The high-school Jan van Egmond Lyceum, part of the Purmerendse Scholen Gemeenschap (PSG) wanted a new way of organizing abroad schooltrips. They went to my university NHL where I got to work on this project, together with 4 others.
Originally it was planned to be a half-year project. After finishing the core concept at the end of this half year, we wanted to go on. We talked it over with the Jan van Egmond Lyceum and they were very happy about our enthusiasm, and so it became a one-year project.
The actual product is a bundle of research about how students learn, how they communicate and what moves them. We talked a lot with different opinion leaders and researchers in education. We also went to several events concerning education.
Another part of the product is our conclusions and advice. Our solution is to have a group of students work out the trips, including all parts of it like transport, hotels and entertainment. We decided to use a website for communication and input. The website makes it possible for everyone can add their ideas, similar to current feedback systems like Uservoice and GetSatisfaction. We tweaked the concept of these feedback systems and made them fit into a school environment. This includes a lot more options to moderate the system, as it’s very important to keep a website with even the slightest link to a school clean. Another part of the website is sharing previous trips, including journals and media (pictures, movies). The website also functions as a blog for the group of students that organize the trips.
We visualized the steps of organizing the trip, including the different phases of the website. We also designed the website, including functional mockups, flow charts and graphic designs.
The teammates are Jeroen Panjer, Matthijs Menses, Eelco Guntlisbergen and Wiske Wulff (only first semester). The work was evenly divided between us.