01
Soluna
Time
03.2021 - 07.2021
Team
Pia Eltgen Franz Ludwig Lisa-Marie Rachwalski Xinyi Wang
Role
UX Researcher Strategic Designer Service Designer Interaction Designer Motion Designer
Our Soluna - the intercultural education network.
Soluna combines a digital workshop program with a global platform to promote intercultural exchange in schools. It helps students overcome barriers and connect with peers from different cultures.
01
Overview
Canceled exchanges, homeschooling, digital tools, and a lot of uncertainty.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our daily lives and exposed the gaps in the German education system. However, it has also finally initiated digital transformation.
Global crises and challenges can only be overcome through collaborative action. Our mission is to promote intercultural competencies.
Soluna is an intercultural education network that combines a proven digital workshop program with a globally connected platform. Its goal is to foster meaningful intercultural exchange by complementing face-to-face interactions and helping students overcome fears, barriers, and prejudices. By leveraging digitalization, Soluna creates opportunities for students to connect, collaborate, and build a global network that promotes cultural understanding and cooperation.
02
Problem Statement
Together we are stronger. – That’s why we have built a motivated Extended Team. Experts from various fields have been available in this network, supporting us through intensive discussions throughout the project development.
03
Target Audience
Through gathering feedback from experts, teachers, students, and other stakeholders, we gained a deeper understanding of our core user group – teachers and students. During the discussions, three personas were created, reflecting the "gains," "pains," and "jobs-to-be-done" of our target audience.
04
How Might We？
How might we convey intercultural competencies sustainably and vividly through digital means?
How might we use the digital transformation, accelerated by the crisis, to our advantage?
How might we help students overcome barriers, fears, and prejudices?
How might we assist teachers in quickly applying innovative teaching methods?
How might we create a format that allows for individual networking while ensuring safety and data protection?
05
Discovery
Opportunity Areas are the areas where we identified improvement potential, offering relevant chances for optimization.
Global Education Network
Most German schools have partner schools, but the network is often limited to those partnerships. A global digital network would benefit all schools, including teachers and students.
Digital Exchange
Traditional student exchanges were canceled due to the COVID-19 situation. We aim to fill this gap with a digital form of student exchange, complementing physical exchanges in the future.
Intrinsically Motivating Students
We recognize the positive effects of intercultural exchange, but students often feel unsure about engaging in these experiences alone. Our goal is to inspire them to step out of their comfort zone and explore new cultures from home.
Mission
Our mission is to promote intercultural competencies among students, teachers, parents, and others. Life is a continuous learning process, where we gain knowledge, experiences, empathy, and understanding of different cultures and languages.
Students should learn intercultural skills early to communicate respectfully with people from different cultures. These skills are important for personal development and for better communication in school and life.
Our project aims to support students' growth and language skills, contributing positively to globalization. In the future, we will need to work with people from different cultures to address global challenges. We want to create a digital platform for international exchange, using digital tools and viewing the crisis as an opportunity. Our goal is to create a space for intercultural exchange and connect people globally.
06
Solution
We have developed an innovative phased plan that includes various product components, always focusing on the needs and desires of students and teachers.
In Phase 1, Soluna offers the service of conducting workshops at schools in collaboration with their partner schools, led by Soluna coaches. Through close cooperation with pilot schools and internal experts, a workshop guide for digital international exchange will be developed. This guide will be available for schools starting in Phase 2, alongside a subscription to the intercultural network, through a digital platform. In Phase 3, universities, higher education institutions, and graduates will also gain access to the Soluna network. Additionally, Soluna will include an integrated language assistant with a customizable translation feature.
07
Retro
This work marks the start of the project. It’s exciting to explore students’ interest in other cultures and how to apply knowledge and innovation. We were initially skeptical about digital tools in schools, but expert feedback reassured us that the focus should be on enabling digital international exchanges for students.
Soluna has global potential to contribute to cultural globalization. We value the positive feedback, especially from workshop participants, which helped the project evolve.
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