As this was an individual project, it was a big challenge to strive for the learning goals I had set, but I believe that I have achieved my goals adequately. I chose this project because it matched most with the way I want to use design in my vision.
I have most definitely developed my understanding and skills in the involvement of users in a design process within a learning environment. By involving a student (aged 12) in a co-design session and user-testing three times in total during the project, I have had to read into co-design and co-creation tools and techniques, practice them and reflect on the process. I could further develop this by discussing my method with an expert first, and finding ways to make the whole process more reliable.
Dit vind ik één van de origineelste projecten wat ik vandaag gezien heb.
~ Carla Wiechers
Hoofdredacteur Binnenstebuiten at Blink Educatie
One element of feedback I received in the previous semester, was the lack of good sources in my final internship report. During this project I have received lectures about design and research processes, practiced this competency during a pressure cooker, and conducted research to ground my design choices. I believe that this, in combination with my assignment: Do, Reflect, Learn has led me to grow to a level of depth in this competency. I believe that this also encompasses my learning goal to develop my understanding, skills and critical attitude towards academic research.
Lastly, I developed my competency in self-directed and continuous learning far more than I initially planned for by expanding my knowledge on metacognition and reflection and designing methods to train these skills. This method of learning by understanding, designing and explaining is one that truly fits my identity. I see the added value of designing tools to help in the development of this competency in many contexts and for many users. It would be an interesting future step to design such a tool for myself as a designer.
The full project report can be found here