Assessment: Mindful by Design
Distribute the assignment sheet Paper prototype: Mindful by design and go through it with students. Explain that they are going to imagine that they could make tech companies change their products in any way you wanted, then choose one of the apps they’ve thought about in this unit and re-design at least three things about it. These changes should encourage better habits and more mindful use.
The redesign will have three parts:
1) A written explanation outlining three ways you would change the app and why. You can change either the app’s features, defaults or both. (For instance, you could either remove autoplay as a feature, or have it turned off by default.)
2) A paper prototype of the redesigned app.
Paper prototypes are simple design sketches that show you one “screenshot” of an app. The purpose is to show how that part of an app works. You can have students use post-its, stickers, markers, or construction paper to draw attention to key information, or have them use a prototyping app like Figma or Penpot.
3) A written explanation of how each modified feature will encourage healthier habits and more mindful use.
If you like, you can have students do this activity individually, in pairs or in small groups.
Use the Paper prototypes rubric to assess students’ learning.
Features are the things that an app or device is able to do.
A default is what a media tool does unless you actively choose not to.