Unlock & Grow
A learning experience to encourage people to become active advocates of diversity and inclusion (D&I)
Team
Archana Ramakrishnan, Chantal Feitosa-Desouza, Brianna Baker
My Role
UX + Learning Experience Design
Visuals & signage
I designed signage to create a natural, conversational and self-guided user flow
Learning models
I structured the experience using learning theories and key takeaways from research about diversity
Interaction design
Designed intuitive interactions based on existing mental models of a user's real world setting
Problem Space
Lack of awareness of D&I concepts
Higher education spaces allow students to encounter peers from walks of life that differ drastically from their own. While such environments can create abundant learning opportunities and exchanges, the overlap of identities and ideologies within a singular, contained space can lead to misunderstandings and even harmful friction. This is often due to a lack of awareness of diversity and inclusion concepts in real life situations.
Opportunity Area
How might we use reflection as a tool for empathy and self growth?
Topics of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are important to be addressed in college because the self work that students do is a starting point of a ripple effect. Meaningful change starts from reflecting on and productively challenging our internalized beliefs. This leads to gradual interpersonal, institutional, structural and systemic impact.
Structural
Systemic
Interpersonal
Institutional
Goal
Build a learning experience to enable active participation
Immediate Goal
Willingness to participate and learn something new
By providing access to unbiased sources of information to develop an informed opinion
Short Term Goal
Gaining confidence to engage in difficult conversations with the right knowledge & mindset shift
Long Term Goal
Apply learnings to future experiences & decisions
Encourage people to turn their knowledge into actionable practices rather than passively nodding along
Solution Overview
A Walk-Through to Learn and Reflect
The solution is a colorful installation on campus, called Unlock and Grow, that college students will stop and interact with. It was designed to match the mental model of someone entering their home after a day of classes on any regular day. It leads learners through a self-guided trajectory of three primary stops:
Learning Theories
Scaffolding Content and Creating Safe Spaces
Psychological safety of learning by themselves or with someone they trust & discuss with.
Scaffolding the learning incline
Small nudges to provide a safe space to self-reflect and evaluate future steps positively challenge their beliefs.
Flow state of learning
Bite-size content to learn from to prevent learners being overwhelmed and disengaging
Scaffolding the learning incline
Solution Components
Walking Through Unlock & Grow
02
Learn about the topic
A brief definition of the subtopic is presented on the keychain. After setting context, learners see a reflection prompt in the keychain.
01
Unlock a theme of learning
Learners are asked to take a key. Each key will have a keychain labeled after a different diversity and inclusion subtopics.
03
Reflect on current knowledge
In the reflection prompt, learners are asked to write about a previous experience related to the topic. They are then prompted to pin it to the door to share with other learners and then walk through the door.
"Recall an emotion you felt after being unheard during a recent misunderstanding. Name on emotion or behavior that resulted from this emotion you experienced"
04
Learn something new
Walking through the door leads them to a "couch" like viewing station with a QR code that learners scan to unlock an informational video, article or some other online resource.
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"Pause here to unlock your growth opportunity by scanning below"
05
Actionable Reflection
Upon watching the video, learners are guided to a bulletin board, where they are asked to reflect on how they might apply what they learned from the video during their next conflict-based interaction. Learners post their responses to the board so future participants can learn from them.