Ako
Ako is an app that helps university students with their coursework, incorporating phone sensors to locate available students on campus or online for help and incorporating Maori views on the term 'Ako', which values educational experiences of teaching and learning between peers.
UX/UI Design (2022)
Project Outline
This project investigates students' problems in the effects of post-covid lockdowns, which have affected student learning and mental wellbeing. Students experience feelings of distress with academics have a lack of social support. These negative experiences have always been prevalent in uni life, but encountering this all the time affects students' mental wellbeing and motivations for academic success. The project aims to solve the problem with the question: How can design be used as a tool to improve students' social support and academic success?
Design Approach
I use user-centred design methodologies to understand needs, define user needs, and ideate and develop a solution that can give students social support and motivation for their studies. I explore the ambiguous side of peer mentoring services to find opportunities to utilise this service. I then conduct interviews to find insights into user needs and form a design solution for user needs.
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The design approach incorporates Maori world view concepts that provide meaningful design solutions of model buddy systems and forming reciprocal relationships. This design is then further innovated with sensor-based technologies to enhance user experiences.
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