Get Choosy With Thinking Maps
I created this concept project to help teachers integrate thinking maps into their pedagogy and to enhance student writing.
Overview
Audience: Grade 3-12 Educators
Responsibilities: Instructional Design, eLearning Development, Action Mapping, Storyboarding, Visual Design, Prototyping
Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, MindMeister, Google Suite
The Problem
A southwest-based school district noticed that teachers, regardless of experience, were inadequately guiding their students towards quality writing.
Teachers were assigning writing prompts without providing the appropriate methods for students to easily approach the writing. Even the teachers who encouraged students to use thinking maps were unable to fully distinguish between the different types of thinking maps.
These proceedings have led students to misbehave, feel frustrated, and worst of all, hate writing.
The Solution
After analyzing my administered needs analysis, I confirmed the root of the problem lies in gaps in teacher knowledge. Educators struggle choosing thinking maps best suitable for students to organize their thoughts.
I reached the conclusion that this would best be solved with a scenario-based eLearning experience that replicates the real-world classroom writing process.
Process
Action Mapping
I collaborated with a mentor teacher in the school district as my subject matter expert (SME) to produce an action map outlining the main objectives of the project. Through discussion, we decided to measure success based on the compatibility of the teacher’s writing prompt and paired thinking map. Next, we determined what the actions would look like in the thinking map decision process.
Text-based Storyboard
Visual Mockups
After completing the action map, I began outlining a text-based storyboard in a sequential narrative style. I designed it so that the user plays the role of an ELA teacher given that intricate writing primarily takes place in the English classroom.
My SME taught in the middle school setting, so I developed the scenario based on typical writing interactions with middle school students. I made sure to include an academic coach that acted as a mentor in the learning experience given its replication of the real-world education field.
To ensure the programming of the project ran smoothly, I made sure to include as much detail as possible when delineating the storyboard’s questions, prompts, visual notes, and programming notes. I purposefully fashioned the possible answer choices in the experience to be similar in nature to emphasize the vocabulary and terminology of the learning. Depending on the user’s choice, impactful consequences will occur that either lead students toward or away from quality-based writing.
To ensure my project maintained a sound direction, I created visual mockups in Adobe XD. Through the program, I was able to cycle through different variations of my vision for the project, ultimately leading me to a look that I was happy with. I intentionally left my mockups in a bare-bones state to leave myself more room creatively when transferring them into Articulate Storyline.
I produced a color palette that I felt was timeless, yet fun. I incorporated this color palette into all of the characters, objects, and backgrounds.
Given that the setting of the project takes place at a middle school, I wanted the majority of the eLearning experience to feature a unique and colorful classroom. To further diversify the project, I redesigned the main classroom background to focus chiefly on the desk area of the room during the moments the user speaks with the mentor.
Interactive Prototype
Before fully developing the eLearning experience, I created an interactive prototype to ensure that the project held a natural flow and was performing optimally. The prototype’s purpose was in manufacturing a few polished slides of the project in its entirety, and testing them for suitable functionality.
In the prototype, I experimented with layers and animations. My goal for the project was to invoke a feeling of constant circulation for the user, and I was able to accomplish this through swift and slick movements throughout the entire eLearning experience.
Full Development
It was in the final development stage that my scenario-based eLearning experience evolved into something I am truly proud of. I was able to naturally blend my own style with the project’s primary goals.
The features that excited me the most all revolved around the project’s aesthetics and components. I was determined to make sure the project’s makeup highlighted quality rather than quantity.
One idea I was persistent on including in the experience was the rewarding moments of teaching students. Every time the user assists a student, they receive immediate gratitude from the student themself. In addition, the user earns points in these moments to further extend feelings of merriment.
In order to further deliver a memorable experience to the audience, I utilized lively sound throughout the project. Whether this was through the playful “popping” sound attached to the mentor button or the “victory” sound when helping a student, these moments were envisioned to bring delight.
Results and Takeaways
I am overjoyed from the positive feedback I received on the project. Real-world educators I have connections with wanted to use the project at their own campuses to help create cultures of writing.
My long-term goal is to develop this project into a series. For this project specifically, I chose to focus on the bubble map given its commonality and usability in the education setting. However, the bubble map is only one of eight thinking maps.
Rather than attempt to create an overwhelming project that features all of the thinking maps, it would prove more effective to create a scenario for each individual map. This would increase the value of the learning as opposed to saturating the experience.
All in all, the work I poured into this project is what caused me to blossom as an instructional designer. From point A all the way to point Z, I stood firm in building something I could be confident in sharing. I enjoyed every second of creating this project, and am excited to see how it unfolds in the future.