{"id":2420,"date":"2025-02-20T16:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T16:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/?p=2420"},"modified":"2025-02-20T16:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T16:36:13","slug":"differencemaker-workshop-1-identifying-problems-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/2025\/02\/20\/differencemaker-workshop-1-identifying-problems-3\/","title":{"rendered":"DifferenceMaker Workshop 1: Identifying Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Thursday, February 11th, from 5:00 \u2013 7:00 p.m., the\u00a0Rist DifferenceMaker Institute<\/a>\u00a0held the semester\u2019s first workshop session at the Coburn Hall, Room 255! The focus for Workshop 1 was on identifying problems. Around 15 students attended to learn and network with students interested in pursuing their ideas for the $50,000 Idea Challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students and Rist DifferenceMaker Faculty Fellow networking at the semester\u2019s first workshop session!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To start off, Richard Juknavorian, Rist DifferenceMaker Director, welcomed everyone. He provided a brief overview of the DifferenceMaker program, what to expect from the workshop series, and the agenda for the evening. He introduced the Faculty Fellows guest presenter: Professor Tom Wilkes, Kennedy College of Sciences<\/a>. Joining them, Faculty Fellows John Palma and Cathy Levy were also present to offer guidance, helping students refine and develop their ideas throughout the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, Professor Wilkes showcased examples of problems presented by past DifferenceMaker student teams. Videos of their pitches were provided to give students clarity on how to move forward. For example, a team that was highlighted was the CAT Mat pitch, presented by students Katie Muise and Michelle Mailloux, both from the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences<\/a>. The problem they identified is the inability of patients to practice relearning how to walk after experiencing a medical issue. Going outside to do so isn\u2019t the safest option, while staying indoors does not fully prepare patients to go back to the real-world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an example of a team who worked diligently during their time at DifferenceMaker, as they ended up winning first place against teams such as Harvard and MIT during the Beantown Throwdown competition in 2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Professor Wilkes guiding the class with insightful examples from past DifferenceMaker student teams, offering valuable lessons through video pitches to inspire and direct our next steps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then, a brainstorming activity took place where students were able to discuss the problems they are looking to solve with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students networking with each other and solidifying the problems they are working to solve!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, students presented their ideas to everyone. The problems included challenges with adapting to the resources available, international students not knowing the resources provided to them, students feeling unprepared for college and its various services, and a lack of awareness about resources across campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Turning challenges into opportunities \u2013 where every students pitch sparks a step toward innovative solutions.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This allowed students to network with one another and gain new connections for potential teammates. Each person\/group utilized the \u201cDifferenceMaker Problem Toolkit Worksheet\u201d to help with narrowing the specifics of the issue at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to everyone that joined DifferenceMaker for Workshop 1!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, February 11th, from 5:00 \u2013 7:00 p.m., the\u00a0Rist DifferenceMaker Institute\u00a0held the semester\u2019s first workshop session at the Coburn Hall, Room 255! The focus for Workshop 1 was on identifying problems. Around 15 students attended to learn and network … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2425,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2420\/revisions\/2425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}