How to design an engaging remote English learning event (Day2)
Due to coronavirus pandemic, people live in big cities like Tokyo are now working remotely, so am I.
Yes, like many people, I enjoy working remotely very much because I can save a lot of time and money. No more in-a-rush makeup and ridiculously camped commute in the subway.
(Staff push a passenger into a crowded subway train at the Ikebukuro station on the Marunouchi line during rush hour in Tokyo. File photo: Reuters)
As a social animal, we need to interact with people. Luckily, Slacks has done a good job via funky stickers. And, Snap Camera as well, I love those crazy filters and AR.
However, one month remote work later, here comes the problem. I miss human interactions, I mean real interactions.
So I decide to host a remote English lunch for colleagues, in one hand, to learn English, the other hand, to re-build non-work relationship. People tend not to talk private stuffs during online meetings which we do frequently when working in the office.
Tips to try
I did some research about how to run a smooth online meeting, and I got a lot of inspiration from one of the articles I read, The ultimate guide to remote meetings in 2020, published by Slack blog.
💡 Here are some tips I used to design the English learning lunch:
1. Learner needs - why do they need an English lunch?
2. Purposeful activities - give tasks that relate to their learning goals
3. Clear agenda - make sure attendees know what to expect before the event
4. Trust building - save some time for chi-chat so people feel comfortable to open up and share ideas
5. Sense of progression - people feel motivated when they think they are making progress, if done well, they would come back for the next lunch
6. Scale of participation - design different activities for people with high motivation in English learning, as well as for people who just want to speak English for an hour.
In order to give a sense of progress to my colleagues, I make a long term plan for 3 months. I decided to hold 6 bi-weekly lunches, and each lunch has different topics or activities. You know, people love new fun stuffs.
Not only that, I also give advanced tasks for people who want to learn more:
- The topic host
- The notetaker
- Daily writing challenge
Lastly, I will offer a certificate to whom that make it to the lunch for more than 3 times.
So the design is done, let's wait and see what will happen in 3 months. As a UX designer, it is all about experiment. I make design assumptions that are to be proved or disproved.