The Design Thinking Assignment 

 1 . Challenge : 

 As a member of the Eurobank Greece , a non - profit organization that promotes promotes public   speaking and leadership , I have a structured program to help improve my public speaking skills . I had a   project called ‘ Present a Proposal ’ in which I had to look closely at my personal or toastmasters life ,    choose an issue impacting them to work on and present a proposal outlining my solution . I chose to work   on the Best   Speaker award that is given to the speaker who is voted to have given the best speech in a   particular Toastmasters meeting . The voting usually happens at the end of a meeting and members are   given a few minutes to decide who spoke the best that meeting . Bear in mind that in a meeting , both   experienced and inexperienced members give speeches . I felt this system of voting was sub - optimum and   inherently biased as experienced speakers , who mostly won these awards , had a clear advantage in terms   of on - stage presence in comparison to inexperienced speakers . This sometimes discouraged new and   improving speakers who had shown tremendous progress . If the voting could be made more objective ,   focussing even on those who made significant growth and not just who spoke the best , I felt the awards   would serve their purpose better . 

 I made an online form that lists all the speakers who are going to speak in a particular meeting and a set   of questions per speaker . These questions asked the audience member to rate the speaker on a few   parameters like content , logic and presentation of the speech . These parameters are used in international   speech contests to judge speeches . The rating is between fair , good , very good and excellent worth 1,2,3   and 4 points respectively . At the end of the meeting , the number of points accumulated by each speaker is   calculated using a program I have coded . This way the best speaker is decided based on certain objectives . This helps the voters stay vary of inherent biases and prejudice and remain objective in their voting . 

 2 . Selection : 

 I chose the tool of Learning Launch to test my solution . I needed to validate my solution before presenting   it in the proposal . Also , I wanted to test my solution fast and cheap [ Ref : Learning Launch Tool -2:46 – 2:51 ] .   I had the meeting to test this solution scheduled within a day of having my solution in place . I was   planning to implement this in a recently chartered club which was open to new experiments and okay even if I failed in its application during their meeting .   I felt this learning was much needed to test the   practicality and real usefulness of my solution . I needed to gauge whether the members of a meeting were   willing to adapt to this solution and whether my solution was user friendly . I needed to see the live usage   and understand any difficulties the members faced . 

 3 . Application : 

 Once I had the online form and the code to calculate all the votes instantly , I contacted a recently   chartered Toastmasters Club and asked the president if I could conduct this experiment in their meeting .   He was happy with my solution and gave me a go ahead . As a backup I kept a simple online form which   emulated the usual form of voting ready . 

 It was an online meeting . So I joined the meeting early , and explained my solution at the beginning of the   meet . I asked everyone to open the link to the online form .   I also chose to give a speech in this meeting ,   presenting my solution as the proposal . I scheduled my speech first so that everyone got a clear picture of   my solution ,   what I was planning to do in the meeting and the thought process behind its implementation . Once , my speech was over , it was the first to get evaluated by all the members . This continued after every   speaker . I kept reminding everyone after every speech to rate the speakers . And at the end of the meeting ,   the points accumulated by each speaker   was calculated and I had the name of the best speaker ready . 

 Post the meeting , I asked everyone for their feedback of using the form I had created and if there were   suggestions for improvement . The feedback in general was positive and I got a few suggestions to make   the process more easy to follow . A few had queries about the solution , and I clarified them . 

 4 . Insight : 

 The first thing that I observed was that my solution was n’t as automated as I expected it to be . This helped me fine tune the online form to accommodate any number of speakers and calculate their results with   more efficient and independent code . 

 I also realised that there were few cases which I had not accommodated while designing my solution . Like   what happens if a member misses the speech of one speaker . Should he / she be allowed to participate in   voting , and if yes will it affect the end result . Because the form I had made assumed that all would vote for all speakers . 

 I also realised that people become more impatient as the meeting goes on . So some questions in the form   asking for any comments about the speech were filled for first few speakers but not any other speakers . 

 My final realisation was that if I had to solve this problem , then I had to look beyond just an online form   and think more on the lines of a web - app . This broadened my problem statement a little as online forms   where the only tech solution explored till now . This solution can be easily customised for a particular meet and   can be made intuitive . 

 Also , the solutions till now did n’t really have a personal touch . If I could incorporate the pictures of   speakers , and the members who are voting , I think that would make it more interactive and fun .   This can   make the shift to my product much easier . 

 5 . Approach : 

 My alternate approach includes using the same tool with a few changes . 

 For my particular solution , which is basically a tech product , I would definitely stick to learning launches as they are quick , cheap and comparatively stress free opportunities to test my product . 

 Next time I would make sure that I am better prepared to take feedback during the learning launch . I felt   this time I was very focused on making sure that my product was working that I felt I did n’t collect   feedback and observe users while using the solution as much as I could have . This small change could   make my insights more qualitative and strong . 

