MIT EDx: 11.132x Design and Development of Educational Technology Assignment on Educational Technologies MAKE A MOD

1. Assignment 3.1: MAKE A MOD
MITx: 11.132x Design and Development of Educational Technology
by MillaKiss
07/11/2014, Milan

3. how to teach (better) being
kind, mindful, grateful?

4. WHY THIS TOPic?
teaching people about kindness, mindfulness, gratitude
for more details please watch: http://www.ted.com/talks/
paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean?embed=true#t-14847
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc6WW1GGjbk#t=55
One big issue of 21st century society is that empathy, compassion, mindfulness is disappearing from the
“emotional portfolio” or “emotional skill-sets” of people giving space to greed, angst and stress that are very
destructive not only to our social setting, but also to each individual’s mental and physical health, and subjective
well-being.
New generations of children (also called by researchers as Centennials and Gen Z) are already reported to be
acting more entitled, aggressive and are expected to be the most technologically connected, yet the least socially
connected generation of all time (i.e. they will feel lonely and isolated as adults).
Sociologists and social psychologists have been studying the issue since decades and made some ground
breaking conclusions: greed/meanness is reversible, empathy, compassion can be reacquired with due practice
and the practice of these emotional skills have a substantial positive effect on human health, longevity and
subjective well-being.

5. WHY THIS TOPic?
teaching people about kindness, mindfulness, gratitude
Positive psychologists around the world have been studying for decades the scientific aspects of happiness and
happiness practices on a social, psychological, evolutionary, neurological and even cellular level. Their findings are
extraordinary. Happiness practices, like the 21-day kindness/gratitude challenge or regular meditation, significantly
increase our mental and physical health activating the same reward circuits as doing sports (think about the cyclist
and running “mass sport revolution”), or having sex. These practices efficiently counter balance the destructive effects of
stress, angst and fear on all levels of modern life. People doing these practices live longer, happier and manage to
respond more positively when faced with personal or professional obstacles.
These findings, and consequently the practices too, start to receive more and more public attention, thanks to major
university research projects, foundations and non profit organizations like Kindspring/21-day Kindness challenge, the
subject of my “mod”.

6. background info & studies
teaching people about kindness, mindfulness, gratitude
Sources:
All research information reference is from the 9-week mooc “the science of happiness” of berkley university on edx, and the greater good
science center.
https://www.edx.org/course/uc-berkeleyx/uc-berkeleyx-gg101x-science-happiness-1497#.VFyaUIeUfds
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/compassionate_mind_healthy_body
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_compassionate_instinct
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VH-RNYGzxo
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_trick_your_brain_for_happiness
Sorry for not elaborating more on this topic, but a 9 week course is hard to summarize in a few pages. For
more info please read the essays/articles published by the GGSC.
other Sources:
http://www.actionforhappiness.org/why-happiness
http://www.actionforhappiness.org/about-us/the-happiness-challenge
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/03/ten-easy-steps-that-will-make-you-a-happier-person?CMP=fb_gu

7. LEARNING INTERVENTION - what is it?
21-day kindness challenge by kindspring
Kindspring is a non-profit, volunteer-run community of people who practice, spread and teach each
other how to be kind, mindful and grateful in our daily lives. With the help of their many areas of
intervention (pay-it-forward game, smile cards, inspiring kindness stories of the community, karma bank
account) they try to raise awareness of a serious social issue: the lack of empathy and compassion, the
raising stress levels and frequent interpersonal conflicts in daily life. The 21-Day Kindness challenge is a
3 week long program that lets participants experience the social, emotional and health benefits of
being kind to each other aiming to make a long-term habit out of this exercise.

8. LEARNING INTERVENTION - how it works?
21-day kindness challenge by kindspring
1
1
By registering to the community of the challenge users create their own Kindspring home page where
they may share their kindness experiences (received/given), track their “karma bank” developments and
read inspiring kindness stories of other users. When the 21-Day Kindness challenge starts, users
receive on their indicated e-mail address hints/suggestions of small acts of kindness to complete that
day and share their experiences with the community via kindness status updates. These kindness
updates are then “monetized” in the karma bank.
Kindspring reports 30,000+ participants in the challenge, 60,000+ shared kindness stories.

9. other info - how it works?
kindspring.org

10. LEARNING INTERVENTION -
weak points & opportunities 4 growth
21-day kindness challenge by kindspring
The weak point of the Kindspring 21-Day Kindness challenge is that the challenge tasks/suggestions
are delivered via e-mail, and since these are automated messages, often land in the spam/trash or
promotions section of mailboxes. These mechanics make it difficult to keep up with the challenge as it
requires the user to constantly search for the tasks in the spam, trash or amongst zillions of promo
DEMs. This might result in users abandoning the challenge at an early stage for lack of time, lack of
enthusiasm/motivation.
Also the timing of the “task send-off” does not factor in eventual time zones either, which again
makes the tracking of challenges difficult at times confusing, and looses out on the possible bonding-effect
of the community (i.e. people are not doing the same kindness acts in the same time).

11. LEARNING INTERVENTION - my mods
21-day kindness challenge by kindspring
KindSpringApp
My modifications to this experience based active (emotional/non-cognitive skill) learning tool
are as follows:
- upgrade the platform from online community on a web site to a mobile app
- upgrade the daily challenge delivery via e-mail to push notifications
- deliver the daily challenge based on time zones

12. LEARNING INTERVENTION - my mods
21-day kindness challenge by kindspring
The learning theory at the core of the original 21-day kindness challenge is already experience based active
learning given that the skill it is meant to teach is emotional/non-cognitive: kindness, empathy and compassion
must be felt and experienced with a certain frequency. The program in itself is an efficient one, however the
technology behind it could be improved to reach and engage more people and train them more efficiently, also
making the process more fun.
1. upgrade to a mobile app will
- make users feel more part of the community (instant newsfeed update, instant reactions
and conversations)
- facilitate instant sharing of their kindness experiences, and thus boost engagement,
motivation and inspiration
- amplify the challenge/experiences integrating with other social media
2. read daily challenges on a mobile phone (via push notifications) will KindSpringApp
- make the challenges feel more “personal” (mobile phones are life companions)
- allow delivery of subtle but efficient challenge reminders (based on user
actions)
- track more efficiently user behavior (be a scientific research tool too)
3. time zone set challenge delivery will
- enable the program to be top-of-mind at the right time (day start)
- enable reminders at the right time (lunch break, free-time etc.)

13. thank you for your attention
by MillaKiss
07/11/2014, Milan