As educators we regularly engage in challenging conversations regularly – with students struggling academically, parents concerned about their child’s progress, or colleagues dealing with classroom management issues for example. These conversations are often pivotal moments where their guidance can make a lasting impact.
Just as we wouldn’t expect someone to master teaching without training and practice, becoming skilled at challenging conversations requires deliberate learning and development. These conversations demand a unique set of skills that often run counter to our natural instincts. When faced with difficult situations, we might automatically avoid conflict, become defensive, or rush to solutions – all of which can close down opportunities for meaningful dialogue and mentorship.
A frequently used approach to developing these skills is to work with a facilitator, friend or colleague, to role play such conversations, and to practise the strategies that have been learned. While such role plays can be an effective way of helping to develop specific communication skills like active listening, managing emotions, and framing feedback constructively through repeated practice, participants generally know it’s simulated, they may not experience the same emotional intensity or stakes as real situations.
FutureMakers has been privileged to work with US-based entrepreneur, Ian Zhu (founder of SchoolJoy) and his company on a new product called NIMO, an AI-enabled platform that enables you to engage in holding open to learning conversations based on a variety of scenarios that will be familiar to you in an educational setting. By holding the conversation with an AI agent, rather than someone you know in a role-play situation, you are able to fully experience both the cognitive and affective dimensions of holding such conversation, and so develop specific communication skills like active listening, managing emotions, and framing feedback constructively through repeated practice.
Using NIMO is pretty straight forward. Simply click on the image to the left, or here to the FutureMakers trial page where you’ll find a number of scenarios similar to the one illustrated here. There’s a green button below this that you use to launch the simulation.
You’ll need to ensure you have a computer or laptop equipped with speakers and microphone, as from this point you will be ‘speaking’ with an AI agent that has been trained to take on the role of the individual described in the scenario.
You will be briefed on what your task and role is when you launch the simulation, and from there you simply begin engaging with the character in the simulation
There’s no pre-determined design to the process you’ll follow. The AI agent has been trained to listen to the feedback you provide, the questions you ask, the tone of your voice etc. and provide responses based on what is heard – pretty much as you’d expect to find in a ‘real life’ scenario. The best part here is that you get to practise rather than go straight into what is often a high stakes situation involving various levels of uncertainty, misunderstanding or conflict.
At any point during the conversation – or when you have reached a point where there’s a mutually agreed solution – you can click on the ‘end simulation’ button and you are provided with a complete transcript of what has been spoken, and a call analysis (see right) that provides AI-generated insights into the key moments in the conversation where these skills have been demonstrated or where they could be improved.
The analysis provides plenty of ‘next steps’ suggestions for now you might refine your approach or where you might use an alternative strategy. There are also a number of reflective questions which you could use either independently to think about your approach, or in discussion with a colleague as you reflect together on the key moments that have been identified and the experience of working through the scenario.
The analysis concludes by providing you with a summary of the durable skills that are relevant to this scenario and an assessment of how these have been demonstrated by you through the whole of the conversation.
The analysis of the ‘moments’ and summary of skills learned is key to what makes NIMO unique as a platform for developing these important communication skills for teachers. Not only do you get the chance to practice in a non-threatening way, but you receive targeted feedback that is designed to help you make those incremental steps towards becoming a more effective mentor, guide or negotiator in your day to day work.
This tool has dozens of applications, and the scenarios are being added to on a regular basis to form a library from which you can select the one that most appropriately fits the situation you may be dealing with and where you need to refine your approach.
FutureMakers has been granted a special opportunity to work with educators and schools in New Zealand to explore the potential of NIMO as a way of developing these important capabilities as we work with staff, students and parents. If you’d like to schedule a time to find out more about how you might use this personally or with some of your colleagues, please email Derek using the link below.
