Read the two articles (posted on CourseSite) and for each one, list ten (10) good takeaways that you can apply to your project. 

“The Wisdom of the Cherry Tree”

1. Every small step and small goal contributes to a bigger whole, the sole efficiency and performance of a single unit does not matter, it is the interdependency and being a part of something much bigger that matters.
2. “The ‘outputs’ – indeed ‘waste’ – of one process (the cherry tree and its blossoms) have become inputs for other processes.”
3. You can not tell the efficiency through one element of the process, you can only tell when looking at the system as a whole
4. “The goal is not to minimize the cradle-to-grave flow of materials, but to generate cyclical cradle-to-cradle ‘metabolic cycles’ that enable materials to maintain their status as resources and accumulate intelligence over time.”
5. cradle-to-cradles strategies goal is to maintain resource quality and efficiency through many cycles of use which in turn will result in zero waste.
6. ‘Zero waste’ cradle-to-grave strategies focus on reduced consumption and ways to minimize waste, cradle-to-cradle strategies create products and processes so that each output becomes a nutrient/ usable element for another system. As each thing is designed to be reused, it creates a cycle of resources being up-cycled.
7. biological metabolic system = composting
8. technical metabolic system = for synthetic materials and minerals that are not biodegradable, designing these products to be used again and again to get the full value out of that nutrient.
9. For cradle-to-cradle designs: “manufacturers lease products such as televisions, cars or washing machines to consumers for a certain period of time. At the end of this time, they take the product back, recover its material nutrients and re-use them for the creation of new products, either by the same company or by a different company.”
10. Cradle-to-cradle creates more opportunities at a lower cost and new ways of getting revenue while also ensuring that raw materials stay available for industrial processes.

“Life’s Principles as a Framework for Designing Successful Social Enterprises”

1. people have a desire to be a part of something larger than themselves and are more motivated by that rather than monetary compensation.
2. Social enterprises strive to reflect deeper ways of thinking compared to non-profit and for-profit organizations, the have 3 bottom lines: people, profit, and planet.
3. “long-lived for-profit companies survive in turbulent business environments by adhering to the following philosophies: being sensitive to the environment, maintaining cohesion and identity, reorganizing from negative externalities, and practicing conservative financing.”
4. Life’s Principles are ways that nature provides the guidelines for how to function more sustainably by helping us to be in tune with nature and to maximize benefits through minimal effort and resulting in minimal negative impact.
5. Nature is works through interdependency amongst simple building blocks to create a complex system.
6. Entrepreneurs should apply Life’s Principles while developing innovative business models and technologies.
7. “Nature takes a multi-finality approach, meaning that in its systems, the individual inputs, sub-systems, and their interactions all have their own goals met while the system as a whole also meets its goals (Stepler et al. 2010). In a business sense, successful social enterprises embody stakeholder theory to optimize the price to benefit ratios to satisfy all the stakeholders. This ratio can be optimized through multi-functional design that incorporates a range of uses to accommodate for market changes in the future.”
8. increase efficiencies and optimize designs –> decrease costs overall
9. Social enterprise must leverage interdependence, multiple subsystems must contribute in the process of meeting a goal.
10. Use local materials to create a shorter supply chain that minimizes energy consumption, increase efficiency of product so that ot is readily available through easy use and installation.

Blog #6: Individual Prompts–

Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you. 

3. Coming from San Francisco and having lived there my whole life, it was a complete culture shock coming to Bethlehem for the first time. I was exposed to so many different types of people that I have never met before. Something very interesting that I learned while talking to people here was that the states on the east coast are so small compared to California. In California, it takes 6 hours to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles while here you can go from New York City to Philly in a matter of 3 hours, passing through 3 whole states. 
4. I am a first generation Chinese American and my boyfriend is white. My parents are divorced and my childhood was not the best and somehow all my friends I had growing up also did not have the best family life. My boyfriend’s family is the first family I have ever known who actually enjoy spending time together and they have weekly video calls and family game nights. I used to think that families where the parents were not divorced or families that were happy did not exist until I met him.
5. As a first generation Chinese American, my immigrant parents wanted me to become a lawyer or a doctor and would always push their expectations on me as if my life choices were theirs to decide. If I got an B in a class they would make it known how disappointed they were and they would always compare me to my cousins and my classmates. After I went away to college and started dating my boyfriend, something I noticed with him and his relationship with his family was that his parents would constantly reaffirm that they did not care about his grades and that no matter what, they were still proud of him and that all they want is for him to be happy which in turn led him to have a good relationship with learning. The way he views education is so different from mine because of how we were raised and the environment we grew up in.
6. List ten things that make you feel human. 
7. Empathy
8. Friendship
9. Education
10. Compassion
11. Passions
12. Hobbies
13. Clothes
14. Conversations
15. The ability to appreciate things
16. My culture/heritage

Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the Impact Fellowship. Specifically discuss: 

Why should I engage?

I should engage because it will allow me to fully understand the kind of impact I want to make, how I will create action steps to meet the community’s needs, and how to create a strong relationship with the community I want to help.

How must I engage? 

I must engage by listening to the community I am affecting to really understand their needs and I must engage with my teammates in an effective way by efficiently communicating with one another regarding our roles and responsibilities.

With whom must I engage? 

I must engage with the community around me: kids with learning disabilities at the Centennial School, the teachers at the Centennial School, The staff at the art gallery, my teammates.

What kinds of challenges, opportunities, and approaches should I care about? 

Some challenges would be creating content that would not overwhelm the kids while also making art education fun and engaging and interactive. Some opportunities would be the opportunity to make a positive impact on my surrounding community and being able to create a new way of learning for kids who do not benefit from the traditional learning environment. Some approaches I should care about are to open people up to the idea of a new way of learning that incorporates technology in a way that has never been done in a classroom setting before and creating a design that revolves around how people with learning disabilities learn and stay engaged, improving their relationships with how they view education.

What might my epitaph read? 

I would like my epitaph to talk about the importance of creating a positive impact on your local and broader community and talk about the impact made through the impact fellowship during my college career. I also want it to talk about how the world can only improve if we act as agents of change by listening and engaging with different communities and identifying the needs of others and how any positive impact one creates, no matter how big or small, are key to creating a better life for future generations.

Blog #6: Team Prompts– 1. What are the technological, social, economic, and political trends that will impact (help or hurt) your ventures? 

As technology continues to become more prevalent in the modern world our project will become more relevant. When COVID started schools were forced to use virtual learning methods. Our project combines virtual and in person learning to create a unique experience for students. Due to the pandemic schools are more open to integrating technology into the classroom. This can be seen through the installation of 360 rooms throughout schools in America. It is expected that more and more schools will install similar rooms which will lead to an increased use of our product and in turn allow us to reach more students. This is a positive factor for our project as it will increase its usability. Economically trends could also impact our venture. Although schools are becoming more and more open to this 360 degree learning it comes with a price tag. If economic trends continue to be unstable it could impact the amount of schools willing and able to install these immersive learning environments. Social trends could help our project if these immersive rooms gain more traction and popularity. For the most part, our project is an independent venture. Since we are producing our own content from start to finish many trends will have no impact. The primary portion that will be impacted by trends is the consumption. 

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. 

Currently, our project does not require IRB approval. For our project we will be designing and creating 3D immersive art content for students with behavioral and emotional disabilities. Even though our work and content is intended for human subjects we will not be directly involving students, at least at this point. In the future, our project may require IRB approval if we decide to get student feedback. Once content has been produced and presented we could interview students about their experience and at that point we would need IRB approval. 

2. Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like? 

Verona 

I have experience talking to groups of people as well as extended knowledge of the arts. I grew up in a very artistic environment while also participating in musicals, plays, and theater class. I’ve worked at a pottery studio for almost five years now, which includes conversing with large groups of people and multitasking. I work best with other people, so my design process would include collaboration with the other members of my group.

Y 

I have experience working as a museum educator intern at the LUAG. From this position, I have experience with doing research on artworks and designing and leading tours. I am also in the 4+1 elementary education program. The work done in such courses allows me to write lesson plans with accommodations geared towards certain groups of students and it also helps me deliver educational content in a meaningful way. My design process will have the lens of an educator and someone who wants to unpack art for anyone.

