more funding such as international grants 
• They have established connections in Sierra Leone as they work to promote quality education 
• Their mission statement is based on impact and community improvements 
• They are involved in a wide range of improvements in the economic, educational, health, etc. sectors, which can help to implement our screener in places like hospitals and schools
• They have a large number of volunteers who can assist us in moving our venture forward 

Teachers

• They have established community connections and direct connections with the children 
• They have a direct impact on their classroom setting 
• Since they know the children they teach, they could help identify which children may need to be screened 
• They are familiar with local languages and dialects 
• With training, they would be some of the people directly involved in the administration of the screener

We will validate our project concept by consulting with other experts in the mental health field on the viability and design of our screener. By talking with these people, we will learn what we have done correctly and what we need to improve on in our project. Although we do not have an actual technology that is part of our project, we are developing a screener for Autism in Sierra Leone. We can validate this screener in a technological context by ensuring that it can be distributed in a cheap but effective way in Sierra Leone. Using paper to present the screener and building a support network of healthcare and education workers who know how to use it will go a long way towards technological validation. We will validate the business model of our project through competitive advantage. Although other Autism screeners exist throughout the world, none of them are developed with the culture of Sierra Leone in mind. The cultural specificity of our screener will play an essential role in establishing a competitive advantage over other autism screeners that could be useful. We can also note that nothing is currently being done to solve the lack of Autism screening in Sierra Leone, making our project unique in that context, further validating our business model. For usability validation, we plan for our screener to be easy to understand and simple to use for our stakeholders. We plan to train both educators and healthcare workers to administer the screener. These are only a few of the ways that we can validate the project concept, technology, usability, and business model of our project. We will need to address many other ways to validate these ideas if our project is going to be successful in the distant future.

4.

I once learned from a friend that you could make money by creating a logo on a shirt. Sites like red bubble allow people to create designs shirts, mugs, etc and make money from people buying them. This was foreign to me, as it went against the standard concept of a job for money. It goes to show that entrepreneurship and creativity can be useful in a variety of contexts.

I once learned from a friend that someone could be given a whole lot of reasons to step away from an unhealthy relationship, but still stay in it. Although they eventually broke up, it came after a long period of toxicity and unhealthiness. This was foreign to me because it made no logical sense for these two people to stay in a relationship together, but they still did until it exploded. It goes to show that relationships are complicated, and it can be difficult for someone in one to distinguish a good relationship from a bad relationship.

I once learned from a friend that tardigrades are micro-animals that look like microscopic bears. I learned that they can survive in almost any condition, even in space. This was foreign to me because I had never heard of these small and almost indestructible creatures.