Mary’s Diary part 1: My 12-week Education Innovation Fellowship Experience

Hello everyone! My name is Mary, and I'm thrilled to be one of the eight Education Innovation Cohort 1 Fellows at Eskwelabs. Being part of this pioneer batch of the fellowship is such a unique way to upskill, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a unique and exciting program. I’d like to share everything I’ve learned in this fellowship, so I wrote this two-part diary series of what transpired in 12 weeks. Here we go!

The Education Innovation Fellowship (EIF) is designed to support educators and professionals who are interested in developing innovative solutions to improve the future of work and learning in a remote setting. Through this program, fellows have access to valuable resources, mentorship, and a community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about sharing their expertise. During the fellowship, we worked on developing ourselves into key-shaped personas and improving our skills that are essential for success in a remote work environment—such as leadership, project management, data analytics, technology, social media, startups, design, and communication.

I'm happy to share my progress journey with all of you and look forward to making a positive impact in the field of education and the future of work.

Week 1 EIF Cohort 1 - Orientation and  Education Innovation Live Session

The first orientation was an Education Innovation Live Session. Here, I was able to get to know the organization and its mission better. I also had an overview of the different features of the program—such as the schedule, the work immersion, and one-on-one sessions. The Eskwelabs team also introduced different learning tools like the Miro board, Discord, Google Suite, Trello, Zoom, and Disco. Lastly, I had the opportunity to meet the other Cohort 1 Education Innovation Fellows! 

Week 2 EIF Cohort 1 - Team Rotation Assignment and Leadership Live Session

This week, we discussed team assignments, rotation, and leadership as we focused on unlocking our potential as key-shaped professionals. I was assigned to the Data Literacy Skillscourse team and had the opportunity to immerse myself in daily operations and events. I met my team lead and had pure admiration for her dedication to the program.

Week 3 EIF Cohort 1 - Project Management Live Session

For week 3, we had a walkthrough on how to organize work in a way that follows Agile values and principles—which included topics such as user stories and sprints.

Week 4 EIF Cohort 1 - Focusing on our team tasks and Education Innovation tasks

This week, we were expected to give our full attention and effort to completing the assignments and responsibilities assigned to us as team members and Fellows of the Education Innovation Fellowship. This requires us to prioritize our tasks and to manage our time effectively so we can ensure that we meet our goals and deadlines. By focusing on our team tasks, we can contribute to the success of our team and organization. Meanwhile, by focusing on our Education Innovation tasks, we can develop innovative solutions that improve the future of work and learning in a remote setting.

Week 5 EIF Cohort 1 - Analytics & Tech Live Session  

Having this live session was a valuable experience. I learned about how Learning Experience or LX design can help individuals to create more effective and engaging learning experiences for others. 

In terms of LX design, the team's insights can provide a framework for creating effective learning experiences. For example, a team member discussed how to use visuals, storytelling, and interactive elements to make learning more engaging and memorable. This knowledge is applied to create more effective educational materials for various purposes—from teaching programming to creating engaging presentations.

Week 6 EIF Cohort 1 - Social Impact & Startups Live Session

During this week, we had the opportunity to meet with Angela Chen-Delantar, the Co-Founder and CEO of Eskwelabs. Her discussion centered around how to generate valuable insights from data analysis, how millennials view the purpose of business, how to drive companies towards values, and the business model spectrum.

Furthermore, Chief of Staff Francine Tan gave us an overview of using AI tools like DALL-E and Midjourney.  DALL-E AI is a language model capable of generating high-quality text and images, while Midjourney generates images from natural language descriptions, called "prompts," similar to OpenAI's DALL-E.

My journey has only just begun! Stay tuned for the next part of my diary to know how this fellowship enhanced my passion for learning.