Ian H., Nefertiti M., and Ynez O.
PROTOTYPE DEMO / WALKTHROUGH
We generated many ideas to take what we have learned at FoL and design it into our educational
environment. We decided to develop an app for assessing students’ GLOBAL COMPETENCE.
We define GLOBAL COMPETENCE as “the skills, attitudes, dispositions, and sensitivity to engage with
people from other countries and cultures in a way that contributes to building successful relationships
and understanding.”
The app will enable students to self-assess their respective levels of global competence so that they may
identify areas for improvement and continue to develop the critical skills and attitudes needed to “see
the world through a ‘we’ lens instead of a ‘me’ lens.”
These are the six domains in which the app will enable students to self-assess their respective
competence:
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World languages
Global attitudes and dispositions
Knowledge and comprehension of culture
Inter- and intra-personal skills
Understanding my role in sustainable development
Empathy
We asked ourselves, “What would a low level of skill or competence in each of these domains actually
look like? Sound like? How can we help students to assess their respective levels of competence in
each of these domains; to establish targets for personal growth; and to identify means to improve their
respective levels of competence in each of these domains?”
After a student (or teacher or mentor) logs into the app….
…. a new web page displays the six aforementioned domains in which the app will enable students to
self-assess their respective competence. Each color in our prototype represents a different domain of
global competence. (See image of prototype below.)
Clicking on the link for a particular domain generates a self-assessment in the format of “I can…”
statements. A student’s global competency rating in each of the domains is based on classroom,
extracurricular, and community activities and projects designed by a teacher or mentor. All skills,
characteristics, and attributes are observable and can be validated. The list of “I can…” statements for
each domain ranges hierarchically from novice/low to advanced/high levels. The student assesses
himself/herself in each of the domains by clicking on one of the “I can…” assessment statements for
each skill, characteristic, or attribute.
As a student clicks on his/her self-assessed level of competency for each skill, characteristic, or attribute,
the corresponding value is plotted on the student’s Global Competency Profile (the supercool, multicolored wheel, below). As the student’s competence in each domain increases over successive
assessments, the circular profile expands outward to show the student’s growth and development over
time.
PROCESS REFLECTION
After brainstorming and scribbling notes on a pad of paper, we began the design process by sketching a
format for the Global Competence Profile screen in a circular, rather than a linear or rectangular form, in
order to represent the multidimensional nature of global competence and the way in which a student’s
perspective might expand outward from a "me" view to a broader "we" view of our complex world.
The learner is at the hub of a six-spoked wheel. Each spoke represents the scale (from novice/low to
advanced/high) of skills, characteristics, or attributes on each of the six domains of global competence
we selected. We discussed how the Profile would have lines that connect the skill ratings.
When we were encouraged to “start building,” we ended up spending too much time making a 3-D
representation of the aforementioned sketch, rather than thinking about the overall process of how the
app would work. This caused us increasing stress on Thursday night as the deadline for presenting our
work to others approached rapidly, and we had little tangible evidence to show for our hours of
brainstorming. This too was a lesson in design.
On Friday, we “let go” a bit, and focused more on completing an imperfect prototype within the time
restrictions that we faced rather than strive for perfection. In the end we were relieved and satisfied to
have been able to present a prototype that represented, at least in general terms, what our vision had
been from the start. Of course we believe that with further iterations, we would be able to flesh out the
details of our original vision to a much greater degree; then again, we understand that this is the very
nature of charrette design work, the work of “imperfect prototyping.” Better something – even if
imperfect – rather than nothing.