Ripples@Work_Venture-Learning FAQs
1. What is Ripples@Work_Venture-Learning (R@W_VL) model?
The R@W learning model leverages the Startup Venture approach to develop students’ individual agency, focusing on cultivating skills for lifelong learning and enabling them to adapt successfully to the volatile job market of the knowledge and innovation economy, while also fostering global citizenship.
R@W comprises three components:
a) RippleVerse: A social networking community where groups of five to nine students collaborate to model their startup venture and compete with other teams.
b) Venture Hub Contest: Joining a contest as a competing team within a designated Venture Hub requires a fee of $120 per team.
c) R@W Pedagogy Training: This program, which costs $240, is designed for teachers guiding students in modeling their startup ventures, offering training in the R@W pedagogical approach.
2. Who is the R@W_VL Model Designed for?
The R@W_SVL model is crafted for schools with a progressive ethos and homeschooling organisations or groups seeking innovative teaching and learning methodologies. In a rapidly changing educational landscape, it offers a framework that equips schools with the resilience to emerge as leaders.
By mastering the pedagogy of collaboration vs competition, educators forge creative partnerships with their students. This approach empowers both teachers and learners, fostering a new vision for education that nurtures independent and responsible thinkers prepared for a globalized society.
Training teachers in the R@W learning model enhances the school’s engagement with the world through both physical and virtual spaces, solidifying its position during a time of comprehensive educational transformation.
By involving parents and other family members in their children’s journey of knowledge generation, innovation, and adaptation—not just to fit into but to lead in the new society—schools participating in RippleVerse contests foster more robust cultural communities and garner enhanced parental support.
3. Who is the RipplesVerse Designed for?
The RippleVerse social community network is freely accessible to a diverse audience:
Engaged Observers: Young individuals who, although not part of the competing teams, engage with the developmental startup process by following team progressions. They contribute by posting comments, suggestions, and awarding evaluation badges. This involvement offers them a unique learning experience, allowing them to gain insights into the startup ecosystem even without direct competition participation.
Parents and Friends: Those connected to students in competing teams who wish to offer support and encouragement, or be part of their journey in knowledge creation and innovation.
Community Members: Individuals who aim to strengthen the cultural ties with local schools, promoting community engagement and support for educational initiatives.
4. How Long Can a Contest within a Designated Venture Hub Last?
A team’s participation in a designated Venture Hub contest is initially secured for six months.
Should the organizers wish to extend their involvement, they have the option to prolong their contest participation for an additional six months at half the initial cost, which is $60.
5. What Is the Aim of the R@W Pedagogy Training?
While the RippleVerse social community provides a platform for engaging contests, the R@W Pedagogy training aims to equip teachers and learning team leaders with a strategic framework for guiding their students through these competitions.
At its core, R@W Pedagogy draws from the principles of startup validated learning. It emphasizes the importance of leveraging each student’s innate feedback-loop system through active interactions with nature, society, and technology, complemented by ongoing self-reflective observations. This robust approach to learning encourages continuous actions, reflections, and readjustments, thereby equipping students with the competencies needed to thrive in environments of extreme uncertainty.
The R@W Pedagogy training encompasses key areas such as:
Metacognitive Self-Reflection
Multimodal Communication
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
DIY Creativity
6. How Does the R@W Pedagogy Training Work?
The R@W Pedagogy Studio offers training and support to teachers and other individuals who are guiding student groups through the startup venture process.
The training consists of four weekly sessions:
The first session is a one-and-a-half-hour workshop conducted on the first Thursday of every month.
The following three sessions are asynchronous, conducted weekly on the Canva platform.
For detailed information on the topics covered in the training, please visit: R@W Pedagogy Training Topics.
7. Is Training in R@W Pedagogy Required for Teachers or Others Who Organize a Venture Contest and Guide Competing Teams?
RippleVerse contests are crafted to embody a pedagogical approach that resonates with the dynamics of the knowledge and innovation economy within our high-tech, rapidly evolving society. Much like various games, RippleVerse contests adhere to specific rules and criteria, ensuring a fair assessment of knowledge construction and innovation.
