COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING

Using the Design Thinking process my team and I was able to research and build our application upgrades by utilizing the Agile process by working on each phase of the project through a series of sprints. We started by outlining the deliverables needed in each phase of the design thinking process, then created a Gantt chart to schedule and map out the entire semester. Setting the start and deadline dates for each sprint. At the end of every sprint, each team member presents a report about their role and findings.

OverView

Every student's academic year is predetermined in traditional education. As a result, regardless of whether they comprehend the subject matter completely or have mastered the requisite abilities, every student is required to continue after each unit. Competency-based education, on the other hand, is adaptable to the students and where they are in the learning process. This implies that each student receives the assistance they require to advance and master the topic and innate skills. Students advance according to where they are and what they are capable of, not according to their semester grades.

Traditional learning objectives in the IST college place an emphasis on memorizing and understanding in order to pass exams. The focus of competency-based learning is on proving in-depth understanding through application. This calls for learning objectives to be put into practice and a focus on developing in students the skills necessary to become better learners as adults. Due to this approach, we made the decision to create a program that aids in resolving learning and retention issues within the college.

phase 1- Empathize

STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

We began this project by interviewing our stakeholders; each team member was expected to speak with six individuals from the College of IST. This technique is comprehensive and quantitative, providing a thorough understanding of people. An interview is not a discussion; instead, users can elaborate on their own ideas and perspectives by using open-ended questions.

GOALS:

• Our top goals are to investigate our stakeholders' understanding, experiences, and opinions of competency-based learning.

• We also want to find out how to assess, create, and communicate competencies in a curriculum. With the information, we obtain from our interviews,

• We can understand the feasibility, viability, desirability, and accessibility of competency-based learning curricula.

For each stakeholder we typically meet, we first created an interview guide that was specifically tailored to their professional background and expertise. We were able to compile and analyze their comments and ideas on the introduction of a new system to support students' academic experiences at the college from the interviews we each conducted.

Results:

Frustrations with the current situation.

• Students believe they do not have an informative direction about courses within their major. They already know what they must take for each semester and the course descriptions. However, they lack objective knowledge of what must have to be successful in such a course.

• Want a clear timeline of skills they will obtain during their journey through the semester?

• Students want to know how these skills will help them get a job and whether these skills are in demand in the tech industry.

• Grades are based on exams and quizzes, rather than letting them showcase their understanding and knowledge of the course material.

Motivations to change the current situation.

• Understand what core skills must be obtained by the end of a certain course.

• Obtaining these core skills to prepare for future jobs and career paths.

• Understand what students' current skill level is and what measures can be taken to improve them.

• Improve the quality of education and the learning environment for students.

• Grading academic reports based on students' competency-based learning, not just by exams or quizzes but by students demonstrating what knowledge and skills they have learned during their course journey.

• Reduces student stress and anxiety about acquiring a specific grade, while focusing on teaching them a specific skillset in the course.

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

By utilizing a stakeholder analysis, we were able to determine how the new system may affect each potential user and how their input might change the way things were developed in light of their needs.

User Personas

As part of our user experience design process, we develop user personas. They aid in our comprehension of the requirements and preferences of a typical user, enabling us to create solutions and products that are more effective.

We made the choice to concentrate on developing a persona in this one that was based on an IST professor. Understanding how the system could impact academics is just as crucial as comprehending what demands professors have. Presenting memorable users from various professions, helps us make wise design decisions, this persona served as a mental anchor for my team and me.

phase 2- define

affinity diagram

After creating our personas, we made an affinity Diagram to showcase our understanding of the problem and categorizing them based on our research and interviews. Using Trello each team was able to contribute towards the diagram by adding what problems and concerns they gathered from their own research.

This design was crucial because it enabled us to organize the information and data we had about the issue. It enabled us to organize and map out the several ways we may use the features we develop to provide solutions for each category.

To further enhance our affinity graph, each of us created problem scenarios that users might face while using the system. A problem scenario will illustrate potential technological advancements that will enable users to accomplish their goals. A scenario will also allow us to combine a thoroughly studied description of a specific set of current operations with creative observations of how technology can support these activities more effectively in the future.

