The empathy map is a tool used in educational projects such as Erasmus to foster understanding and empathy among students. It allows us to visualise and analyse the needs, motivations, frustrations, and thoughts of the people involved, thus promoting a better understanding of different perspectives and cultures.
The empathy map technique is also known as customer empathy map and user empathy map.
What is this technique/tool about
The empathy mapping technique is a visual tool that helps to understand and empathise with the needs, desires, frustrations, and motivations of a particular group of people. It consists of creating a map divided into sections that represent emotional, rational, environmental, and social aspects of the target person or group. By using the empathy map, we seek to gain a deeper insight into the user's experience and perspective, which allows us to generate more effective solutions tailored to their needs.
For which purposes is it used (why in your secondary school teaching)
The empathy map is used as a research and design tool in various fields, such as marketing, innovation, product and service design, and user experience. Teaching this technique in secondary schools can be beneficial for several reasons:
- It fosters empathy: The empathy map allows students to put themselves in other people's shoes, understand their emotions, needs and perspectives. This promotes empathy and the ability to relate to others.
- Improves interpersonal understanding: By analysing and mapping the motivations and frustrations of different people, students develop skills to understand and communicate effectively with others, which is fundamental to interpersonal relationships.
- Stimulates critical thinking and creativity: By analysing and visually representing the emotional, rational, environmental, and social aspects of a person, students are required to reflect, analyse and find creative solutions to address these needs and challenges.
- Supports projects and teamwork: The empathy map can be used as a collaborative tool in group projects, allowing students to work together to understand the needs of a target audience and design solutions tailored to those needs.
Overall, teaching the empathy mapping technique in secondary school can help students develop social, emotional, and critical thinking skills, preparing them to understand and deal more effectively with the complexities of the world in which they live.
Limitations
While the empathy mapping technique is valuable, it also has some limitations:
- Subjectivity: The information obtained through empathy mapping can be subjective, as it is based on the perception and understanding of the researcher or participants.
- Limited generalisability: Empathy maps focus on specific groups of people or selected individuals. Therefore, the results obtained may not be representative of the entire population.
- Lack of quantitative data: Empathy mapping relies mainly on qualitative data, such as emotions and subjective perceptions. This can make it difficult to quantify and obtain concrete metrics, which may be necessary in some contexts.
- Influence of context: People's needs and motivations may vary depending on the context in which they find themselves.
To implement the empathy mapping technique in online contexts, there are some tips and tricks divided into three stages: preparation, during implementation and follow-up.
Preparation, before the session:
- Define the objective: Clearly state the purpose of using the empathy map and what you want to achieve with the activity.
- Select an online collaboration platform: Choose a platform that allows for real-time collaboration and working together in a virtual space. You can use tools such as Google Docs, Miro, Padlet or similar, which offer collaboration and mapping functionalities.
- Prepare instructions: Before the session, prepare clear and concise instructions to guide participants through the activity. Explain how to complete each section of the map and provide examples or templates if necessary.
During the session:
- Share the screen: If you are using an online collaborative tool, share your screen to display the empathy map and guide participants through each section. Make sure everyone can see and access the map simultaneously.
- Facilitate discussion: Encourage students to actively participate by encouraging them to express their ideas and perspectives. Encourage them to share personal examples, discuss in small groups and ask questions to deepen understanding of needs and motivations.
- Provide constructive feedback: During the session, provide guidance and constructive feedback to participants. Help them explore the elements of the map further, providing observations and guidance to improve understanding and empathy.
Follow-up after the session:
- Recap the findings: Reviews and synthesises the main findings and conclusions obtained during the session. Highlights emerging patterns and themes in the needs and motivations of the people analysed.
- Reflect on the activity: Evaluate the effectiveness of the online empathy mapping activity and reflect on possible improvements. Consider feedback from participants and adjust in future implementations.
- Use the results: The results obtained from the empathy map can serve as input for the design of projects, strategies or solutions adapted to the identified needs. Use the insights obtained to make informed decisions.
The following strategies can be used to apply the empathy mapping technique in an online context:
- Online collaborative platform: Popular options include Google Docs, Miro, Padlet, Microsoft Teams or similar tools.
- Empathy map templates: Ensure that the templates have appropriate sections to represent the emotional, rational, environmental, and social aspects of the empathy map.
- Writing and drawing materials. This will allow them to capture their ideas and visually represent the different sections of the map.
Books:
Academic articles:
Websites and practical resources: