Juling Hancock
Bridge
How can we create an online environment that reduces the barriers that inhibit students from speaking up and interacting with others in a virtual class setting?
Bridge is a project that explores how we can create an online environment that reduces the barriers that inhibit students from speaking up and interacting with others in a virtual class setting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the world have had to adapt classes to the digital world. As a result, many professors and students have begun to notice the difficulties of teaching and learning through virtual meeting platforms, staying engaged, speaking up, and feeling a sense of connection with others. Bridge is a live online classroom platform (designed to be used alongside Canvas LMS by Instructure) that replicates the best parts of in-person learning, with features including choosing your seat, whispering to the person next to you, private group discussions, and other tools that can make the online learning experience more comfortable and engaging for students.
Insight
In researching why university students found it difficult to turn on their cameras and speak up during online classes, I had two key insights: 1) that students missed the features of in-person classes that made it easier for them to connect and talk during classes, and 2) that students were hard on themselves about their reluctance to engage in online classes, and that their negative self-talk seemed to exacerbate the problem.
Idea
I developed Bridge, a learning platform that makes it easier for students to show their faces and talk in a virtual-classroom setting by re-creating several of the characteristics of in-person classes. For instance, with Bridge students can choose where to sit, feel “seen” by just a few people at a time, turn off their self view, and “whisper” to the person sitting next to them. They can also set goals for speaking up and being on camera, to help them notice and acknowledge their progress in this area.
Impact
Bridge is designed to remove barriers to online learning, creating a better experience for both students and their professors. By making it more comfortable for students to connect with their peers and professors during online classes and to measure their own engagement, Bridge can help build students’ confidence in their abilities, while giving professors insight into what they are learning. Ultimately, Bridge encourages students to share their thoughts and ideas in a “formal” online environment, a key skill to feeling happy and “heard” in our increasingly digital world.
Biography
Juling Hancock is a Toronto-based industrial designer with a passion for creating solutions that make peoples' daily lives easier, with a particular interest in how design can improve accessibility, healthcare and the environment. She is currently in her fourth and final year of a BDes in Industrial Design program at OCAD University. Her undergraduate thesis focuses on developing a platform to improve students' online learning experience.