QUaker valley high school DOCUMENTATION kit

A  poster kit to support and structure Pittsburgh's Quaker Valley High School's Self-Directed Learning curriculum. Students use the poster to review, document and share their skill-building progress. Funded by the National Science Foundation, as part of the Smart Spaces for Making research project.

Deployed in Quaker Valley for Spring 2021, we hope to learn how this augmented learning tool impacts student's skill development and documentation of it.

Role: Project Lead & Lead Designer
Time Frame —
Jan 2021
Skills —
Interaction Design
Print Design
Design Systems
Advisors —
Marti Louw
Daragh Byrne
QV Faculty
poster kit
The poster kit intends to help students document their progress in order to review their successes and therefore, stay motivated throughout their SDL experience.

Students log their evidence by tacking evidence stickers to the front of their micro-credential (QV-specified skill) cards. The arrangement of cards on their poster is unique and reflective of their individual experiences and chosen skills.
HOW IT WORKS
The poster kit has a mix of tactile and digital components so students can quickly upload evidence to their online database, then log this addition onto their poster.
context
SDL EXPERIENCE
Quaker Valley High School's Self-Directed Learning Experience is a project-based course that intends to help students foster skill development in areas of their personal interests through direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. At the end of the semester, students present their project and skill development in a school-wide press conference.
PROBLEM FRAMING
In the past, students have had trouble maintaining a (required) inventory of evidence that proves their skill development at the end-of-the-semester press conference.
How might we offer students a concrete way to see their progress, remember their successes, and therefore stay motivated?
PROCESS
INSPIRATION
The original motif of the Micro-Credentials is a series of hexagons arranged together to form a greater whole. This design suggests that an interconnection exists between all the skills of an individual. With this in mind, I looked into tessellations for inspiration.
ITERATIONS
In my design process, I explored various color palettes and shapes. My goal was a flexible combination that gave students a degree of customization in the card's visual arrangement.
ASSEMBLY
We printed, assembled, and packaged for 100 students.