GTatrium: bridging digital and physical interaction, higher education, masters project | service design & strategy | January - December 2021
GTatrium
designing future international education hubs for GT
Digital transformation, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to challenge higher education institutions to rethink how they will operate.
In 2015, Georgia Tech formed the Commission on Creating the Next in Education to develop future student experiences stemming from this transformation.
The GTatrium is intended to be a physical gathering space and gateway to both in-person and digital GT services, providing individuals with a Georgia Tech experience in locations beyond Atlanta. The GTatrium is a reinvention of
Georgia Tech's physical presence on a global, yet localized, scale.
My master’s project focuses on the GTatrium initiative, exploring how Georgia Tech can develop a distributed world-wide presence and how to bridge digital-to-physical interactions in co-learning spaces.
my role
primary researcher
advisors
Steve Harmon
Florian Vollmer
Kevin Shankwiler
what were my responsibilities?
Some components for the GTatrium were present when the project began, some were unknown, and none of them fit together. My mission was to arrange the pieces, identify gaps, and lay the groundwork for future success. The research question could be broken down into three questions:
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Who are the users and what do they need?
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How can Georgia Tech leverage its brand in offering the GTatrium?
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How does Part A and Part B come together to create a differentiated, sustainable business model for GTatrium?
Discover
GTATRIUM BACKGROUND
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
LITERATURE REVIEW
GT CURRENT STATE
putting it together
what did I learn?
Define
MARKET SURVEY
USER RESEARCH
DESIGN CRITERIA
Deliver
USERS & STAKEHOLDERS
SERVICE AREAS
TECHNOLOGY
THE GTATRIUM
Develop
BUSINESS MODEL
STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
NEXT STEPS
The GTatrium is a reinvention of Georgia Tech's physical presence on a global, yet localized, scale.
At the time of this project, the implementation of a mixed reality conference felt very far out. I never imagined how relevant this would be a few months later due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In retrospect, I wish we did more extensive prototyping and evaluated interfaces of the mock platform. We focused our attention on translating insights from research into a proof-of-concept, really researching how emerging technology could be utilized in this type of experience because there were so few examples.
research question
How can the GTatrium serve learners in their communities throughout their lifetimes?
what was the design process?