Teaching our youth how to navigate the online world
Design Challenge
Challenge: Increasing student data breaches and sales to third-party advertisers disproportionately impact underserved students, whose information can be used to manipulate their online activity
Solution: A video game educating students about data safety
Tools: Figma, Illustrator, Pen & Paper
Overview
The T522: Innovation for Design course at the Harvard Graduate School of Education gave us a challenge: solve a real-life problem at the intersection of technology and education.
In response to recent massive data leaks and third-party advertisement violations by widely used educational platforms, I decided to examine K-12 student data privacy. I designed a low-fidelity prototype during a 2-week design sprint.
Discover
A lack of formal regulations and accountability have encouraged Edtech companies to dodge transparency concerning student data breaches and sales to third-party advertisers. This means…
Private companies prioritize profit over student safety by selling data that can target students for predatory loans and credit cards
A disproportionate impact for underserved students whose data can to used to group them into harmful stereotypes and reinforce juvenile profiling
I conducted market research and 19 user interviews (district technology administrators to students) to identify demographics and behaviors around data privacy and online manipulation.
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Data mining affords low-cost services provided by these educational monopolies (i.e. CollegeBoard)
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Laws and regulations struggle to catch up to the rapidly changing technology landscape
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85% of students aged 10-14 don’t care about their data privacy on the internet
This last statistic was the most striking, and shifted the learner focus from the policy level to the students themselves.
Key Takeaways
Define
Persona: The Middle School Student
Daniela (13); San Jose, CA
7th Grader
Mexican and Tongan
Daniela's personal, academic, and behavorial data is documented by her teachers
This data targets her for things like:
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Predatory student loans and credit cards
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Grouping into harmful stereotypes that inform what users see
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Predictive policing using artifical intelligence
Theory of Action
If students/families have an interactive way to value their data privacy, then they will be more educated about digital manipulation and empowered to challenge unethical privacy practices.
Further Research
After creating the persona and the Theory of Action, I dove deeper into evidence-based practices on how to best reach middle schoolers, and targeted the following:
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Interactive learning, such as roleplay: the learners are presented with real-life, digital dilemmas that teens and pre-teens face regularly
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Engaging and playful learning models, such as gamification: individual choice, subtle nudges and tangible consequences can teach how to make "the best choice"
With these strategies and tools in mind, I started to brainstorm possible solutions.
The Solution
Of the solutions I ideated, I picked the one most likely to be used by students across schools and districts.
An alternative platform to Collegeboard — this is impossible, as Collegeboard has a monopoly on college admissions/testing in the US
An interactive program that gives badges to reward and rank districts on their privacy practices and security — this is really boring
An educational game on privacy practices — empowers users themselves to collectively challenge policies and practices that impact them the most
Develop
Our product is an interactive roleplay game (RPG) that helps students to navigate real-world instances of compromised data privacy and foster better online habits.
Daniela and her classmates play the game often during choice time
Daniela and her community start to engage more in conversations about their data
More Interviews
Observing a focus group interview of 26 middle schoolers gave me insight on overall attitudes around a competitor game around digital safety, which revealed that students were playing through the arcade games without engaging in the content:
Student gameplay data shows how engagement doesn't necessarily mean content retention or deeper learning
After the observation, I conducted a post-game survey to understand what generally drives gameplay for this age group and demographic:
Character skins and game money were voted the most enticing incentives
I also interviewed three Computer Science/Robotics Subject Matter Experts to generate Student Learning Objectives using the stems “Students Will Be Able To” (SWBAT).
Insights
Student Learning Objectives:
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SWBAT identify the tradeoffs between privacy and convenience
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SWBAT examine ways their data can be used to manipulate what they see online
The post-game survey from the middle schoolers generated the following digital incentives to drive learning:
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Social incentives such as character skins
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Financial incentives such as currency gained from choice-making
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Early digital incentive mockups based on survey results
Internal Feedback
I wanted to target one focus for a testable solution, so I took my sketches to three gaming Subject Matter Experts to pare down the project's scope.
Competitive analysis revealed the impact of choice-making is clearer with a single decision point and a wider array of choices, rather than multiple decision points with simple “right” and “wrong” answers:
I decided to target a specific learning interaction (making the safest choice) in order to create sensibility in that moment. Replacing the financial incentive in favor of a “safety meter” clearly visualizes the impact of unsafe choices; the player “loses” the level once it gets to red.
Early learner journey map example
Iterate
I tested a low-fidelity prototype with 26 middle schoolers to gauge engagement. After the playthrough, I conducted the same interest survey as before to see what could be improved or expanded. The results changed dramatically:
An antagonist, or "bad guy," was voted the most likely to drive gameplay
Insights
I learned that a narrative to drive the storyline was most likely to compel the player to finish the game, so I drafted a more complex mission for the main character.
The more unsafe choices are made, an intrusive character will disrupt the flow of the game. This, coupled with an exciting narrative, was designed to drive motivation and highlight the tradeoffs between convenience and privacy.
The redesigned storyboard after adding a narrative to drive gameplay
Scene demonstrating Alien interference with the game as the player loses safety points
It was much easier to drive choice-making and motivation through narrative, as well as to simply deliver the lessons around real-life usage of technology and the tradeoffs (such as phone privacy) through the character's journey.
Interactive Prototype
Click through to explore specific player choices + their following consequences
Moving Forward
In terms of the game's actual longevity, I noted how creating the freedom to navigate and explore the “city” will give players the opportunity to invest themselves in the digital world and take a break from the game’s missions. This can lead to more investment and playing hours.
I also wondered — what if the game itself was more complex, and utilized a branching narrative where the player was able to control the progression of the plot through their choices, rather than simplifying the consequences through interference?
Branching Storyline
Gameplay
Beginning
Story Event
Ending
Key:
Linear Storyline
String of Pearls Storylilne
The various types of video game storylines and the choices they present
There is still much left to iterate and refine with DataTrail. These are just a few questions to explore as I continue to work on developing the game.