We collected our data in a collaborative method using a tool called realtimeboard.com. This allowed us to share insights, pictures, files, and thoughts with one another easily.

A literature review in which concepts such as user-centered design, problem-based learning, and persona creation were discussed. Notable articles read include : The Portfolio Process and the Processed Portfolio from Cambridge University, Modeling Users : Personas and Goals by Alan Cooper and Co., The Learning Practices of Making : An Evolving Framework for Design by Lisa Brahms and Peter Wardrip from the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and Understanding the Problem : Design Research from Cooper’s About Face. These articles offered various perspectives and guidelines for our design process, and we have integrated the key insights from these articles into the sections below.

The Maker Ed Open Portfolio Research Briefs provided insights into what some of the existing documentation strategies and challenges are. Makers have found creative ways to document their processes, a memorable example being using egg cartons to hold ipads so that the makers could work uninterrupted while still collecting documentation. The brief detailed ways in which open portfolios could benefit students, from giving them ownership of their own work that would last between different learning settings, to increasing equity by allowing students to be represented by more than just a number in GPA or standardized test scores.

Guest speakers, primarily educators, provided us with the viewpoint that it is about more than just the needs of the users, but also the needs of teachers and facilitators of youth learning. During their class visits, we performed focused listening activities, allowing each facilitator to convey their narratives freely through directed storytelling activities while we, as a class, honed in on the Motivations, Opportunities, Tools and Methods, Goals and Purposes, Needs, and Challenges presented by each educator. Our three main guest speakers were Nina Barbuto, Founder of Assemble; Megan Cicconi, Director of Instructional Innovation at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit; and Randi Leonard, Online Technology Manager of Fox Chapel Area High School.

User Study 1 focused on determining what the current portfolio practices and processes are, which tools are used, what challenges and limitations are faced, and which design opportunities are available. The participants included were CMU students, highlighting their opinions and voices; we placed a special emphasis on getting a broad range of users, that is, not focusing on those within discipline.

User Study 2 had a similar focus to User Study 1 but focused on a different participant pool, encompassing facilitators, educators, and younger students. Additionally, the focus expanded to include facilitation processes. It followed a guerilla research method, where we used questionnaires and interviews to interact with the users. Again, we focused on getting a range, from children to adult.

Initially, we created a stakeholder map. This allowed us the opportunity to visually represent our primary users and the interactions and potential opportunities that can occur in relations to stakeholders.

We conducted three user studies in order to better understand the goals, needs, current practices, and challenges of our users.

In our first user study, we conducted six interviews with students, professors, alumni at Carnegie Mellon. We found out that students wanted a way to show off written work and they wanted a better way to store document the process, while professors were interested in a tool that would let students portray their unique story. Overall we found that Carnegie Mellon students and alumni found time and technology to be barriers to creating an ideal portfolio or to having a portfolio at all. Our participants emphasized that if one did not have the time and skill to produce a good portfolio to be proud of, that could promote oneself well, then one should not have a portfolio online at all. One participant even removed her portfolio because she did not want potential employers to see something that she believed was not representative of her best work. Participants emphasized that documentation was messy and time-consuming, and without immediate incentive of being on the job search, it was difficult to prioritize documentation above all the other work that Carnegie Mellon students had to do. Participants shared that they typically were not explicitly taught how to document or how to make a portfolio, but rather were taught implicitly through feedback in studio classes or learned informally.

Our second user study was conducted at the Pittsburgh Maker Faire, where we conducted surveys with 12 individuals and interviews with 9 of those participants. Our survey participants included on middle schooler, two high schoolers, two undergraduate college students, three teachers, one professional maker, and one person who identified themselves as other. There were eight males and four females. All of the participants had been making for a significant amount of time, with seven of the participants reporting that they had been making for one to five years, while five others had been making for over ten years. Half of our participants said they documented the final product of their making for a few projects, while the other half said they document for most projects. Seven participants said they document the process of a product for a few projects, while two said they document process for most projects and two said they never document the process of their making. This shows that people are already seeing documentation as a valuable thing to do and will be willing to use a documentation tool, and shows that there is an opportunity to increase process documentation. The predominant means of documentation was social media with eight participants using it, followed by blog platforms with six. The predominant audiences were for self, friends, and interested people online. Our findings show that the current use for the group who responded to our survey was a more personal form of documentation. Through our interviews, we also found that many organizers and facilitators document, curate, and share the work of the students to promote their programs, recruit new participants, and find funding. This aligned with the needs of the guest speakers who came to speak with our class, with backgrounds as facilitators in both formal and informal education.

Finally, we conducted a survey with students in a public school district who were using a career search and reflection system that they have termed a portfolio. After vicariously learning about the needs of the target user population through other stakeholders, we wanted to make sure that we could access the voice of the users themselves. Due the challenges in receiving permission to work with minors, we were not able to talk to students directly in a school setting but we believe the survey will provide useful insights about what students perceive portfolios to be and how they are documenting and sharing the work they do. The survey was taken by 15 students, most of whom were in 11th grade. From the survey, we found that students overwhelmingly share with people in their personal networks and share significantly less for promotional purposes. When asked further, students reported that there were various obstacles in sharing for promotional purposes. The students reported not being able to locate their past projects, or not knowing how to present their work in a professional manner. Students also reported not knowing how to share their projects.