Key facets of R@W learning, including the utilization of innate feedback loops, metacognitive self-reflection, multimodal communication, interdisciplinary collaboration, and DIY creativity, necessitate that the leaders of competing teams possess a thorough understanding of R@W pedagogy.
Therefore, training in these aspects is essential for those guiding teams through the venture contests.
8. How Many Teams Can a Teacher or Other Leader of a Venture Team Have?
A teacher or any leader trained in R@W Pedagogy has the flexibility to form multiple competing learning teams as required.
Each team’s enrollment in a contest incurs a fee of $120 for a six-month period.
Should an extension be necessary, a subsequent six-month period can be secured for an additional $60 per team.
9. What Year Level Are R@W Startup Venture Contests Designed For?
RippleVerse contests are specifically designed for high school students, aiming to engage them in real-world problem-solving, entrepreneurship, and innovation. These contests provide a platform for students to apply their knowledge and skills in a competitive yet collaborative environment, fostering critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork essential for success in the knowledge and innovation economy.
R&W_VL Knowledge & Skills Assets Criteria
Being in the World & Being a Conscious Observer
Being in the world and being a conscious observer means recognizing and reflecting on one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors through interactions with others. It also means understanding and helping others solve their problems and achieve shared goals.
By interacting with the world around us, we can gain a better understanding of nature, our social dealings, and our use of technology. We can also develop smarter strategies to explore, generate data, analyze, and experiment, which helps us acquire more knowledge.
These are the asset skills that you develop during your startup venture:
- Finding smart ways to observe and notice, collect and analyse data from
the surrounding (real and virtual) world.
For example, figuring out how to video-record a spider building its web. - Demonstrating attentiveness, care, and respect in collaborating with startup group members.
For example, reflecting in your cinematic journal on why someone’s suggestions in the previous group session appeared disagreeable to you and trying to find a way to resolve the conflict in a way that is respectful and beneficial to everyone involved. - Setting up a strategy for involving people outside the group to contribute to your start-up project.
For example, featuring the work of local service in your Ripplework posts in response to the service sharing with you their pressing problem or providing you with feedback on your startup’s progression. - Forging a way to make the most of your unique individual abilities and interests while working
toward group goals.
For example, a detective strategy would be used to investigate and solve a problem with the most significant school bully of the year. - Recognizing others’ unique talents and special interests and supporting their growth.
For example, noticing that someone in the group always knows how to make everyone feel comfortable and helping that person develop their contribution to the project based on these skills. - Taking risks of being exposed by critically self-reflecting in your cinematic journal on your attitude or behaviour. In R@W, we value people’s ability not to hide but to examine and deal with their feelings, for example, towards someone in your group who is, by common standards, weird.
Sociological Imagination
Sociological imagination is like looking at the road and all the other cars around you. It helps you understand that the way you drive your car is not just about you, but it can be affected by things like traffic rules, road conditions, and even the weather.
These are all broad social forces that shape how you drive your car. Therefore, sociological imagination is like possessing a special insight that helps you understand how your actions, such as driving, are connected to broader societal events and dynamics. It also guides you in identifying ways to improve these interactions.
These are the asset skills that you develop during your startup venture:
- Recognizing local community characteristics or problems and using them as a basis for a startup venture.
For example, organizing monthly festivals of regional talent in nearby villages and towns that can attract people, boost business growth, and keep young people from leaving your rural area. - Enhancing residents’ sense of belonging by utilizing cultural diversity within the local community.
For example, organizing clubs and regular events around your area based in local cafes to celebrate
cultural diversity. - Smart use of technology allows you to use town/village cultural characteristics for global market integration.
For example, creating a documentary based on a local historical hero, discovery, story, or myth and promoting it globally on social media. - Demonstrating the ability to see how your unique strengths can be applied to influence change on a large societal scale to benefit others and yourself.
For example, utilize your talent in persuasive writing to inform and influence people’s attitudes towards specific social issues, particularly those experienced by individuals you know or members of your local community.
Bricolage Methodology & Strategic Tinkering
To learn through modeling a startup, R@W employs the methodology of bricolage and strategic tinkering.
Bricolage can be described as a remix. The contemporary bricoleur is a remixer. They remix what has been already created to create new meanings and convey a different message.
