SAGESHIFT

Fostering Future Oriented Learning

EDTech
Future Skills
Dashboard
Web
The Storyline

Scenario

SRH University aims to embed future skills in their curriculum. Through a pilot semester, selected teachers implemented these skills, offering valuable insights and learnings for the second phase of the program.

Where I come in

Using the learnings of the teachers in the pilot semester, I proposed the concept of Sageshift lab. This collaborative digital lab empowers educators to understand the urgency and collaborate on integrating future skills into their courses.

Why is it a good solution?

It focuses on the ‘why’ aspect of Future Skills, which is essential to effectively integrate them into their teaching practices. The lab makes it easier for teachers from different campuses to join in allowing more educators can get involved and learn together.
Understanding the latent need

What do the graduates really need?

By 2027, technological change will disrupt 40% of workers' core skills, requiring updates every 5 years.

(Re)framing the Challenge

I took a step back to deeply understand the experiences of teachers who conducted the pilot semester. I closely listened to not just their documented learnings, but also thoughts, observations, and suggestions. Additionally, I spoke to students to understand how they feel about the current teaching practices at the university. This thorough research process helped in reframing the initial problem aka incorporating them into the curriculum.

6

Teacher Interviews

From multiple university campuses in Germany

3

Student Interviews

2 current students, 1 alumni working with BCG
On the quest for insights

What I found out

I gathered insights from the interviews and desk research to identify opportunity fields for ideation.These fall into three themes namely, students’ mindset, learning approaches and teaching methods.

1.

The fault in our methods

University professors have hardly any training in teaching methods, and they often have no idea how they could encourage students to actively participate in classroomactivities and projects.

2.

Innovation Roadblocks

Resilience and adaptability can reduce students' fear of failure, which is the main reason why they avoid innovative approaches.

3.

Teach the  Teachers

To help students learn important Future Skills, teachers need to understand and learn them first. Viewing teachers as learners helps them align skills with future workplace demands for students.

4.

Forecasting future(s)

Having multiple futures can reduce uncertainty and make students more prepared to cope with changes.

5.

Communicating the urgency

Raising awareness of global challenges like climate change and pandemics can prompt innovation, fostering future skills development.

6.

Not Empowering the Teachers

Limited teacher involvement in designing courses make teachers feel powerless and reduces their trust in academia.

Opportunity Fields

Six out of four opportunity fields are related to teaching methods. Looking at the importance of teacher training, I aimed for the solution to develop a future oriented learning mindset in educators.

KEY OPPORTUNTY

How Might We communicate the importance of practicing Future Skills to teachers, using global challenges as a lever, so that they can actively integrate them into their teaching methods?

The Birth of Sageshift Training Lab

The digital lab consists of activities like scenario building, script writing and roleplay that foster a future oriented learning approach in teachers. By creating an immersive, reflective, and collaborative learning environment for teachers that helps them understand the relevance of these skills in relation with global challenges.

Moderator Screens

Creating a Lab

Enable moderators to create labs and send invites effortlessly in four simple steps, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience.
Teacher Screens

Navigating the sessions

Allow teachers to access lab sessions, including details on topics, instructions and navigate between sessions, rooms and templates.
A/b Testing

Moderator Screen Modal

During the A/B testing phase, I focused on the two critical user flows: navigating sessions and creating a lab. In the latter, the testing partners indicated that moderators are more likely to add multiple resources to the lab, except in cases of shorter lab versions. The multi-select modal streamlines the process, enabling them to assign resources more efficiently.

a. Allowed selection of multiple resources.

b. Allowed single selection only.

visual dictionary

The Design System

In developing the SageShift Design System, I utilized SRH University's color palette to ensure coherence across all interfaces. Through defining components, such as layout structures, buttons, and navigational elements, I aimed for a consistent user experience.

Tokenization

To add to design consistency, I implemented tokenization, including both primitive and semantic tokens for colors and spacing.

Primitive Color Tokens

Semantic Color Tokens

Spacing Tokens

Learning From the Project

Recognizing the Importance of Systems Thinking

I understood how various factors, such as teachers' time constraints, affect the implementation of training programs, highlights the need for a holistic approach to problem-solving. Skipping it can cause hindrances later in the implementation process

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

Despite coming from different disciplines, teachers connected over global challenges, emphasizing their importance in addressing future workplace challenges .