In human-istic design, people are not just the objects you design for, they can also be subjects with a voice in your design process. In Educate! we consult our humans at several stages of the design process. When and how depends on the design project you are working on. Commonly we shape this participation carefully to ensure designers and the end-users get the most out of it. How do you set up the end-users for a successful contribution to your design process? Learn it here.
By Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company
Before you decide how and when to engage your end-users, it is important to identify who your end-users are. Designers normally deal with three categories of end-users; learners, facilitators and influencers. Whose voice do you need to integrate in your design process?
These are the people under-going the learning experience you design. These could be students, scholars, mentors, teachers, Program Officers, etc.
These are the people delivering the learning experience you design. These could be mentors, teachers, Program Officers, etc. In some cases you have two layers of facilitators, the trainers and the trainers of trainers.
Whether your design is going to be a success does not only depend on learners and facilitators. Therefore it is recommended to consider the influencers, these are people that affect the change you want to see. Think of head teachers, managers, district officials etc.
The mostly likely stages you would involve the end-users are during discover and strategy. At this point you usually have a blank slate that allows space for more input and insights from different end-users. However, it is also possible to test your first draft either through a prototype or pre-test. Ultimately, feedback from the end-users during and after implementation can always feed into the next design process.
Generating many creative ideas.
Organisation-wide brainstorms involve all departments in design sessions. For the Educate! Experience 3.0 in Uganda, different department representatives met to brainstorm possible peer-to-peer delivery models. During the meeting participants developed a story board, took on the persona of their best friend in O'level, brainstormed as many ideas as possible and worked in pairs to elaborate some of the ideas. The design team considered the contributions against general 3.0 design rules of thumb and selected the top idea.
Testing core design assumptions
In the Experience Week run in Uganda in 2014 teachers prototyped project based learning activities designed by them! Many of them used a role play to demonstrate what the learners would experience and others used poster presentations to highlight key features. After these presentations, other teachers would give feedback and provide suggestions.
Test design under real-life conditions.
In Rwanda, designers organize mock-days with the team to trial teacher training sessions. Based on the mock they receive feedback and make changes to the design where necessary.
Receive user-feedback on implemented designs
Curriculum review forms are given to a random sample of mentors every term. At the end of a LEC session, mentors share what is great about the lesson and what was challenging. During the review of the LEC, the designers analyze the feedback and come up with a way forward.
Take on parts of your design together with end-users
In Kenya, the team of Program Coordinators and Program Officers was involved in finalizing the mentor induction design. Together with the designer the team for example developed a concept note on how to assess portfolio activities, including sample activities, criteria, review processes and verification measures.
It is Internal Advisory Board time! Teachers, mentors, field and office staff have come to share experiences and give feedback on the program. As a designer you are given 45 minutes to engage this diverse audience in your current design project.
Submit your submission (not more than 1 a4 page) to designacademy@experienceeducate.org
The Ideo toolkit on human-centred design has a lot more resources on involving end-users in the design process. Acumen+ regularly offers online courses on this methodology too!