Educational Product Practicum

In this intensive one-week module, students will serve as design consultants to a business or nonprofit “client,” gaining hands-on experience developing a design proposal for a new product, delivery platform, or feature for an existing program. The client—an educational content provider or publisher—will provide background information on the market, educational goals, and operational aspects of an authentic design challenge, including potentially proprietary information. Under the guidance of the instructor, who has over 40 years of experience developing educational products, students will work in small teams to produce research-based product proposals. The pace of the course will mirror that of the design cycle in the field, spanning a typical work week. Daily deliverables with periodic feedback from the client will support rapid iteration on problem definition, underlying research, design constraints, evidence of impact, and targeted “minimum viable products” (MVPs). At the end of the course, students will submit to the client a summary of research on the learning need and promising interventions; construct definitions and maps; analysis of implementation constraints and affordances; a feature-by-feature proposal with supporting research and suggestions for collecting evidence of change; an annotated bibliography and list of potential expert advisors; and/or select MVPs. The client will credit students for any design ideas used in a future product, and students will be free to include their proposals (minus any proprietary information) in their professional portfolios.

Permission of the instructor is required. Course enrollment is limited to 12 students. 

This practicum is available for J-term and Spring 1.