Virtual Human-Centered Design With Rural Communities

• In Event: Designing Educational Family Fun With and For Rural Communities Through Public Media Partnerships

Abstract

To promote informational text and social studies understanding, a convening public media station, five partner stations serving large rural populations, and curriculum, cultural, and science experts used HCD to customize educational resources to design resources for families in rural communities.

Partner stations and Alaska Native advisors first convened in Alaska to (1) build capacity of stations and Alaska Native advisors in the principles and practices of HCD by introducing them to the IDEO theoretical framework (IDEO, 2015) and (2) learn by doing with hands-on exercises for each of the phases of the HCD process.

The group then participated in the following activities:

Community Conversations. Public media station partners visited local families to understand their needs.

Virtual brainstorming. Gathering information from family conversations, the team brainstormed resources for informal family learning that would work in rural communities using a virtual whiteboard software, MURAL. The first virtual meeting focused on synthesizing the community conversations resulting in six emergent themes: family mealtime, family playtime, enjoying the outdoors, family values, resources, and taking care of each other. The second virtual meeting began the brainstorming process for the educational resources. Ultimately, station members came up with two prototypes to test with families: a family magazine and family games.

Design and Testing with Families. To understand which activity was more engaging for families, a magazine or a game, families in the five rural communities read and discussed the magazine, which included short articles about MOLLY OF DENALI and Alaska Native values, and played a card game based on the game “Go Fish.” After using the prototypes, families and team members from the stations provided feedback via structured rubrics. The findings were analyzed for family engagement, learning outcomes, and feasibility. While 25 families and five stations rated both activities as engaging, the family game prototype was selected to be developed further because it had more potential opportunities for repeat engagement.

Six prototype games were developed and we explored which games families enjoyed playing, and whether families perceived the games to be affording new opportunities for learning informational text and social studies concepts. Families provided feedback on the prototype games through rubrics. Responses from 27 families, as well as comments from the project partners, provided the basis for the design of the final set of materials: the MOLLY OF DENALI Family Game Club.

The Family Game Club, designed for families with children ages 5-8, contained a 12-page Game Club Guide and 16 games with instructions. The Guide described the four-week Game Club; the MOLLY OF DENALI show and characters; aspects of Alaska Native culture, values, and language; Alaska facts; the game list; and tips for game play. With a Games Checklist, families tracked how frequently they played the games, as well as how much they liked the games. The initiative reached 244 families across the five public broadcaster catchment areas. All stations recruited families with children in the target age range. Three stations held culminating events for families, which included games and activities and opportunities evaluative data collection.

Author

• Mollie Levin, WGBH Educational Foundation
  Presenting Author