Strategic tinkering is intentional attempts at piecemeal fixes or improvements by not following instructions. Instead, you achieve your goal through trial and error and being open to unexpected results.
Bricolage and strategic tinkering are learning-by-doing strategies. They help us discover and learn new material and produce novel designs.
By using bricolage and strategic tinkering, R@W students may develop the following knowledge and skills assets:
- Identifying and successfully employing the possibilities for effective solutions and innovation in everyday experiences.
For example, consider the daily commotion experienced by parents dropping off and picking up their children from school twice a day. This observation could inspire the development of an innovative safety device for students who arrive at and leave school independently. - Spotting characteristics of local actors, settings and circumstances and leveraging them for innovation.
For example, imagine residing in a quiet country town where you observe a range of talents among your friends. This could lead to organizing talent events on Saturdays in the local town square. By posting images of these events on social media, you could raise awareness and funds to rent a space for a Youth Talent Centre. - Recognizing and capitalizing on chance encounters and unexpected events.
For example, consider how a project opportunity might arise unexpectedly and the importance of acting on it to maximize its potential. Take the case of the Saturday talent event idea: This concept was sparked in the mind of James, a student in our startup program, during an everyday situation. While riding the school bus, he overheard a conversation where one boy lamented the lack of weekend activities for young people in their town. The boy mentioned his friend Nick’s exceptional guitar skills, saying, ‘You know Nick? Man, he is amazing at playing the guitar!’ This offhand comment ignited the idea for the event in James’ mind, and he even coined a name for it — ‘Saturday’s Jadi.’ Such instances demonstrate the value of being open to inspiration from everyday experiences. - Thriving on gradual breakthroughs.
For instance, the students observed the brevity of their lunch break and the lengthy queues at the school canteen. Instead of merely lodging a complaint with the school administration, they took initiative. They decided to establish a startup focused on reinventing the school lunch break experience. This involved a deep dive into understanding the existing system’s origins and exploring various innovative solutions. They also committed to carefully planning and gradually implementing these changes, demonstrating a proactive and thoughtful approach. - Learning by taking risks and experiencing failures.
For instance, although the startup group was unable to develop a device enabling students to travel to and from school independently, they received recognition for their innovative approach to addressing the issue. Their project considered various aspects of the problem, such as traffic congestion during school pick-up hours, parking solutions for their proposed device, student safety, and promoting exercise during the commute to school.
Mind Apps: the Learning Ripple & the Innate System of Feedback Loops
The R@W model fosters an environment where learning occurs through interactions with the natural, social, and technological aspects of the world.
Using the Learning Ripple method, students explore and validate their curiosity, interests, empathy, concerns, and desire to learn by engaging with their environment and objects.
The Innate System of Feedback Loops is a strategic approach enabling students to evaluate their actions based on previous experiences.
The following are knowledge and skills assets students can develop by employing R@W ‘mind-apps’:
- Developing Strategies to Understand Motivational Triggers.
For instance, in rural Australia, stories about black panther sightings have persisted for decades. Students’ curiosity, contrasted with scientific knowledge, leads them to realize that such sightings are highly improbable. They create cinematic journals with video clips from local news, newspaper excerpts, and audio interview snippets, forming a ‘cinematic dialogue’. This process enables students to investigate the reasons behind why some individuals create fabricated stories about their community or themselves. - Evaluating Information Source Reliability and Validity.
For example, a startup group investigating black panther sightings devised a clever method to debunk such claims, despite the existence of photos and videos purporting to be evidence. Here, the inclination to believe is counterbalanced by learning to verify the authenticity of photos and videos. - Intuitive and Flexible Investigation Strategies.
Sometimes, you might find, against all odds, that black panther stories could be plausible. This situation demands a willingness to change the direction of your investigation and to contemplate the reasons why authorities may hesitate to confront the sensationalism that would arise in their community if these stories were confirmed. - Understanding Different Perspectives.
Formulating a method to ‘step into the shoes’ of both those who create and spread misinformation and those who, perhaps unknowingly, become its believers and disseminators. This approach helps to better understand the motives and processes behind the creation and propagation of false information.