 Emily

I have experience working at a couple museums like the Jewish Art Museum in San Francisco as an event planner and facilitator and the Lehigh Art Gallery as a museum educator and researcher. Through this, I have learned how to facilitate engaging discussions surrounding the arts and lead tours on current exhibitions. Through Lehigh, I major in product and graphic design and minor in marketing and psychology where I learn how to create products that meet the needs of my target market/consumer. I am also in the Eco Reps Leadership program and am a Posse Scholar. Through these programs, I learned how to demonstrate good leadership skills by creating and hosting monthly events and hosting engaging meetings.

Continuously, this culmination of experiences will now help me with my design process as I can create concrete action steps throughout this project while also being ready to adapt to the changing needs of this project. Moreover, my design process will include trial and error through collaborative brainstorming and knowing when to contribute and when to sit back and observe.

Micaela (honorary member) 

Through my experience as a digital media and accessibility intern at LUAG, I am familiar with art research, describing artwork, and narrating audio descriptions. I tend to use a lot of visual research and note taking methods to help organize my thoughts and plans. Because of the collaborative nature of working at LUAG and in this project, I have improved upon my teamwork skills, and I feel that my workflow is benefited by our team brainstorming. For this project my design process would resemble these attributes, where we lay out the art pieces and compile relevant information into a visual manner that is easily understood and digested. 

Edyn

I have extensive experience working and living with others in a team setting. Going to boarding school for 6 years I learned to live and cooperate with people of all backgrounds from all over the country. This experience will serve me well in the design process as this is a collaborative process not something that needs to be taken on alone. For my process, I would focus on teamwork in order to produce the best ideas and solutions. In addition to this, I would focus on conducting many tests. Failure is inevitable no matter how simple or complex the project. The key is to focus on moving forward and coming to a solution that produces unique results despite any setbacks. My process would also focus heavily on creativity. This would lead my team to new discoveries which, in my opinion, are the most important part of the process. The goal is to create something new whether it is a product, idea, process, or solution. Only then can you push the barriers of what already exists and produce exponential results. 

3. Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them.

• • LUAG Staff
    • Gives us access to the art pieces and information about the pieces in current and past exhibits 
    • Experience with giving tours regarding artwork and current exhibitions
    • Familiar with presenting art in an engaging way to a variety of audiences
    • Has an archive with all the art pieces that are in the current exhibits
    • Knowledge on accessibility features for museums (ie. audio descriptions, braille, guided tours, etc.)

• Demographic: middle-aged white women

• Lehigh University students

• • Centennial School Students 
    • Experience viewing and learning from 360° immersive content 
    • Minimal exposure to the arts
    • Are open to different methods/practices of learning
    • Willing to engage in new exciting content
    • Willing to discuss and reflect on the artwork that they learn about/see

• 6-21 year old students that are in the middle school instruction level

• Demographic: majority white and hispanic students

• • Centennial School Faculty – 
    • Experience with 360° technology and editing software, and displaying 360° content with guided instruction 
    • Gives us resources to help structure our project in an efficient way
    • Willing to let us sit in on classes to observe the students
    •  Knowledge on how to work with students with disabilities 
    • Give us access to the 360° cameras and the software used to create the tour, and teach us how to use said tools

• Demographic: Majority middle-aged Lehigh University staff/professors

4. Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.

