LEKTOR

Project Details

The Challenge

My client for this school project was Vonk. VONK is an innovation center for innovators located in the heart of Rotterdam. They have passion for technology and hope to spark that passion in others.The design task led as follows: "How can we as the Rotterdam Region contribute to achieving one or more Sustainable Development Goals?".

The 'Sustainable Development Goals' (SDGs) are seventeen goals to make the world a better place by 2030. These goals have been set by countries that are affiliated with the United Nations. I chose to focus on the fourth goal; Quality education.

Obviously, I couldn't focus on all seventeen goals, so I chose the one that resonated with me the most. I concentrated on sub-goal 4.6: ensuring that by 2030, all young people and a substantial number of adults, both men and women, are literate and numerate. In 2020, when we were all in quarantine, we realized just how important the relationship between teachers and students, as well as the interactions among students themselves, is for their education. With this in mind, I formulated a design question, which is as follows: "How can the learning gap be reduced that the vulnerable VMBO students have incurred during the corona time period with the help of a multimedia product?".

Results

During the coronavirus pandemic, many high school students had fallen behind in their studies. Interviews revealed that the students fell behind due to inadequate contact between students and teachers. This problem eventually led to a loss of motivation. My goal was to reduce this learning deficit. By designing an administrative and communication system, promoting motivation, encouraging questioning, and keeping contact between teachers and students consistent, the learning deficit of students could be gradually reduced over time. The target audience was very happy and enthusiastic about this concept and design. Unfortunately, the schools that participated in this project did not implement this concept. However, all the students who participated in the interviews and design testing were very enthusiastic about this concept. The target audience was very happy and enthusiastic about this concept and design. Unfortunately, the schools that participated in this project did not implement this concept. However, all the students who participated in the interviews and design testing were very enthusiastic about this concept.

My Role

I carried out this assignment independently. This means that I conducted the deskresearch, field research, and design by myself. I focused on the field research, because I wanted to ensure that the students, the future users, were one hundred percent satisfied with the concept.

For this project, I did not have many opportunities to test, so I could not pay much attention to the design. If I had more time, that would have been my priority. As I mentioned before, I focused on the research. I would like to further develop myself in validating my concept. I also found out through this concept that I really enjoy focusing on research. I find it very interesting to listen to the stories of the target audience and based on that, come up with a concept.