How will my child make progress over time?

Portfolio: a student’s progression through Synthesis [A parent guide.]

Introduction: playing Synthesis… to win

We know why students come to Synthesis: to develop the most important skills in life — how to solve complex problems in teams. And we know how this happens: through participation in team-thinking games, guided by wise, friendly coaches.

What’s been missing, however, is the roadmap: what is the end goal of Synthesis? How do I know if I’ve reached it? What do I get when I finish? How can I “win Synthesis?”

The portfolio is a Synthesis student’s self-created profile, a structured progression to help them develop, which includes a finish line with a tangible, authentic end goal. It won’t be easy to “win Synthesis.” Becoming a supercollaborator is akin to becoming an Eagle Scout in problem-solving, or getting a black-belt in collaboration. But for those students who are committed to the challenge, we’ll be ready.

Becoming a supercollaborator: the three pillars

How a supercollaborator thinks, acts, and communicates. There are three main pillars: communication, team mindset, and problem-solving.

1. Communication (skills and style)

• Communication skills (encourages others, active listening, active participation, concise, helps others, negotiates conflict), communication style (friendly, confident, clear, understanding).

2. Team mindset (to be a good teammate, one is..)

• Responsible, persistent, curious, focused, on task, reliable, consistent, comfortable with new teams and diverse team members, comfortable asking for name pronunciation, adjustable to new teams’ skill levels.

3. Problem-solving (mindset + critical thinking skills)

• Inspired by new challenges, comfortable with new environments, seeking the root of the problem, second-order thinking, putting problems in perspective, insightful, goal setting, adaptable to new situations, pivots when needed.

The Portfolio: how students progress

In their time at Synthesis, students gain experience with the skills above, providing opportunities to prove their competency through achievements, the successful completion of which produces artifacts curated by students to show their development in a portfolio that they defend in a 1-1 interview.

Experience

Students need consistent practice to be able to develop the skills above, similar to how one develops skills in music or sport. They get EXPERIENCE from PLAY sessions, DISCUSSION sessions, and from MILESTONES (ex., their first Proxima game, attending 20 Discussion sessions).

Achievements

Achievements demonstrate capacity in the three pillars above. Additional achievements unlock with experience, so it’s likely students will get quite a few. However, achievements are not a cumulative game; they are not trying to “get them all.” Instead, students will curate their achievements to showcase the top two for each pillar, selecting those that are significant, meaningful, those that tell the story of their journey to becoming a supercollaborator.

Achievements fall into two categories:

• System achievements: earned automatically, do not have a reflection component.
  • Example: Winning an “expert level” challenge automatically awards the “Expert Challenge” achievement.
• Reflection achievements: require written reflection and coach evaluation to be awarded.
  • Example: Students set their own goals in “Checkpoint 3” and analyze the inner workings of the games in “Game Analysis” achievements.

Endorsements

To evaluate a student’s progress, we rely on triangulation, three approaches: 1) quantifiable system data, “Our system can tell us this about you,” 2) personal reflection, “I believe this about myself,” and 3) endorsements, “Your teammates see this in you.” There is no minimum number of endorsements needed to become a supercollaborator. Instead, endorsements are a point of reflection for a student from their own teammates — a valuable perspective.

In Version 1, the endorsements that can be awarded are as follows:

• INSIGHTFUL: analytical, strategic, reflective
• SUPPORTIVE: positive, motivating, resilient
• DEPENDABLE: calm, knowledgeable, effective

Note that each endorsement is surrounded by correlative terms. This is intentional. We want students to see these less as narrow definitions (”dependable = reliable”) and more as archetypes (”a dependable teammate tends to be…”)

The Endgame: beating the last boss

The moment a student has the requisite experience**,** their portal changes. They see just how far they’ve come — sessions played, friends made — and they unlock the last three steps:

1. Students finalize their showcase. What achievements best represent what they’ve learned about each of the three pillars?
2. Students prepare their argument. They can take notes on their showcase, visible only to them.
3. Students have a 1-1 conversation with a coach who acts both as advocate (helpful, supportive) and adversary (challenging, critical) to make sure students are ready for the final challenge. This is akin to a doctoral defense with a committee.
4. Final challenge: a 1-1 interview with an adult with outside perspective: a founder, an inventor, an artist.

If successful, students receive a visual update to their Synthesis profile, and they receive a certificate of completion from co-founder Josh Dahn that vouches for their skills and includes highlights of their time at Synthesis. For kids aged 8-15, not only is this an artifact to be proud of (like an Eagle Scout badge, or a black belt), but it’s also a tangible document to bring to their first job interview or apply to a school.

Down the line, there may be a place for supercollaborators to have additional, exclusive experiences.

Our commitment to improvement

Synthesis students are committed to continual improvement, to experimentation, to reflection. As an organization, so are we. Therefore, please consider this a living document, a starting point on our mission to innovate education. As we iterate on our methodology, we will update this document as well.

Last updated: October 29, 2024

FAQ

Achievements

• Why is an achievement unavailable?
  • There are many reasons achievements might be locked – student doesn’t have enough experience, hasn’t played the relevant game enough, or hasn’t completed a prerequisite achievement. They can click on the locked achievement for an explanation.
• Why haven’t I heard back about the reflections I submitted?
  • There’s a team who reviews these; timeline for hearing back depends on how many were submitted. Generally, a student should expect feedback and/or an awarded achievement within a week.
• How do I earn ‘Expert Challenge’ or ‘Speedrun’ achievements?
  • These game-based challenges are only available on certain weeks. When they come up, they’ll be mentioned in the mission brief and the portal page on them will change.
• What’s the point of a showcase?
  • Showcased achievements are visible on your usercard, so other students can see them. Once you fill your experience bar, there’s another reason to add things to your showcase…
• How do I add things to my showcase?
  • First: earn an achievement. You can view all achievements in your portfolio page, on the “UNEARNED” tab. Once you’ve earned one, there’s a button on your “EARNED” tab to add it to your showcase.

Experience

• How do students earn experience?
  • Students earn experience for playing games and attending discussions. They also earn experience bonuses when they hit certain milestones, like playing a new game for the first time or winning 50 total games.
• Why didn’t I get a lot of experience for playing a lot?
  • Weekly experience for participation is capped, so power-users may notice they stop earning experience for later sessions in the week. This is intentional; you can’t “speed run” collaboration skills. It takes time.
• What do I do if my experience is wrong?
  • Please report this to questions@synthesis.com.
• How long does it take to fill up the whole bar?
  • It depends on how students use Synthesis; if they attend regularly for 1-2 hours a week, we expect filling the bar to take around 9 months. Power-users may fill it in 6 months. That’s only the first stage, though – the second stage, which involves curating their showcase and scheduling interviews, may take several more months.

Endorsements

• How do students get endorsements?
  • When endorsements are on, the screen comes up at the end of the session. Students can choose who to endorse and which category to endorse them in, or can choose to skip it.
• When will endorsements be on again?
  • Endorsements are different from “likes” in social media. They are rare. Therefore, they are available sometimes, and unavailable sometimes. There is no set schedule.

Final Phases

• What will my coach interview be like?
  • Prior to your final supercollaborator interview, you’ll get a practice session with a coach. They’ll ask the same questions as the final interview and give feedback about the responses. Most of the time, students will be asked to revise, reschedule, and return for another run-through. When they are 100% ready, they’ll receive an email invitation to schedule the final step.
• What happens if I become a supercollaborator?
  • You’ll get special recognition in your teams (a supercollaborator badge on your tile); a custom letter of recommendation you can use for future schools and jobs; and a certificate of completion.