Building an Authentic Advisory Program
Background
Our magnet program was in the process of becoming a Linked Learning Program with the LAUSD district. To do so, we needed to demonstrate how we were designing our programming into a personally relevant, engaging, and inclusive experience. We decided to focus our efforts on building out our advisory program (or homeroom) to address the needs of students and teachers in the school.
Approach
This was a generative research process that began with teachers sharing challenges and needs in relation to advisory in smaller teams (Empathize).
We recorded experiences down on sticky notes and affinity diagrammed to determine emergent themes. We compared and contrasted emergent themes among the teams of teachers and prioritized which ones all teams wanted to address most. (Define)
One of the themes that emerged was a need for student interest built into the student day. I spearheaded survey research with students and teachers to learn more about which clubs they were most interested in having and leading respectively. I organized my findings and presented results and next steps to stakeholders.
Roles
Service Designer + UX Researcher
Team
6 Service Designers/Teachers
Timeline
Jan 2022 to May 2022
Methods
Surveys
Advisory Building Process
Advisory Areas of Focus
Survey Research Pt. 1
Survey Research Pt. 2
Most Popular Clubs for Students
Next Steps
Outcome
The research was shared and presented to staff at our school and with principals from other schools. Since the research presentation happened at the end of the school year, there was a summer break gap that delayed the design process. Some teachers left the school and most teachers just needed a break. Fortunately, when school resumed in the fall, the school counselors, who had seen our presentation, used our research to initiate club design and recruitment while the rest of the team began to build out the rest of our advisory categories.
Lessons Learned
Dedicated time needs to be built into the school week for service program design. The time commitment was costly since many teachers had to work weekends for this project.
It was important to present our work to a broad audience of stakeholders. Our team went through the process of empathizing, defining the problem, and ideating solutions. Great ideas need to be shared so that others can build off them when your team might not have capacity to (like the counselors did).
A rolling research process needs to established so that we can continue to build off our initial work by regularly incorporating feedback from users and iterating our program.