Assignment

I’ve started to loosely define my user as the college or graduate-level student who is going into a creative and/or strategic field. I have access to these people both at ITP and at work, so testing and validation would be possible.

For my research, I’m looking into ways to help place information in situ, so it’s not as siloed in specific knowledge banks or academic contexts. Being less familiar with education, I’m looking into common learning theories for adults. Here’s a start.

• Adult Learning Theory posits that adults must understand the applicability of information to their life to learn best. I’d like to lets users literally contextualize information in places that seem relevant to their own activities and goals for the future.
• Anchored Learning Theory suggests that putting a subject matter within a realistic situation will embed it with more meaning. I’d like to virtually anchors content to context, so that in a specific situation where information might be useful it will resurface.
• Constructivism is the idea that learning is an active construction and learners learn best when they make connections between experiences and ideas. I’d like to help users attain two paths to long-term memory retrieval by creating two modalities for learning.

Next, I plan to look more into persuasive design and HCI.

What is the problem you’re trying to solve?

Ethical development through user-centered design is not promoted in many fields of higher education, primarily engineering programs. Most of these teaching environments do not challenge students to think about their moral responsibilities as innovators. They are rarely asked to ponder the question, “What does it mean to be responsible for the next century of human interaction and productivity?”

 

I. Take a stab at framing it as a design question.

How can we develop a moral foundation for budding “makers” and their lasting impact in society?

 

II. Now state the ultimate impact you’re trying to have.

• Encourage humans to help understand humans by enhancing ethical literacy.

• Engage moral discussions by exploring existing ideas and present questions about different contexts, perspectives, and application

• Review concepts, morals, and opposition that may be personal, local or systematic

• Offer “unbiased” consideration of topics that presents multiple perspectives

 

III. What are some possible solutions to your problem?

• Artificial Intelligence Bot: provides individual conversation with different arguments to base your decisions
  • Develops map of user’s mind by storing ideas and conversations to best understand interests and perspectives
  • Share articles and supplementary information based on conversations
  • Not: a logistic assistant that self-develops with the goal of improving knowledge and assistance
• Introductory Innovation Ethics Course: pushes students to simulate the long-term impact of innovation on specific societies
  • Model UN Format: each student represents as a member of a certain community (i.e. nationally, systematically, locally), with a given identity and set of values/priorities – must then come together to evaluate their impact from a given product/service/innovation

 

IV. Finally, write down some of the context and constraints that you’re facing.

• Audience of “makers:” students currently building knowledge about careers involving product development and interaction (i.e engineers, technologists, marketers/advertisers, researchers)
• Scope & Relevance: education, political and socioeconomic views, news literacy, identity (cultural, gender, sexual, international), medical health (mental, physical, self-help), ideation and entrepreneurship
• Constraints
  • No Generic Moral Foundation: cannot tell students what to think, but how to develop ideas without being limited or blinded by their identities or backgrounds
  • Personal Triggers: telling someone that a specific part of their history might affect their work can ignite large personal and communication issues
  • Reducing Conformity: conversations focused on a diverse set of topics can older be covered in-depth with an equally diverse group of students
  • Technological & Efficiency Constraints
    • AI is very cost intensive when developing and testing – cataloged data is not always easy to access (I can’t go make a moral development bot with Google’s data.)
    • New curriculum and untraditional course formats are difficult to get approved.

 

V. Does your original question need a tweak? Try again.

I wasn’t able to quickly develop five solutions to my problem, so it may be too broad to cover all of its aspects. If I specify the audience to strictly engineering students, I can include the solutions below. The question now becomes: How can we develop a moral foundation for engineering students and their lasting impact in society?

• Requiring senior design projects to prove the use of user-centered design and the possible effects of the student’s identity and background on the product presented
• Offering scholarships and financial support to those who prove/promote moral literacy
• Real-World Competitions: use students to solve local problems that would be irrelevant to them otherwise

What is the problem you’re trying to solve?

Making subjects like history and social studies more interesting and useful to middle and high school students. And to provide students with a wholesome perspective of history.

