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Client Anandi Negarajan, New York University. NYC Department of Education (hypothetical)
My Role Instructional Designer, UX Researcher
Project Time February - May 2024
Overview
Heart to Heart seeks to address the need for middle and high school students in NYC to improve their conflict navigation and communication skills among peers. Building on our commitment to fostering healthy and impactful peer interactions, our team developed a comprehensive learning experience focused on self-advocacy, active listening, and empathy. Through interactive workshops and a supplementary online platform, students will learn to be assertive, be empathetic to others, and handle conflicts.
Target Audience
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NYC middle and high school students (11-18 years old)
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Students in educational institutions who seek knowledge and guidance for their personal and emotional development.
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Students who struggle to effectively communicate with their peers may create an academic environment that is disadvantageous for other students.
My Role
As a research lead in our instructional design team, I focused on clarifying on learning goals and objectives, conducting needs, learner, and content analysis to further inform the design decisions and iterations.
Team
Design Process
I began the design process with research and analysis. With
the help of AI, I had interview and survey responses generated
that reflect the perspectives of parents, teachers, and students
from our target demographics. This approach allowed me to
gain initial insights, shaping the learning goals and objectives.
Building on these foundations, I brainstormed several early
design solutions. Through iteration and by grounding my decisions in established learning theories and strategies, I developed the final solution: a hybrid afterschool program led by a professional. While implementation was saved for a future endeavor, an evaluation plan was made, consisting of observations and conversations with students to assess how they think of and handle conflict resolution.
Research and Analysis
Needs Analysis
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Through affinity mapping using interview and survey data, I identified competency gaps in categories of Active Listening, Empathy, and Self-Advocacy. While there was an awareness of the importance of conflict resolution, there was a lack of exposure and resources on the topic, which affected the ability and confidence to navigate conflict.
Learner Analysis
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Peer mediation was a crucial skill that students are already exercising with some degree of success. The biggest issues arose when the conflict happened online or when there was no in-person mediation.
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Social media and online communication impact students' thoughts and decisions, which may be inhibiting students' grounded reflection in safe spaces.
Content Analysis
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Utilizing the American Management Association's "Five Steps to Conflict Resolution," I identified which steps required the skills of Empathy, Self-Advocacy, and Active Listening.
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From this analysis, I decided to focus on students learning effective conflict resolution tactics such as regulating their emotions (empathy), active listening, and methods for resolving issues (self-advocacy).
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Once students have had some time to consider these methods, they will brainstorm and evaluate alternative solutions to resolve conflicts collaboratively and creatively, practicing for a real situation.
Learning Goal
Middle/high school students will develop the skills and strategies necessary to effectively manage conflicts and resolve interpersonal disagreements in constructive ways.
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Objective 1: Students will perform effective conflict resolution tactics such as regulating their emotions, active listening, and methods for resolving issues.
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Objective 2: Students will brainstorm and evaluate alternative solutions to resolve conflicts collaboratively and creatively.
Early Ideation
In-person 4-week Course
A professional who specializes in addressing the unique needs of teens will bring relevant experience as well as a level of understanding that will help guide students through this critical developmental stage. This course would primarily focus on providing students with practice to role play and experiment with various conflict resolution techniques. Practicing with other students will also provide the opportunity to engage in peer feedback and discussion.
Guidance Counselor Check-ins
Students will meet with their Guidance Counselor to participate in a semi-self-guided workbook. This will require students to work through a chapter a week and then meet with their guidance counselor to review and reflect on their progress. Each chapter will begin with prompting the student to write about any existing information or opinions they may have on the topic. After reviewing key information, students will reflect on experiential questions, looking into how these characteristics can be brought into their lives, as well as identifying their own strengths and weaknesses.
School-wide Assembly
The school counselor or specialized speakers will lead school-wide assemblies focusing on communication and conflict resolution skills. These assemblies will comprise three parts: an introduction to key tools, volunteer-led role plays, and group reflection. During the introduction, multimedia presentations will illustrate essential concepts through slides, videos, and audio, setting the stage for understanding effective conflict resolution strategies. Student volunteers will then demonstrate these strategies in action. Finally, students will participate in group discussions, sharing insights and personal experiences related to conflict resolution. This will promote peer learning and empathy within the school community.
Final Design Solution
Our design solution is a hybrid afterschool program that allows students to work closely with a professional. After reviewing early ideas, I decided that students working on conflict resolution skills would benefit from working with a professional who specializes in addressing the unique needs of teens. In-person interaction will provide opportunities for deeper connections while also fostering a supportive learning environment. A hybrid option will not only accommodate diverse learning styles, but also allow students who may not be able to attend in-person the option to participate remotely.
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8 hybrid hour-long sessions:
Friday 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am-12:00 pm
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Media and Technology
Video
I will use videos to depict real-life scenarios that students can analyze using activities like Think-Pair-Share.
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The affordances:​
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Active Engagement
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Self-Paced Learning
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Flexibility
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Text
Students who participate in the course will be encouraged to document their feelings and concerns through journal activities at the end of each session.
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The affordances:
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Self-awareness
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Data Analysis and Synthesis
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Personal Reflection​
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Social Media
Social media platforms are a useful tool, as they can also be used to facilitate discussions and collaboration among students.
The affordances of using social media platforms are:
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Digital Story Telling
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Content Creation
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Collaborative Information Discovery
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Private Social Media Groups​​​​​​​​​
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Logic Model
The logic model highlights design rationales by connecting the inputs, activities, outcomes, and long-term impacts of the learning.
​Materials
Presentations were created in Google Slides and provided for the educator leading the courses. Several interactive activities are included in the sessions.
After each week's courses, a reflective journal entry is assigned to the students.