Our scenario's objective is to present a clear, tangible idea of how technology may help a particular human activity. Based on data we empathized with; we define who the target users are and the situations in which they use technology.

competitive analysis

In addition to the problem scenario, we included a competitive analysis to make comparisons with other competitors. It helped us further define and scoop the problem while evaluating how other universities and programs utilize competitive-based learning in their curriculum.

This analysis' conclusion was crucial since it provided our team with fresh perspectives on how each competitor designs their platform to enhance the user experience during competency-based learning.

phase 3- ideate

user specifications

My team and I were able to produce a report that details the capabilities offered by the system using a USDA Use Case Specification template. It records actor–system interaction. This means that it outlines how a user engages with a system and how the system reacts to the user's activities.

Task Analaysis

Based on the use case specifications, we could generate eight potential use cases for our task analysis. Task analysis was extremely helpful in helping us identify which features and resources were necessary for the process. We create a diagram that bridges the relationship between student and professor use cases.

We evaluated the functionality of the system and the solution we developed to address the problem, using a cognitive demands table. This table can help us identify potential difficulties and errors that may occur when performing a task. The task analysis and cognitive maps were instrumental in designing the next phase of the design process.

High-fidelity prototype

My team and I designed our use cases for the present educational system using Figma by providing new capabilities to our stakeholders. We had to establish a connection between the faculty members' and students' perspectives on Canvas and LionPath, which required a significant amount of creativity and brainstorming.

My responsibility throughout this step was to create an overview of how students and educators may see the final individual and class performance of the competence report. My solution to this change was to provide students and professors with a readable report that features four interactive graphs, including the percentage of students who completed the course, a web graph, performance levels, a calendar, and the success rate, as well as an option for the user to export the report in much more detail.

phase 5- testing

We were able to identify a number of areas that need improvement after this exercise.

Design changes for Progress Tracker:

• Possibly change where the progress tracker is located in Canvas since students had trouble finding it

• For percentage bars on the improvement page, add additional information such as what assignments need to be improved, adding labeling on the percentage bars such as the thresholds.

• For percentage bars on the mastered page, add additional labeling such as the threshold for the level of a mastered competency.

Competency Report:

• Add a button to export all competencies as having the options for format be implemented.

• The competency results should also have a download virtual certificate as well. The reminder for students and professors about the option to create or complete competency.

• Add a shortcut to access the competency report faster for students on the home page. Making the class on the calendar clickable directly connects students to their course competency report for that semester.

guide-cognitive walkthrough

Utilizing Maze, my team and I were also able to conduct a guided cognitive walk through with our end users. To recruit the students for our study we plan to ask classmates in-person or through online communication if they are willing to conduct this guided cognitive walkthrough. We gave them an estimated length of time for the study to take place, and then we set up a time to meet with them. We intended to email the academics to ask for their availability and willingness to take part in our study. Like, the unmoderated test we made a sequence of step for the reviewer to ask the user.

Our team was able to assess the new system's learnability, accessibility, and retention through the use of a guided cognitive walkthrough. This was important because it allowed us to see how users engaged with the platform they were already familiar with and how the new features integrated with their cognitive processes.

feedback capture grid

Following the unmoderated test and guided cognitive tour, we gathered user feedback about their impressions of the new features. We developed a feedback capture grid to organize and evaluate the problems and enhancements we had to make by writing and recording these features.

The grid not only helped us identify the challenges the users faced but also what features they loved, what elements or segments don't make sense, and most crucially, the issues or problems they confront.

Conclusion

We made various enhancements renders with our use cases and integrated small system adjustments. Unfortunately, my team and I were unable to undertake more testing because of time restrictions. We presented our concept to our classmates at the completion of the sprint, and they gave us very positive comments and critics, indicating that they appreciated the new system.

Lessons

Overall, working on this project was educational. My abilities as a designer were enhanced, I was able to take on the new task of creating inside an existing system by working within given parameters, and I also developed a newfound respect for excellent collaboration and teamwork.