DIY Creativity
R@W startups apply existing knowledge and skills in a DIY manner. This approach values the intelligent and resourceful application of skills to real-life scenarios more than the level of professional expertise in a specific discipline.
The creativity process in R@W is divided into three stages:
Combinational Creativity.
This stage begins with tinkering and bricolage, which involves remixing objects or ideas from different domains, improvising, and understanding the essence of the object or idea. For example, observing a spiderweb shimmering in the sunlight might inspire the design of a shimmery dress by merging the concept with fabric. Alternatively, combining the idea with building materials could lead to the creation of a light-sensitive, spiderweb-like glass wall. Envisioning the spiderweb’s strands as tubes, one could conceptualize a network of tunnels connecting skyscrapers above busy streets. These tunnels could serve as safer, more efficient transit routes for pedestrians and cyclists, distinct from current street-level traffic.
Exploratory Creativity.
This stage delves into the outcomes of the initial tinkering. For instance, by collaborating with peers, you might investigate the structural integrity of a spiderweb. You’d explore whether a network of tunnels joining skyscrapers could be efficient and resilient enough to withstand pressure and extreme weather conditions. The strength and lightweight nature of actual spiderweb strands, coupled with their reflective properties when catching light, can inspire building materials with similar characteristics.
Transformational Creativity.
This final stage leads to gaining insights and influencing others’ perspectives. For example, while creating a 3-D model of a sky-web, your group discovers a structural engineering app that’s free for school use. This app opens up a new realm of possibilities, allowing for various designs and an understanding of critical engineering concepts like pressure, balance, and temperature. The real learning achievement occurs when students explore the feasibility of incorporating organic properties of spiderwebs into steel and glass constructions.
Digital Culture
One of the central R@W goals is to address volatile societal changes resulting from rapid technological advancements. To do this, we must completely rethink the very concept of learning.
To this end, R@W focuses on developing learning environments and enabling students to use technology smartly to:
a) recognize and utilize technological opportunities to create new jobs;
b) raise the human standards to strive for a morally just society while living alongside smart machines;
c) discover and cultivate innate abilities in themselves that aren’t available for machines and use them for self-realization and staying connected with the real world.
The assets that could be developed and demonstrated as high competencies and skills in the use
of smart technology are:
- Asking smart questions and using various technological tools to enhance human traits such as curiosity, sense of urgency, concerns, empathy, etc.
For example, observing a grasshopper in your garden, you can wonder: If a grasshopper has wings but, through evolution, developed its hind legs for jumping, why was jumping more critical for its survival than flying? Is there any human activity that would require a device specifically for jumping? How could grasshopper hind legs’ biomechanics help invent such a device? To answer these questions, you observe and video record a grasshopper. Compare its movements to the movements of other insects. Learn what it is doing and the tricks of its success living in its habitat and figure out why jumping instead of flying may be an advantage to it. - Creative use of individual cinematic journals as a means of self-reflective activities.
For example, continuing to use an example of a grasshopper’s hind legs, you represent yourself observing the insect in your cinematic journal. Through your critical self-reflection, you may start thinking about what the grasshopper ‘thinks’ about you observing it and how it may change its behavior due to the fact that it is being observed. - Resourceful application of personal mobile tools for generating data from everyday life’s natural and social realities.
For example, you may record a video and sound in the garden around the grasshopper and notice that it produces sound when it jumps. You may observe that it jumps differently in response to the outside noise, etc. - Taking ethical considerations into account when using technology.
For example, make sure that the grasshopper is not harmed in any way during the experiment and video or audio-recording. - Intuitive considerations of complementing each other’s strengths while working with smart machines.
For example, you may generate a grasshopper and its hind legs with AI and compare the images to your photos. What is the difference? How can two technologies work together? What if you sketch parts of your images and use drawings to complement photos and AI generation? What is the meaning that you make from this activity? - A creative and informative way of sharing and posting content on Ripplework and a constructive and intelligent way
of communicating online.
For example, you can use Figma tools to create a short animation to show what you learned about grasshopper movements. You can accept constructive criticism posted in the thread in a positive way, taking into consideration the suggestions you were given.