We're making good progress with the Paper Plane Challenge Prototype Day. Our bias toward action is really paying off. With a deadline set and participants lined up, it's time to stop overthinking and start doing!

While creating materials is familiar territory for us, this immersive learning experience puts a new emphasis on the role of physical space. To address this, we've developed a special proto-kit for facilitators. I'm curious to see if it works and if it's scalable.

Different roles, different layers. We are prototyping the interaction! I'm fascinated by the multiple layers and roles we're working with. One of our two facilitators will act as an observer, gathering input for the third round: the self-assessment. This reminds me of how I often take photos or jot down quotes during sessions to prompt participants later. It's a powerful tool for reflection, allowing us to ask: Why? What was your reasoning? Were there alternatives? Seeing or reading their own words and actions helps participants step back from the "it's just your opinion" mindset.

Mock-up of an ipad-screen for the observer

For this prototype day to be truly successful, we need to test these various layers. It's all about the interaction between the space, the challenge, the group, the individual participant, the facilitator, the methods, and the observations. The day's dialogue and self-reflection are like a grand finale.

I'm intrigued by our anthropological approach. How do we capture expressions, attitudes, emotions, dialogue content, tone, choices, locations, considerations, and even things left unsaid or undone? We're drawing from our experience with user interviews, applying a trained eye. The observer takes an etic perspective, like an anthropologist looking from the outside in, while the facilitator steps just over that line, more emic and embedded in the group. We need a special note-taking method, almost like shorthand, to capture events and immediately code them for later analysis.

Dave deserves a special thanks. He's been reaching out to numerous parties to learn about sensor-based tech. We now have concrete ideas and examples of what's possible (and what isn't). It's invaluable knowledge, complete with an understanding of the possibilities, limitations, and costs. Perfect for our Informed Design process!

We are not de-signing it. We are in a mode of feature creep. I can see it all coming together, but I'm also feeling that this might be getting too complex. Are we shooting past our goal? It's a concern I'll need to keep in mind as we move forward.

Using IOT and data visualisation to spark reflection This project is pushing us to new levels of learning experiences with data-driven technologies. We're considering how to automate parts of the process to save time on analysis, provide feedback we otherwise couldn't, and create a tech/data experience for participants (and ourselves - practice what we preach!). The challenge now is figuring out how to apply IoT, sensors, and data visualization effectively. The feature image of the post is an example of our room-sensors measuring team dynamics, the volume of speaking, movement etc.

Let's see how it all unfolds during the prototype day.