 Next time , I would make sure I have a few things to look out for in particular when interacting with users in order to uncover unarticulated pain points while using my product . I need to put myself in the shoes of the user before hand and try out my solution . This way I can learn how to think like the customer and improve   my understanding of the user . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: The Design Thinking Assignment 

 1 . Challenge : 

 As a member of the Eurobank Greece , a non - profit organization that promotes promotes public   speaking and leadership , I have a structured program to help improve my public speaking skills . I had a   project called ‘ Present a Proposal ’ in which I had to look closely at my personal or toastmasters life ,    choose an issue impacting them to work on and present a proposal outlining my solution . I chose to work   on the Best   Speaker award that is given to the speaker who is voted to have given the best speech in a   particular Toastmasters meeting . The voting usually happens at the end of a meeting and members are   given a few minutes to decide who spoke the best that meeting . Bear in mind that in a meeting , both   experienced and inexperienced members give speeches . I felt this system of voting was sub - optimum and   inherently biased as experienced speakers , who mostly won these awards , had a clear advantage in terms   of on - stage presence in comparison to inexperienced speakers . This sometimes discouraged new and   improving speakers who had shown tremendous progress . If the voting could be made more objective ,   focussing even on those who made significant growth and not just who spoke the best , I felt the awards   would serve their purpose better . 

 I made an online form that lists all the speakers who are going to speak in a particular meeting and a set   of questions per speaker . These questions asked the audience member to rate the speaker on a few   parameters like content , logic and presentation of the speech . These parameters are used in international   speech contests to judge speeches . The rating is between fair , good , very good and excellent worth 1,2,3   and 4 points respectively . At the end of the meeting , the number of points accumulated by each speaker is   calculated using a program I have coded . This way the best speaker is decided based on certain objectives . This helps the voters stay vary of inherent biases and prejudice and remain objective in their voting . 

 2 . Selection : 

 I chose the tool of Learning Launch to test my solution . I needed to validate my solution before presenting   it in the proposal . Also , I wanted to test my solution fast and cheap [ Ref : Learning Launch Tool -2:46 – 2:51 ] .   I had the meeting to test this solution scheduled within a day of having my solution in place . I was   planning to implement this in a recently chartered club which was open to new experiments and okay even if I failed in its application during their meeting .   I felt this learning was much needed to test the   practicality and real usefulness of my solution . I needed to gauge whether the members of a meeting were   willing to adapt to this solution and whether my solution was user friendly . I needed to see the live usage   and understand any difficulties the members faced . 

 3 . Application : 

 Once I had the online form and the code to calculate all the votes instantly , I contacted a recently   chartered Toastmasters Club and asked the president if I could conduct this experiment in their meeting .   He was happy with my solution and gave me a go ahead . As a backup I kept a simple online form which   emulated the usual form of voting ready . 

 It was an online meeting . So I joined the meeting early , and explained my solution at the beginning of the   meet . I asked everyone to open the link to the online form .   I also chose to give a speech in this meeting ,   presenting my solution as the proposal . I scheduled my speech first so that everyone got a clear picture of   my solution ,   what I was planning to do in the meeting and the thought process behind its implementation . Once , my speech was over , it was the first to get evaluated by all the members . This continued after every   speaker . I kept reminding everyone after every speech to rate the speakers . And at the end of the meeting ,   the points accumulated by each speaker   was calculated and I had the name of the best speaker ready . 

 Post the meeting , I asked everyone for their feedback of using the form I had created and if there were   suggestions for improvement . The feedback in general was positive and I got a few suggestions to make   the process more easy to follow . A few had queries about the solution , and I clarified them . 

 4 . Insight : 

 The first thing that I observed was that my solution was n’t as automated as I expected it to be . This helped me fine tune the online form to accommodate any number of speakers and calculate their results with   more efficient and independent code . 

 I also realised that there were few cases which I had not accommodated while designing my solution . Like   what happens if a member misses the speech of one speaker . Should he / she be allowed to participate in   voting , and if yes will it affect the end result . Because the form I had made assumed that all would vote for all speakers . 

 I also realised that people become more impatient as the meeting goes on . So some questions in the form   asking for any comments about the speech were filled for first few speakers but not any other speakers . 

 My final realisation was that if I had to solve this problem , then I had to look beyond just an online form   and think more on the lines of a web - app . This broadened my problem statement a little as online forms   where the only tech solution explored till now . This solution can be easily customised for a particular meet and   can be made intuitive . 

 Also , the solutions till now did n’t really have a personal touch . If I could incorporate the pictures of   speakers , and the members who are voting , I think that would make it more interactive and fun .   This can   make the shift to my product much easier . 

 5 . Approach : 

 My alternate approach includes using the same tool with a few changes . 

 For my particular solution , which is basically a tech product , I would definitely stick to learning launches as they are quick , cheap and comparatively stress free opportunities to test my product . 

 Next time I would make sure that I am better prepared to take feedback during the learning launch . I felt   this time I was very focused on making sure that my product was working that I felt I did n’t collect   feedback and observe users while using the solution as much as I could have . This small change could   make my insights more qualitative and strong . 

 Next time , I would make sure I have a few things to look out for in particular when interacting with users in order to uncover unarticulated pain points while using my product . I need to put myself in the shoes of the user before hand and try out my solution . This way I can learn how to think like the customer and improve   my understanding of the user .
### Output: 