• Project Concept
  • The teachers at the Centennial School are enthusiastic about the resource we are creating for neurodivergent kids. The teachers are excited for us to bring the art gallery to the kids so they can experience the art gallery the same way a neurotypical kid would during a gallery tour.
  • The demographics that are more likely to accept our resources are people who do not learn in the conventional way and those who do not get to appreciate art in the traditional sense; people who need interactive content to engage with the arts.
  • Our concept of creating an immersive learning experience for the arts meets a need as there are a lot of people that do not learn well under the current education system that we currently have in a way that is digestible and not overstimulating.
• Technology
  • The technology is doable in the context of our project. We have our 360° camera ready, and we’re learning how to use the software. For the past couple of weeks, we have been experimenting with our camera and learning as much as we can about it. 
  • We know how to obtain our goal; Sara and Julie from the Centennial School have been very helpful in supplying the camera and giving us ideas on what software to use. 
  • This technology is not single-use. It can be used to capture any space, but we are focusing on the art gallery for our project. This camera could be an extremely useful tool in many areas, not just our project. 
• Usability 
  • In terms of usability, interacting with our product is incredibly important as we are making a virtual tour for students to consume. It will be easy to use for instructors to click on pieces and guide the students through the gallery. There will also be accommodating features such as audio descriptions, leading questions, and subtitles. 
  • Many other schools who want to have more access to the arts could be able to use the content/tours we make. However, our product depends on the classroom setting since the Centennial Immersive Learning Center has a built-in 360 screen classroom supported for virtual learning. 
  • Some of the failure modes would revolve around the aspect of not creating an appropriate tour for our specific audience. Lack of care and research efforts can also hinder the process of making a usable tour. 
• Business Model
  • Our product brings art education and creative learning to students who have had minimal exposure to the arts. It is important for these students to have a well-rounded education as well as one suited to their own needs and learning styles, and this project solves that problem. At the moment the immersive learning model is being used at the Centennial School, but is more focused on exposure to places around the world or fun sites to explore. 
  • The Centennial School handles the full financial burden for the project. They have provided all of the 360° camera equipment, the Immersive Learning Center (classroom space) and any other equipment and resources we need. LUAG also has the art collections in house and the information we need to research. Our only expenses are transportation costs to and from the Centennial School. 
  • Our competitive advantage is the relationship between the Centennial School and Lehigh University. We have the combined resources and funding of the University and LUAG, as well as the knowledgeable faculty on hand to support us.

• • 1. Our project targets quality education, good health and wellbeing, and reducing inequality. By increasing the students’ knowledge about the arts, we can close the gap between the lack of arts education and the focus on standard subjects. The engagement of the students in the presentation as well as their general exposure to the art gallery will also allow them to experience what it’s like to be in a space like that. It’s an opportunity for them to get adjusted to the space. We also believe that quality education is extremely vital. Though education should focus on those core subjects, it’s just as important for students to learn about the arts. It could spike their curiosity, which in turn has the potential to become a discussion. We want the students to be able to reflect on the art pieces while not feeling overwhelmed in the space. Our technology allows for this to come to life, which adds to the quality of their education. Good health and wellbeing is another SDG we felt was a project target of ours; health is physical, but it is also mental. Our goal is to let this space be exciting and new but also comfortable. We want to prevent overstimulation as best as we can, and we genuinely want the students to be happy about seeing and learning the space.
    2. Our main Grand Challenges are making art education available to students with learning/behavioral disabilities and creating a new way of learning that is different, but effective compared to the traditional education system. When considering Global (Mega) Trends, the largest trend we will be participating in is utilizing technology. To be specific, our team will learn how to use a 360 degree camera and its paired editing program to create educational content tailored for our specific audience. In addition, we will also be working with a classroom that supports a 360 degree shared experience. Dream-wise, when our educational virtual tours are finalized, it is likely that we can support classroom outreach for other schools or organizations to make use of the space and said technology. Currently, we are expecting to run into challenges when learning and eventually mastering the 360 degree camera along with its paired program. While working on this project goal, there is an opportunity to learn what students with learning and behavioral disabilities would want for their art education and there is a chance we can meet them personally as well.
    3. 1. Social: We want to increase arts education accessibility to the diverse population in the Lehigh Valley by building a strong relationship with the Lehigh Art Gallery and the Centennial school. Our project’s goal is to help minimize the learning gap that results from the rigid learning environment in the traditional schooling system. Continuously, the specific community we are trying to help are people with learning disabilities. We want to cater the resources we will create to them so they get the chance to engage in arts education without feeling overstimulated and overwhelmed.
       2. Purpose: Our purpose is to integrate more technology into a classroom to create a different learning method for people who do not thrive in the existing learning environment. We are going to create 3D and 360 degree immersive learning content that can be experienced through projection. As a result, this will help people see learning in a new way so that they can build a better relationship with education. Moreover, we also understand that having the technology to create 3D and 360 degree content is new to the educational system, so our art tours and videos can also be accessed and viewed through a computer or phone so that people who want to learn more about the arts, but do not have the ability to go to an art gallery and experience it in person can still learn through the resources we create.

