NoteSpace
About Graduation project
Online learning has become more relevant in people’s lives since the COVID-19 outbreak. Colleges and schools have begun to offer remote/online classes. It has influenced how students learn online. Companies have also been forced to operate remotely as a result of the pandemic.
I have always struggled taking notes from videos and online classes. I use a technique called sketchnoting to do so. Sketchnoting (also known as visual note-taking, scribing, graphic recording, or live-drawing) is a creative and graphic process in which a person uses handwriting, drawings, hand-drawn typography, and various visual elements such as arrows, boxes, shapes, and lines to take notes and record their thoughts.
This project's aim is to investigate user needs, wants, pains, and behaviors related to taking notes during synchronous (Online classes, webinar etc) and asynchronous scenarios(Recorded/Online Video, Audio) This project also investigates how sketchnoting techniques can be used to solve users' problems and provide a delightful notetaking experience in these scenarios.
My Sketchnote Journey
I began sketchnoting in 2016 while taking notes in an engineering lecture. I used to mix visuals with written notes in my engineering lecture to keep things interesting. Most of my formulae, for example, were written in various colours, fonts, and styles.
During my engineering studies in 2017, I joined the organising committee of TedxVIT Pune. Live speakers and recorded TED Talks are featured at TEDx events. I proposed that each speaker receives a personalised sketchnote as a souvenir. It was thrilling to make a live sketchnote, wrap it in a red ribbon, and present it to the speaker shortly after their session concluded. I had presented sketchnote memento to several notable individuals, including Oni Sen, Mahesh kale, Akshay Verdanchi and many more.
I immediately joined NID Gandhinagar after graduating from my engineering institution. I used to do sketchnoting in my design classes during my first year. During my second year, 2018-2019, I was the Baatein organiser and organised a number of design talks on campus. Every speaker who came for a talk used to get a sketchnote memento, which made their talk even more memorable and special.
In addition, the sketchnotes were given to everyone in the NID community via email. For those who couldn’t make it to the event, my sketchnotes provided a digestible talk summary.
Research
Secondary and primary research was conducted to understand sketchnote & notetaking in synchronous (Online classes, webinar)and asynchronous (Video, MOOC, audio) scenarios.
Precedence Study
Primary Research
Primary Research Scope: The study’s goal is to investigate user demands, pains, and behaviors related to taking notes during synchronous and asynchronous scenarios. Look for ways to optimize the note-taking process and to validate secondary research hypotheses.
Methodology:
1)Remote user interviews
Remote one-on-one interviews were conducted rather than physical interviews because of the Covid 19 pandemic. they were conducted over the phone and using a video conferencing tool. The interviews were recorded with the participant’s permission. The interviews (quantitive research) helps to:
-
validate hypothesis from secondary research. It also guides in quantitative questionnaire development (Develop parameters for a survey.)
-
Understand the user’s emotions, values, and behavior, needs, and wants
-
Capture the language & imagery used to describe the product.
2)Non participant observation.
This is critical in the development of new ideas. Observing users complete tasks reveal insights that people may have overlooked during user interviews. The observations were made from a safe distance. It was done to figure out what users do when taking notes in asynchronous and synchronous sessions.
Primary Research Process
Remote User Interview
Selection Criteria i) The participant should be a student of UG or PG college or a young professional, who attends webinars, online classes, learn from online videos, online study courses, etc. ii)Participants from different fields such as design, engineering, commerces, MBA, etc iii)Maintaining 1:1 gender ratio. iv)Getting more left-handed people for the interview and observations
Demographics: For this research 15 participants were interviewed and 5 were observed. Telephonic & zoom user interviews were conducted with 15 participants, out of which eight were male & seven were female. Eight of the participants were students, while the other seven were working professionals from diverse industries. Five people were left-handed and ten were right-handed.
Non Participatory Observation
It was observed what actions they perform while taking & making notes. A total of 5 participants were observed. The notes were also analysed afterwards.