1. Frame it as a design question…

How might we deliver history and social studies material/content in a way that more effectively engages students and increases their interest, retention, and understanding of said material?

2. What’s the ultimate impact you’re trying to have?

To provide students with individual awareness of self through greater historical context into world and social history & affairs.

3. What are some possible solutions to your problem?

Building learning platforms and engaging/immersive experiences that deliver history/social studies content- via AR, VR, curated (and personally crafted) learning material

4. What are some of the constraints that you’re facing?

How would such initiatives be funded? Would schools support this?

What exactly am I measuring to ensure that the impact I’m aiming for actually is what results?

How does one ensure that the learning content is historically accurate and full? What kind of ways can we ensure that schools would approve of this?

Why do students learn “some” history and not all history? How do I prove that this is the current practice, why it’s deconstructive to students, and how do I offer a solution that would ultimately curb this?

5. Does your original question need to be tweaked?

No.

Frame Your Design Challenge

What is the problem you’re trying to solve?

How can we improve the online learning experience?

1) Take a stab at framing it as a design question. 

How could we make online education more meaningful and more reliable?

2) Now, state the ultimate impact you’re trying to have. 

I want students who get online degree would receive high-quality knowledge and skills the same as students from traditional colleges, and also improve the acceptability from the entire society or industry.

3) What are some possible solutions to your problem? 

Improving the management of online education (like attendance, assignments, feedback, test); creating more helpful conversations and interactions among professors and students via technological ways; building more networking for students; providing more practical training opportunities for online students; making class content from professor more structured; motivating online students, letting them engage in the class, and make them more concentrated; building better atmosphere for studying; etc.

4) Finally, write down some of the context and constraints that you’re facing. 

Because traditional face to face college experience us some hints about how to improve online education, we want to only focus on the online degree-level learning.

5) Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again. 

How might degree-level online students be more competitive?

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

The lack of physical activity in higher education courses

1) Take a stab at framing it as a design question

How can we add physical activities as part of the normal learning experiences in higher education courses?

2) Now state the ultimate impact that you’re trying to have

Add a layer of physical activities to normal higher education courses to improve health and learning experiences, developing human beings as whole beings and not only brains.

3) What are some possible solutions to your problem? Think broadly. It’s fine to start a project with a hunch or two, but make sure you allow for surprising outcomes.

• A set of physical games that can be used as learning and/or assessment activities
• A digital experience that requires the use of gestures to reach contents or answer questions.
• A [digital] assistant to help manage the physical activity during classes / homeworks.
• Learning spaces that make people move more while taking courses

4) Finally, write down some of the context and constraints that you’re facing. They could be geographic, technological, time-based, or have to do with the population you’re trying to reach.

We are very used to the idea of the usual classroom setting. Even with diverse activities during class time, the physicality is almost never taken into consideration. We have against us the inertia of thought / traditions of the students and the faculty.

Occidental culture has a strong conceptual separation between “body” and “mind”: The priority is given to the “brains” learning and not to their “containers”.

What about people with disabilities? How to make sure that the solution helps to include them?

5) Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again.

How can we develop a general solution to add physical activity time to normal higher education courses?

How can we develop a general and accepted solution to add physical activity time to normal higher education courses?

I’m deeply upset by the number of people who are incarcerated in the United States, especially since many of those people are minorities, and many of those minorities are black.

Problem: Mass incarcerated individuals have little to no access to higher educational resources beyond vocational and training certificates.

Solution: Bring higher education to those who are mass incarcerated.

While there are a few opportunities for incarcerated individuals to obtain limited education: vocational courses, trade certificates, associates degrees, licensures, etc., I doubt this is enough to make them viable candidates at succeeding at life once let out.

Provide incarcerated individuals with necessary life tools: education on mental health, finance skills, job skills, etc.

Design question:

How to teach the mass incarcerated? Implement programs to pursue higher education in prison.

Education provides more opportunities.

Constraints:

Also consider the quality of education that would be available to those incarcerated. Like I’d rather not have it if it’s not good. Is it possible for colleges and universities to partner with local or state prisons?

