need-finding in online learning.
A solo design research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology. My aim is to use human-centered design methods to find the desires, needs, and frustrations of students within an online-learning environment and provide recommendations for design solutions.
Role: Design Researcher. Duration: 12 weeks. Team: Solo. Advisor: Shawn Harris.
project focus
This project seeks to define the major components of a successful learning community and provide suggestions to how the online course can better provide the benefits of in-person community learning while still maintaining the standards of a MOOC (massive open online course).
project prelude
To give some context to this project, I became a Teaching Assistant for CS 1301 in the summer of 2020 and in the following year, I had several opportunities where I was exposed to and allowed to exercise design research strategies.
In order to gain more expertise and guidance in design research, I decided to take on this project.
design scope
my objectives
Analyzing observations to discover insights that may inform the development of new human-centered product or
service offerings that could be integrated into future virtual-learning settings.
Assessing the application of human-centered design methodologies, ethnographic-needfinding, and design research
techniques in a real-world setting.
Exploring the potential utility design-thinking can provide when applied in a non-commercial/ educational space.
initial research interest
I chose to work within the online section of CS 1301, because of my familiarity with the course and my relationship with the professor as a teaching assistant. In addition, I took the in-person version of CS 1301 myself as a freshman, and once I became a TA for the online section, I thought that there were some benefits that the online version did not offer as well.
My goal was discover insights that may inform the development of new human-centered service offerings that could be integrated into future courses.
background
There is both an in-person and online version of CS 1301. The online version of CS 1301 takes a distributed learning approach within a MOOC (massive open online course) structure. It aims to touch on the benefits of in-person learning with asynchronous and remote structure.
The class serves mainly first time GT students and first time programmers as well. However, there is a subset of more experienced students who take this course to work at a quicker pace.
literature review: initial data
To gather initial data for this project, I read an overview of design research methods and how design plays into learning. I also read The Distributed Classroom co-written by Dr. David Joyner to learn more about the current structure of CS 1301, and visited the pre-course survey taken by current online 1301 students about their initial motivations and thoughts about the course.
mindmap
With this initial data in mind, I began to mind map, and came up with three common ideas.
KWH framework
Using this card-sorting framework, I identified what I knew, what questions I had, and how should I proceed.
elements of a learning community
From my thoughts on mind-mapping and card sorting, I found three prominent themes of learning: collaboration/relationship building, attendance, use of course resources.
literature review: learning communities
The next step in my process was to conduct a more specified literature review, looking at articles which helped me further define each theme. The bolded words are key words I used to search up credible articles.
After a vetting process, I selected 10 to read in depth.
card sorting
I used card sorting methods in order to sort and analyze information from my literature analysis.
element themes
After much reading, I realized there were major themes within each category.
Articles about attendance also talked about class policy and correlation to success.
Articles regarding collaboration also talked about personal, academic growth as well as course satisfaction.
Articles regarding use of course resources talked about the difference in student learning styles and the difficulties of online learning.
element refinement
After card sorting, I was able to refine the original elements to better convey their role in the overall learning community.
ATTENDANCE ⮕ ATTENDANCE IN SYNCHRONOUS RESOURCES
COLLABORATION/RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
USE OF COURSE RESOURCES ⮕ SUPPORT FOR DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES
sense of learning community
All of these three elements are necessary to create a sense of learning community.
logic model iteration
I began to relationship map in order to see how exactly these three elements related to one another and contributed to an overall sense of community.
final logic model
This logic model shows the relationship between the three previously defined elements and how they create a sense of learning community.
survey
I constructed and sent a survey to current CS 1301 students in the online section.
It received 89 responses. There were both qualitative and quantitative questions which revolved around student’s perceptions of attendance, motivations, collaboration, peer interaction, and inPerson/Remote Learning.
survey insights
For synchronous resources, students would attend more if considerations were given to scheduling, personalization of material, and reminders.
Students utilize friends and peers (even outside of class) to work through problems
Mainly positive feeling about collaboration from a social as well as learning standpoint
There is self-led communication between students within the class
Students enjoy the convenience of remote classes but miss interactions of
in-person
“I attended once, and I felt that it wouldn’t help me as much as practicing on my own so I choose not to attend them.”
“I ask help from other friends who code”
“Meeting new people and seeing how other people solve coding problems can give insight into new ways of thinking”
“I stay connected through GroupMe, text, and in-person communication”
“I enjoy how easy it is to just log on and attend class, [but miss] face to face interactions”
personas
In order to validate my insights from the previous logic model, I identified three relevant personas to interview. I was able to interview 3 in each category from a wide variety of demographics.
interview guide
In order to ensure that I would receive relevant, consistent data from my conducted interviews, I wrote an interview guide based on points from my previous logic model.
current learning community
Based on interview data, in the online section of CS 1301, only 2 out of 3 elements exist: relationships building, and support for different learning styles.
As a result, there is no sense of learning community as previously described.
key insights
The interviews helped confirm my insights from the original logic model and led me to three key insights.
imperative statement
A good solution should support the development of a learning community, facilitating optional opportunities for student-to-student interaction and personalizing course resources to students’ needs.
opportunities
Based on research, I was able to identify three actionable opportunities that tied directly to the three discussed elements and would help move CS 1301 toward creating a sense of learning community.
feedback
I was able to present my work to a panel of Georgia Tech faculty. Those present included Dr. David Joyner, Noah Posner, Shawn Harris, and Wayne Li.
This project received immensely positive feedback, and I was encouraged to pursue this work further over the following semesters.
In addition, I was nominated with this project to present at Launchpad, which is Georgia Tech's College of Design's talent showcase.
acknowledgements
I would like to thank Shawn Harris for his time during this independent study. He was able to offer me invaluable advice and guidance as I worked through this project, and these results would not have been possible without his help.
I would also like to thank Dr. David Joyner, my professor under which I TA for. It was with his help that I was able to effectively engage with students under the premise of extra-credit activities and optional interviews.