Sense

My name is Amina Noureen and I come from Pakistan where one of the most dominant modes of learning is memorization. Growing up, I observed that not everyone is good at it as, I saw many of my friends feeling less engaged in the class. That is when I realized that 'one size doesn’t fit all' and learning happens in various forms and ways. I assume that learning quality and speed could be enhanced by the incorporation of sense. To explore deeper, I worked with Shun Azum, my classmate who happen to be an exchange student from Japan, on this project with the design challenge to create an experience that incorporates the use of multiple senses for language learning. We used Human-Centered-Design (HCD) from the IDEA design guide comprising of three stages: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Our stakeholders for the project includes people interested to learn a new language.

Inspiration

During the inspiration stage, we used several frameworks to better identify our target group, doing a SWOT analysis, problem tree, fast idea generator and re-framing our design challenge. Then we decided to empathize with our target group. We visited the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and had the chance to talk with a couple of students that gave us insights about challenges and some basic foundation.

Ideation

Initially, we discovered 'schedule management' being one of the core issues for adults. Students are busy with studies and have other priorities that drain away a lot of energy. Therefore, we decided to test a schedule for ourselves since we also are language learners ourselves. We tested for a week and soon we realized that our design challenge requires us to explore the sense as a theme that we might be neglecting.

It was high time that we decided to step back and coincidentally, we happen to meet James Thompson who comes from the United States. It was just less than a month for him in Thailand serving at the Grapevine. He was overly motivated to learn Thai and was studying at a language school in Bangkok. We interviewed him to learn more about his language experience, style, and goals. Later, we designed a project to encourage him to use multiple senses to learn new words.

Prototype

During this stage, we designed the prototype experience for James and tested and iterated based on feedback.

Following was the process of experiment we came up with during the co-creation phase.

Step 1: Co-creation

We divided the categories into two types:

a) Words to be learned with props (objects, pictures, sounds)

b) Words to be learned with flashcards

Step 2: Co-creation

Together with our user James, we decided to use words from four main categories: Body Parts, Clothing, Feelings, and Places.

Iteration based on feedback

We had a reflection and feedback session when James suggested to experiment with the results after some time such as a couple of days or weeks rather than immediate testing.

Therefore, we allowed James to take the flashcards we designed together to his home and study for the next couple of days and later we tested him again.

Result II:

We met on Tuesday and did the final prototyping session. We compared the results for leaning using props and flashcards. There was a slight difference of 94.44% for props and 82.5% for flashcards.

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Credit: Kenika Jangpromma

User Reflection

"I had the pleasure of working with Amina and Shun on their human-centered design project on the senses. We explored how incorporating the senses in studying new words affects the language learning process. I am currently attending a language school to learn Thai, so we used Thai words for the experiment. After completing this project, I plan to continue purposely using my senses, whether I’m learning new Thai words or another subject.

As I think back on my academic career, I realize how often I have relied on rote memorization to master new material. Historic dates, literary concepts, chemistry facts… I’ve used flashcards or other forms of repetition for them all. While I do not discount the value of this strategy for some situations, information learned in this way is susceptible to “disappearing” soon after it is no longer needed. In my own experience, the more ways that new information can be interacted with, the more likely it is that the information will be retained.

The results of this project offer further support to that observation. I studied two separate groups of Thai words, one with only flashcards and the other with objects, pictures, or sounds. I felt articles of clothing as I learned what they were called in Thai, looked at pictures that reminded me of certain locations, and listened to sounds that were linked to certain emotions. I remembered these words at a slightly higher rate. This method of learning is a practical strategy that I can use in my daily life. As I continue to learn new words, I can link their definitions to sounds, smells, and sights that I encounter around me. I’m excited that I can employ this new strategy easily and immediately.'' -James Thompson

Moving Forward

One interesting question moving forward was to see the rate of retention of words in the long-term memory, comparing the words studied using props or flashcards. However, we had time limitations for this project but for the sake of curiosity, we will discuss testing it after a month. Also, we discussed our testing methods which could be modernized, however, we used a traditional testing method so that we could compare results conveniently.

Afterwards, we had a reflection session and discussed some major insights for our user James. He found that his senses helped him learn new words more effectively, however, he found some senses more effective than others. For instance, the sense of touch and sight, such as seeing a picture or touching an article of clothing, was more helpful for him than the sense of listening as he found sounds distract him and thus were less helpful. This made sense for him as he finds himself more comfortable learning visually than audibly.

Possible Improvements:

According to our user, the project went well. However, the following are some of his suggestions for if we had to do it again. The first is to incorporate a greater variety of props into the experiment. Second, the experiment could be conducted over a longer period of time to see the long term impacts of this strategy.

Technical Skill

We have incorporated video making in our project using Adobe Premiere Pro that shows the Human-Centered Design process, our engagement with our stakeholder and reflection of our project.

My Reflection

After the experience, I am really glad that I have chosen this topic to explore the sense 'theme'. This topic has helped me reflect on the deeper realities of learning through the senses. Firstly, I have realized that my assumption about using senses assisting the learning process is reasonable. Secondly, it gives me a deeper insight into the reality of different people and their learning preferences. For example, some people it could be visual, while others could prefer mediums such as audio, theory, concepts, etc, meaning that different people could have different dominant senses which could enhance, catalyze and make their learning experience a fun activity. Through this project, I have realized that it is important to acknowledge and incorporate the use of multiple senses in the classroom and educational institutes as well as students getting encouraged to recognize their dominant senses and use as their asset during learning.