1. Does your work require IRB approvals…right now? At a later stage? If Yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy. If no, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval. 

Currently, our project does not require IRB approval. For our project we will be designing and creating 3D immersive art content for students with behavioral and emotional disabilities. Even though our work and content is intended for human subjects we will not be directly involving students, at least at this point. In the future, our project may require IRB approval if we decide to get student feedback. Once content has been produced and presented we could interview students about their experience and at that point we would need IRB approval. 

2. Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like? 

Verona 

I have experience talking to groups of people as well as extended knowledge of the arts. I grew up in a very artistic environment while also participating in musicals, plays, and theater class. I’ve worked at a pottery studio for almost five years now, which includes conversing with large groups of people and multitasking. I work best with other people, so my design process would include collaboration with the other members of my group.

Y 

I have experience working as a museum educator intern at the LUAG. From this position, I have experience with doing research on artworks and designing and leading tours. I am also in the 4+1 elementary education program. The work done in such courses allows me to write lesson plans with accommodations geared towards certain groups of students and it also helps me deliver educational content in a meaningful way. My design process will have the lens of an educator and someone who wants to unpack art for anyone.

 Emily

I have experience working at a couple museums like the Jewish Art Museum in San Francisco as an event planner and facilitator and the Lehigh Art Gallery as a museum educator and researcher. Through this, I have learned how to facilitate engaging discussions surrounding the arts and lead tours on current exhibitions. Through Lehigh, I major in product and graphic design and minor in marketing and psychology where I learn how to create products that meet the needs of my target market/consumer. I am also in the Eco Reps Leadership program and am a Posse Scholar. Through these programs, I learned how to demonstrate good leadership skills by creating and hosting monthly events and hosting engaging meetings.

Continuously, this culmination of experiences will now help me with my design process as I can create concrete action steps throughout this project while also being ready to adapt to the changing needs of this project. Moreover, my design process will include trial and error through collaborative brainstorming and knowing when to contribute and when to sit back and observe.

Micaela (honorary member) 

Through my experience as a digital media and accessibility intern at LUAG, I am familiar with art research, describing artwork, and narrating audio descriptions. I tend to use a lot of visual research and note taking methods to help organize my thoughts and plans. Because of the collaborative nature of working at LUAG and in this project, I have improved upon my teamwork skills, and I feel that my workflow is benefited by our team brainstorming. For this project my design process would resemble these attributes, where we lay out the art pieces and compile relevant information into a visual manner that is easily understood and digested. 

Edyn

I have extensive experience working and living with others in a team setting. Going to boarding school for 6 years I learned to live and cooperate with people of all backgrounds from all over the country. This experience will serve me well in the design process as this is a collaborative process not something that needs to be taken on alone. For my process, I would focus on teamwork in order to produce the best ideas and solutions. In addition to this, I would focus on conducting many tests. Failure is inevitable no matter how simple or complex the project. The key is to focus on moving forward and coming to a solution that produces unique results despite any setbacks. My process would also focus heavily on creativity. This would lead my team to new discoveries which, in my opinion, are the most important part of the process. The goal is to create something new whether it is a product, idea, process, or solution. Only then can you push the barriers of what already exists and produce exponential results. 

3. Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them.

• • LUAG Staff
    • Gives us access to the art pieces and information about the pieces in current and past exhibits 
    • Experience with giving tours regarding artwork and current exhibitions
    • Familiar with presenting art in an engaging way to a variety of audiences
    • Has an archive with all the art pieces that are in the current exhibits
    • Knowledge on accessibility features for museums (ie. audio descriptions, braille, guided tours, etc.)

• Demographic: middle-aged white women

• Lehigh University students

• • Centennial School Students 
    • Experience viewing and learning from 360° immersive content 
    • Minimal exposure to the arts
    • Are open to different methods/practices of learning
    • Willing to engage in new exciting content
    • Willing to discuss and reflect on the artwork that they learn about/see

• 6-21 year old students that are in the middle school instruction level

• Demographic: majority white and hispanic students

 

• • Centennial School Faculty – 
    • Experience with 360° technology and editing software, and displaying 360° content with guided instruction 
    • Gives us resources to help structure our project in an efficient way
    • Willing to let us sit in on classes to observe the students
    •  Knowledge on how to work with students with disabilities 
    • Give us access to the 360° cameras and the software used to create the tour, and teach us how to use said tools

• Demographic: Majority middle-aged Lehigh University staff/professors

 

4. Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.

• Project Concept
  • The teachers at the Centennial School are enthusiastic about the resource we are creating for neurodivergent kids. The teachers are excited for us to bring the art gallery to the kids so they can experience the art gallery the same way a neurotypical kid would during a gallery tour.
  • The demographics that are more likely to accept our resources are people who do not learn in the conventional way and those who do not get to appreciate art in the traditional sense; people who need interactive content to engage with the arts.
  • Our concept of creating an immersive learning experience for the arts meets a need as there are a lot of people that do not learn well under the current education system that we currently have in a way that is digestible and not overstimulating.
• Technology
  • The technology is doable in the context of our project. We have our 360° camera ready, and we’re learning how to use the software. For the past couple of weeks, we have been experimenting with our camera and learning as much as we can about it. 
  • We know how to obtain our goal; Sara and Julie from the Centennial School have been very helpful in supplying the camera and giving us ideas on what software to use. 
  • This technology is not single-use. It can be used to capture any space, but we are focusing on the art gallery for our project. This camera could be an extremely useful tool in many areas, not just our project. 
• Usability 
  • In terms of usability, interacting with our product is incredibly important as we are making a virtual tour for students to consume. It will be easy to use for instructors to click on pieces and guide the students through the gallery. There will also be accommodating features such as audio descriptions, leading questions, and subtitles. 
  • Many other schools who want to have more access to the arts could be able to use the content/tours we make. However, our product depends on the classroom setting since the Centennial Immersive Learning Center has a built-in 360 screen classroom supported for virtual learning. 
  • Some of the failure modes would revolve around the aspect of not creating an appropriate tour for our specific audience. Lack of care and research efforts can also hinder the process of making a usable tour. 
• Business Model
  • Our product brings art education and creative learning to students who have had minimal exposure to the arts. It is important for these students to have a well-rounded education as well as one suited to their own needs and learning styles, and this project solves that problem. At the moment the immersive learning model is being used at the Centennial School, but is more focused on exposure to places around the world or fun sites to explore. 
  • The Centennial School handles the full financial burden for the project. They have provided all of the 360° camera equipment, the Immersive Learning Center (classroom space) and any other equipment and resources we need. LUAG also has the art collections in house and the information we need to research. Our only expenses are transportation costs to and from the Centennial School. 
  • Our competitive advantage is the relationship between the Centennial School and Lehigh University. We have the combined resources and funding of the University and LUAG, as well as the knowledgeable faculty on hand to support us.