JARA & OUTSIDE
Design Research
A device for remote, rural education
The 2015 earthquake in Nepal displaced millions of people, with over 1 million out of school kids and ~ 50,000 classrooms fully or partially damaged. By 2017 few schools had been effectively rebuilt after the earthquake.
In November of 2017 Jara, an educational technology nonprofit, sought our help to understand the Nepali context, in order to co-create a solution that meets the communities’ needs.
Working with Jara, I planned and led a qualitative design research study focused on testing the viability of a custom tablet to improve education for children in remote, rural, and disconnected communities.
Planning our Research Locations
We focused primarily on remote, areas within the Gorkha region. Large parts of this region within the mountains are challenging to reach and have few transportation options.
We hoped to get an understanding of the viability of the IoT educational tool in these cultural contexts, as well as areas of limited connectivity. We also tested the solution in lower resource schools in the city. The locations chosen were based on research criteria in addition to the available local representation.
The map offers a look into the regions we visited throughout our research trip.
Research Methods
Desk Research
Nepali’s historical context of education systems, local culture, & device competitive landscape
40 hours of one-on-one interviews
with students, teachers, parents/guardians and community leaders
6 group interviews
in classrooms and families
Observation
Passive: Classrooms, schools, communities, home tours
Active: Jara device prototype interaction
After the field study I compiled and analyzed the data, generating a research deck which was presented and used to inform development of Jara’s educational platform and device.