4. Our project involves many cultural factors as any project of this scale would. Ten factors we have identified as being highly important are as follows: socioeconomic status, region, conflict resolution, verbal language, body language, values, emotion expression, identity, shared experiences, and religion. Language and emotion expression will impact our project throughout its entirety as our content is going to be tailored to an audience with a wide range of abilities. Expression in all forms will vary greatly and it is important for our team to consider and learn from this.

5. We can utilize cultural practices such as collaboration, artistic expression, and community outreach geared towards our project goals. It is important to give light and amplify the voices to those who are not heard in the traditional learning space. Collaboration and communication with these groups is key to creating a safe environment to exercise their creativity and be exposed to new educational experiences.

GROUP: Verona Collins, Y lam, Emily Tsao, Edyn Marsland

What SDGs does your project target? What might be reasonable indicators for those SDGs?

Our project targets quality education, good health and wellbeing, and reducing inequality. By increasing the students’ knowledge about the arts, we can close the gap between the lack of arts education and the focus on standard subjects. The engagement of the students in the presentation as well as their general exposure to the art gallery will also allow them to experience what it’s like to be in a space like that. It’s an opportunity for them to get adjusted to the space. We also believe that quality education is extremely vital. Though education should focus on those core subjects, it’s just as important for students to learn about the arts. It could spike their curiosity, which in turn has the potential to become a discussion. We want the students to be able to reflect on the art pieces while not feeling overwhelmed in the space. Our technology allows for this to come to life, which adds to the quality of their education. Good health and wellbeing is another SDG we felt was a project target of ours; health is physical, but it is also mental. Our goal is to let this space be exciting and new but also comfortable. We want to prevent overstimulation as best as we can, and we genuinely want the students to be happy about seeing and learning the space. 

Crystallize the larger challenge your venture seeks to address, the specific problems you are targeting, and the kinds of opportunities you hope to leverage.

Our main Grand Challenges are making art education available to students with learning/behavioral disabilities and creating a new way of learning that is different, but effective compared to the traditional education system. When considering Global (Mega) Trends, the largest trend we will be participating in is utilizing technology. To be specific, our team will learn how to use a 360 degree camera and its paired editing program to create educational content tailored for our specific audience. In addition, we will also be working with a classroom that supports a 360 degree shared experience. Dream-wise, when our educational virtual tours are finalized, it is likely that we can support classroom outreach for other schools or organizations to make use of the space and said technology. Currently, we are expecting to run into challenges when learning and eventually mastering the 360 degree camera along with its paired program. While working on this project goal, there is an opportunity to learn what students with learning and behavioral disabilities would want for their art education and there is a chance we can meet them personally as well.

Identify the two most important social, economic, and
environmental bottom lines that matter to your project:

Social: We want to increase arts education accessibility to the diverse population in the Lehigh Valley by building a strong relationship with the Lehigh Art Gallery and the Centennial school. Our project’s goal is to help minimize the learning gap that results from the rigid learning environment in the traditional schooling system. Continuously, the specific community we are trying to help are people with learning disabilities. We want to cater the resources we will create to them so they get the chance to engage in arts education without feeling overstimulated and overwhelmed. 

Purpose: Our purpose is to integrate more technology into a classroom to create a different learning method for people who do not thrive in the existing learning environment. We are going to create 3D and 360 degree immersive learning content that can be experienced through projection. As a result, this will help people see learning in a new way so that they can build a better relationship with education. Moreover, we also understand that having the technology to create 3D and 360 degree content is new to the educational system, so our art tours and videos can also be accessed and viewed through a computer or phone so that people who want to learn more about the arts, but do not have the ability to go to an art gallery and experience it in person can still learn through the resources we create.

