EduJugar is a web-based, culturally grounded resource designed to support teacher wellbeing in rural Guatemala by promoting learning through play (LtP). Drawing on user research, situativity theory, and ecological systems theory, I designed a responsive, low-bandwidth platform that enables secondary teachers to explore a curated, crowdsourced database of playful pedagogies, aligned with national curriculum standards. The platform integrates Google Sites and Looker Studio with WhatsApp to foster community, offer offline access, and support peer learning. The solution was informed by structured usability testing and feedback from teachers, practitioners, and LtP experts. EduJugar aims to transform teacher-student relationships—often cited as both a stressor and a protective factor—into a source of resilience and engagement through joyful, meaningful learning experiences.
Client
NYU/Middle School Teachers Guatemala
Timeline
September 2022-May 2023
Tools
Google Sites, Google Looker Studio, Google Forms, Canva
TWB Thesis Story.mp4A video storyboard illustrating EduJugar in context
Learning Goals
Teachers will understand the power of learning through play (LtP) in the classroom
Teachers will apply playful pedagogies in their daily practice
Teachers will construct localized knowledge on LtP in Guatemala via the repository & WhatsApp community
Foundational Theories
Situativity
Reflects daily realities in content, technology, and functionality
The design draws from situativity by reflecting teachers’ daily realities and context-specific needs through the crowdsourced content, low-bandwidth technology, and functionalities including filtering.
Ecological Systems Theory
Employ a socioecological lens to understanding TWB in Guatemala by taking into account the different levels of the system that harm and bolster wellbeing
Ecological system theory is employed to make sense of the data on teachers’ stressors and coping mechanisms and develop a definition of teacher wellbeing that takes the different levels of the system into account.
Learning through Play
Harness play as an avenue to foster positive relationships and enable active learning
The design promotes learning through play to harness play as an avenue for building stronger connections and more meaningful learning experiences
Design Principles
Contextually Relevant
Context sits at the heart of building connection between teachers and students. When we gear content to teacher-learner contexts, not only does it reflect users’ shared understandings of the world, but it also becomes more useful for teachers’ day-to-day practice.
Feature: Crowdsourced content, visual design and interface (search filters)
Co-Owned
Whenever you feel a sense of ownership over something, you’re more likely to keep coming back to it. Creating a resource that is co-owned by teachers through crowdsourcing promotes use, enables contextualization, and addresses the age-old issue of reflecting teachers’ voices in the design of solutions.
Feature: Crowdsourcing aspect
Playful
Play offers a rich space for connection and positive learning experiences, combatting relationship-based stressors teachers often face. Playful pedagogies are reflective of approaches to learning embedded in the culture and can help teachers to create a low-stakes environment to tackle high-stakes issues
Feature: Repository catalogs playful pedagogies, visual design of repository
Responsive to Resource Constraints
Content must be contextualized for it to be useful; and so must technology. Ensuring the platform is functional for low bandwidth and mobile-responsive meets material resource constraints; designing a UI that is clear and not time consuming meets human resource constraints.
Feature: Use of WhatsApp for the CoP, mobile-responsive database
Socially Engaging
Why stop at building connections solely between teachers and students? Enabling teacher to teacher connection through a social component creates a sense of community and facilitates situated peer learning, ultimately aligning with a contextualized definition of teacher wellbeing.
Feature: Associated WhatsApp group
Process
The images below illustrate key components of the process: