Panhellenic Initiative-A project about the panhellenic exams in the era of covid-19
Leadership & EQ Lab
Panhellenic Exams During the Covid-19 Crisis
In an era of uncertainty and rapid change in every factor, how are students dealing with the challenge of the pandemic? What are their thoughts and feelings? More importantly, how can they face the situation in these challenging times, when they are preparing for another big challenge, the Panhellenic Exams? What we are seeking through this research is the answers to these questions and a way to provide support to the students.
As part of our lab “Leadership & Emotional Intelligence”, led by Dimitra Iordanoglou, we focused on fields such as leadership and the main characteristics of leaders, strategic thinking, decision making as well as personal growth and development. Through projects, both individual and cooperative, and through exercises, we had the opportunity to work on abilities such as self-awareness, emotional intelligence and cooperation. The methodology of the lab is based on practical learning through real projects and that is the reason why our final exam aims to make a positive change. Its main focus is the Covid-19 crisis. The pandemic had severe effects on multiple different fields and it led to changes in everyone’s lives. It also affected the people’s psychology greatly.
Our goal was to create a project that would provide help, empowerment and positivity in order to overcome these difficult times. As a team, we decided to focus on the students of the final grade of high school, that are preparing for the Panhellenic Exams, which is one of the greatest challenges of their academic journey. We chose this specific group because we have also faced the anxiety and uncertainty of the Panhellenic Exams and we can have a better understanding of their emotions, especially in this challenging time. After we decided on our group that we would focus on, we began to organise our actions and the ways through which we would gather information. Our goal was to provide psychological support to the students and help them deal with the situation, and also learn about their experience and encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings. Our initial plan was to create a questionnaire, a presentation of the data and information that we would gather, a podcast in which we would interview a student and an interview with a specialist (a psychologist or a professor).
During the project, it was a great challenge for our team to be able to work together under the circumstances that were created by the pandemic. We could only communicate online, because of the mandatory restrictions. The organisation of the team was also a challenge, but we were able to overcome the obstacles and achieve efficient communication and cooperation in our team. The lab’s classes also began in time through online platforms and we also had access to plenty of sources that would help our research. We also had the feedback and support of our professor Dimitra Iordanoglou, as well as valuable information that was available through our lessons.
First, we decided to use the method of quantitive research, in the form of a questionnaire. We gathered questions that focused on the students’ experience, their feelings and thoughts about the situation. Our goal through the questions was to make conclusions about their thoughts on the pandemic and also on their emotional intelligence characteristics. Emotional Intelligence plays a huge part when it comes to mental health, dealing with anxiety and feelings. For those reasons it was a subject that was a big part of our lessons and our final project. The students are in a time in their lives that is very important for their future and Emotional Intelligence characteristics have been proven to be determinative of a person’s success on an academic, personal and professional level.
We also decided to create a podcast. The podcast was in the form of an interview with a student that is preparing for the exams. As an interview, it was also our form of conducting qualitive research. The interview’s questions focused on issues such as stress management and handling emotions and feelings during the time of self isolation. The main issues that the student was concerned with were the final dates of the exams as well as changes in the material that they would have to study. The podcast was a way to achieve more efficient communication, since the answers were more natural and spontaneous. On top of the podcast, we conducted an interview with a high school professor in order to gain insight into the way he dealt with the situation and his thoughts on the issue. Through his perspective and the information he provided us with we shed light on the way the students faced the issue as well. During the interview, the professor answered questions relating to online education and its pros and cons. He expressed his opinion, which is that teaching in an actual classroom can not be replaced.
We also decided that we wanted to encourage a conversation around the subject of the Panhellenic Exams during Covid-19. Since our target group is young, the most efficient way to do this would be through social media. Our goal was for the students to share their thoughts, feelings, opinions, concerns and generally anything relating to the subject. We chose the hashtag #covidpanele2020. Other than that, we created social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to share our conclusions and information and to spread a message of support for the students.
Finally, we created a presentation which contained useful advice during the self isolation time, for the students as well as their parents. We gathered information through online sources such as research results and advice from specialists. It contains categories such as advice for studying at home, dealing with exams anxiety and advice on avoiding conflict between family members and achieving a peaceful cohabitation.
As a conclusion, during our Leadership & EQ Lab we were able to develop different abilities and we learned how to efficiently work together as a team and also how to give and receive feedback. The final project was a challenge for us, but it also pushed us to discover new ways to cooperate and achieve our goals. We were able to communicate effectively, brainstorm our ideas, receive feedback and reshape our ideas based on it. The choice of this specific subject also reminded us of our own experiences and memories from the Panhellenic Exams which made us further understand the students and motivated us to work harder in order to provide help and support for them.
Team: FFS-For Fun’s Sake
Members: Kostas Gonidakis, Mariza Rizou, Maria Zioga, Antonella Sofianidou