Describe ten cultural factors that might impact your project at various phases in its lifecycle.

Our project involves many cultural factors as any project of this scale would. Ten factors we have identified as being highly important are as follows: socioeconomic status, region, conflict resolution, verbal language, body language, values, emotion expression, identity, shared experiences, and religion. Language and emotion expression will impact our project throughout its entirety as our content is going to be tailored to an audience with a wide range of abilities. Expression in all forms will vary greatly and it is important for our team to consider and learn from this. 

Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community / market problems.

We can utilize cultural practices such as collaboration, artistic expression, and community outreach geared towards our project goals. It is important to give light and amplify the voices to those who are not heard in the traditional learning space. Collaboration and communication with these groups is key to creating a safe environment to exercise their creativity and be exposed to new educational experiences. 

1. I chose to join the Impact Fellowship program because I want to create a positive impact on my local and global community through the arts. One of the most valuable parts of the Impact Fellowship for me is being able to create meaningful connections through working with likeminded motivated peers and through building relationships with my community, specifically through the Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellowship. As someone who is passionate about the arts, the Open the Doors to the Arts program is the perfect fit for me. Having the chance to create interactive 3D resources for kids in the Lehigh Valley who have learning disabilities is my chance to create a positive impact while also doing something I love. Through working at the art gallery on campus on the educational team, my job is to educate the campus and surrounding community on the arts and bridge the gap between the campus and the Lehigh Valley through the arts. Upon hearing about the project Open the Doors to the Arts, I decided that this was the chance for me to accomplish that goal in addition to building a relationship between the Lehigh University Art Gallery and the Centennial School.
2. This course will help me develop better entrepreneurial thinking skills, learn how to conduct research in academia, and improve my design-thinking skills. This course will present me with obstacles that I am unfamiliar with which in turn will lead to me strengthening my creative and design mindset while also helping me develop an entrepreneurial mindset. As a graphic and product design major and a marketing minor, my classes rely on my design thinking and having the ability to creatively complete my work while also staying within design and project constraints. Moreover, my field of study mostly relies on my ability to create products and market those products creatively. I believe that this course will help me understand what my mission is in the design sphere: what the purpose of my products to be, what impacts my product will have, how I will make the world a better place through design. Continuously, I will be interning at Lehigh@NasdaqCenter: Startup Academy this summer and this course will help prepare me for that. Startup Academy’s mission is to build the entrepreneurial leaders that will transform industries of the future. The Impact Fellowship program will prepare me for the creative problem-solving, pioneering research, and innovative skills needed for Startup Academy.
3. Everyone deserves access to healthcare such as prescription eyeglasses, although this is not the reality for many people worldwide. Even in the US, glasses are not very affordable: ever since the mid 20th century, there have been two main companies in the eyeglass industry: Luxottica and Essilor. They are represented in the majority of eyeglass brands that are known in the US such as LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, FramesDirect.com, etc. Additionally, they have licensing agreements with well-known brands such as Coach, Chanel, Oakley, Ray-Ban, and many more. With that being said, they have the majority of the control when it comes to setting the market prices of glasses and are practically a monopoly in the eyeglass industry. I believe that a way for the prices of eyeglasses to be more affordable is to create alternatives. Continuously, Warby Parker, a new eyeglass brand is the perfect example of this. They have quickly created a wave in the eyeglass industry by monetizing on the need for good quality low cost glasses through cutting out the middle-men and connecting directly to the customer. They design their own frames to avoid licensing fees and they source their own materials by contacting manufacturers directly to be able to afford lowering prices while also maintaining the standard quality. In addition, they save spending on shaping, polishing, and inserting lenses into their frames by having their own optical labs. Warby Parker is the type of business we need more of. Furthermore, glasses should be a necessity, not a luxury; adding onto the Warby Parker business model, when one purchases a pair of glasses, a pair is given to people who can not afford eyeglasses, which should be implemented in other businesses. Through the Pupils project, a number of organizations like the Department of Health in Baltimore and Johns Hopkins have provided research and support to elementary school children in need of glasses around the US; I hope to see them expand this program internationally to low-income countries that do not have affordable access to eyewear.