Lack of funding limits the resources available to those who are incarcerated. I wonder if there is a way to bring higher education opportunities to those who are incarcerated and if so, to what capacity. I want those who are incarcerated to have a better outlook on life and

empower those who are marginalized and forgotten by giving them a chance to receive education.

Impact:

Not just preparing students for jobs but teaching them to think creatively and convert smart ideas into tools and services that benefit a wide range of communities. —> is it possible to do the same with those who are incarcerated? HOW?

Skills & deep thinking

Less of an avenue towards employment and more as a life long commitment to personal growth and inquiry. —> do the same for incarcerated

Thinking of how to improve society rather than one own’s life in regards to education.

References:

The 13th

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/26/america-has-locked-up-so-many-black-people-it-has-warped-our-sense-of-reality/

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/10/is-entrepreneurialism-at-odds-with-deep-thinking/503825/?utm_content=bufferb0db9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/10/20/higher-education-should-be-a-public-good-not-a-private-commodity/?postshare=221477185207253&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.1a884eb4a227

http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jcshesa

What is the problem you’re trying to solve?

Lack of accessible, well made continuing education resources for adults who need to re-skill.

 

1) Take a stab at framing it as a design question.

How can we improve continuing education for adults, particularly in the US?

 

2) Now, state the ultimate impact you’re trying to have.

We want adults to be able to re-train to stay employable in a world where the job market will be changing very quickly, even more quickly than it is changing now.

 

3) What are some possible solutions to your problem?

Currently: community college, online learning, master’s degree programs

 

Future: VR learning, adapting flexibility of current MOOC style to better online experiences, AI coaches to help with direction and motivation, high-quality content that can be delivered by a non-expert (ie, something that teaches the teacher too, creates more teachers), change how HR assesses possible new hires, get industry more involved in choosing continuing education topics

 

4) Finally, write down some of the context and constraints that you’re facing.

Learners might not have the learning skills to teach themselves new skills.

Learners might not have access to the technologies that best allow re-skilling.

Learners might not have access to the infrastructure to use the tools (ie broadband internet).

Lack of quality teachers to create curriculum.

 

5) Does your original question need a tweak? Try it again.

How can we help learners assess their own skills when they are looking to enter a new industry?

How can we create quality, low cost material to help students learn new job skills?

How can we make sure that continuing education resources are available to as many people as possible?

How can we give as many students as possible access to great teachers?

How can we help teachers reach more students?

How do we assess what skills will be most valuable in the job market?

 

Solution Brainstorming:

Nothing to say about the UX sketching articles—it’s something I think everyone at ITP has done at this point (or at least I hope so!). I was surprised by the fact that there’s a website usability.gov, and it looks the way it does…

I found the assertions in the Science Daily article interesting. Fully agree that “we have to focus learning to a greater degree now, rather than jumping from one trend to another.” At this point, I’ve learned the basics of design and design-thinking in almost every class at ITP (something like 7 times), but never gotten to a deeper level. It’s frustrating, and part of my issue with the curricular model here. I disagreed with the implication that we must double-down on things like “how to write code or be a doctor, or any of the things that require time and effort.” I doubt those two jobs will exist in the future. Plenty of coding is on its way to becoming obsolete. Robot surgeons are already becoming more accurate and safe than human surgeons. I think it’s the creative and strategic and caring jobs that will be the future. We need to develop our muscles to innovate/imagine and collaborate/care, not just invest in the things that require “time and effort.” Because if time and effort (computational power) is all that’s required, then machines have us licked! This is my premise for my 2nd design challenge.

I decided to explore two territories, pending feedback from Greg et al. I’m leaning toward the second direction—having some interest in how tactics for long-term behavior modification might affect long-term learning.

Design Challenge 1: Applied Learning

Design Challenge 2: Creative, Strategic Thinkers

For this assignment, I made a quick video showing how to make a smoothie. I chose not to include audio. I created two surveys on Google Forms to evaluate the effectiveness of my video as a teaching tool.