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Digitally Enabling Social-Emotional Learning Experiences
I conducted UX research and developed digital solutions to streamline booking coordination for The Big Issue workshops. Additionally, I designed a mobile app tailored for high school students, engaging them in scavenger hunt challenges that promote empathy and awareness of the homeless community.
Client
My Role
duration
The Big Issue is renowned for its street magazine, sold by vendors facing homelessness and disadvantage, offering them a way to earn income and regain independence.
The Big City Search is a supplementary activity to their workshops for secondary schools across Sydney and Melbourne. Through a scavenger hunt format, students face challenges related to homelessness, fostering empathy and a deeper understanding of the struggles experienced by marginalised communities as they navigate the city.
Diversification was required to sustain support and work opportunities for The Big Issue's stakeholders. They aimed to leverage other initiatives such as The Big City Search to help close this gap.
Would digitising The Big City Search enhance participants' experiences and drive broader adoption, leading to more bookings and increased revenue?
Competitive Advantage
The Big Issue stands alone in offering an empathy-building scavenger hunt, with no competitors providing a digital experience—an opportunity to lead in this space.
Teachers Are Time Poor
They are juggling various challenges with students such as behavioral issues, diverse learning styles, mental health, classroom engagement, and extracurricular coordination.
Student engagement and buy-in is an ongoing challenge
Students seek learning incentives, prompting teachers to prioritise game-based learning to boost engagement and meaningful experiences.
Digital & paper-based learning are both equally effective
Teachers balance the benefits and drawbacks of digital tools, weighing visual engagement against distractions. Most favour a combination of both methods.
Documentation hindering teacher-led excursions
Excessive paperwork and stringent risk assessments deter teachers from organising excursions, leading many to forgo them altogether.
The High School Teacher
Wants: an online platform
So that: they can easily plan and coordinate an excursion activity that is safe for their students
The High School Student
Wants: an activity/experience
So that: they can feel incentivised to learn and build empathy in an engaging way
The Administrator at The Big Issue
Wants: a centralised platform
So that: they can streamline and reduce manual work around admin processes and tasks
The Lived Experience Speaker at The Big Issue
Wants: a platform
So that: they can manage their scheduling and prepare for workshops
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Conduct further research:
Interview and survey a larger sample of past participants from The Big City Search, and conduct contextual research on excursion planning processes.
Review with stakeholders: Secure buy-in and alignment with organisational goals and objectives before advancing to further exploration of potential solutions.
User testing: Consult with designers, developers/engineers to assess feasibiilty (costs, risks, timelines) before investing in prototyping a digital solution for usability testing.
Recruit a larger sample size with past participants of The Big City Search to diversify insights around the experience.
Further refine questions in user interviews and surveys to enrich research and uncover further insights.
Explore other tools/techniques for data analysis and synthesis to potentially uncover other patterns or themes.