Designing for the student
Who am I designing for? I think I’ve been struggling with this because I’ve been coming at this from an educator solution perspective. Is this educator a classroom teacher? A STEM coordinator? A makerspace manager? A Girl Scout group leader? The answer is maybe all, or maybe none. A classroom teacher is going to be hemmed in by curriculum requirements and lack of class time and resources. The STEM coordinator or makerspace manager may present directly to students but may just work with teachers. The extracurricular group leaders feel like they are working the closest to where I want to be, but they are also usually not trained as educators.
Fall Quarter Reflection
When I started the quarter, I was new to the learning sciences, new to edtech, and new to being a student (again). To keep my reasons for being here front and center, I set up these goals for myself at the top of my Notion dashboard for the LDT program:
🌟 to gain an understanding of learning sciences and the edtech landscape
🌟 to build design skills and practice their application to learning tools
🌟 to develop learning tools that help create student-led learning experiences
Gathering Insights
We know that well-designed hands-on learning experiences are valuable for students and lead to deeper understanding, but they are also time-consuming and difficult for educators to implement. How can we create tools for students and/or teachers to help facilitate experiences which offer deep learning in multiple areas? What are ways we can more effectively develop future-looking skills and help prepare students for a world which is changing rapidly?