OVERVIEWSmart Spaces for Making
For over a year, I have been a part of the Learning Media Design Center in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, where I worked under Principle Investigators Marti Louw and Daragh Byrne for their NSF Project: Smart Spaces for Making.
At the end of this research experience, my team published a paper entitled 'Probing Documentation Practices: Reflecting on Students' Conceptions, Values, and Experiences with Documentation in Creative Inquiry. This was an accepted pictorial for the 2021 Creativity and Cognition Conference!
Read the pictorial here!
MY ROLEResearch Lead
I lead the research study by defining and organizing the protocols and activities, which focused on the practice of documentation as something that plays a critical role in scaffolding reflective learning in the context of informal, makerspace education.
RESULT
Published & Accepted Pictorial ✨
Here's a snippet out of pictorial. Written, designed, and conceptualized in collaboration with my team, we organized the pages by the probes that the research study was focused on.
RESULT
Published & Accepted Pictorial ✨
Here's a snippet out of pictorial. Written, designed, and conceptualized in collaboration with my team, we organized the pages by the probes that the research study was focused on.
APPROACH
The Research Framework
Since our research was quite open-ended and exploratory, we worked around this framework approach to ground our methods and focus. We focused on Design embodiment and Mediated Learning Processes as a way to look for implications of embedding design + technology for future product and research development.
APPROACH
The Research Framework
Since our research was quite open-ended and exploratory, we worked around this framework approach to ground our methods and focus. We focused on Design embodiment and Mediated Learning Processes as a way to look for implications of embedding design + technology for future product and research development.
METHOD
Probing as a Research Tool
When thinking about the problem context of how we could better understand the ways students are navigating through their documentation practices in remote settings, we wanted to find a way to richly open up the conversation through participatory ways of making.
From this, we decided on the method of probes, which are usually designed to be given as a package or kit with evocative, open-ended tasks. We wanted collect data that provide our team with a heightened sensitivity and deeper account of the design situation.
METHOD
Probing as a Research Tool
When thinking about the problem context of how we could better understand the ways students are navigating through their documentation practices in remote settings, we wanted to find a way to richly open up the conversation through participatory ways of making.
From this, we decided on the method of probes, which are usually designed to be given as a package or kit with evocative, open-ended tasks. We wanted collect data that provide our team with a heightened sensitivity and deeper account of the design situation.
This was initially tested with 6 students with varying backgrounds over the summer as seen above, and their feedback allowed the probes to be revised and improved for a formal study to be conducted during the semester.
This was initially tested with 6 students with varying backgrounds over the summer as seen above, and their feedback allowed the probes to be revised and improved for a formal study to be conducted during the semester.
Here are the different probe activity instructions along with the worksheets that were provided. Although the instruction text is a little heavy, each participant had the opportunity to freely explore and work on the probes in whatever format and direction they felt comfortable in.
Here are the different probe activity instructions along with the worksheets that were provided. Although the instruction text is a little heavy, each participant had the opportunity to freely explore and work on the probes in whatever format and direction they felt comfortable in.
After conducting the full study, here is an overview of the results of 15 students from interdisciplinary, creative backgrounds at Carnegie Mellon University. Below are close-up of some activity results for each of the different probes that were given to the students.
After conducting the full study, here is an overview of the results of 15 students from interdisciplinary, creative backgrounds at Carnegie Mellon University. Below are close-up of some activity results for each of the different probes that were given to the students.
Reflection
Currently, these kits are being used in a research study with a few students in the Self-Directed Learning curriculum. We have a protocol set up that will allow us to observe and analyze how the students are interacting and engaging with the various components of the kit, and ultimately if it is helping aid the learning and skill-building process in the long run.
As for additional next steps, we are focusing on getting feedback for improving the kit for future iterations as well as packaging everything to be handed off to the next group of people who will be developing this project further!