Students valued experiential learning through hands-on activities and  exercises to use concepts learned in class. For example, to practice needs  assessment and the rich qualitative methods of observation and interviews,  an early course exercise focused on handwashing with soap or Hand  sanitizer, an important challenge both in the U.S. and in the developing  world. Students observed local handwashing practices. They noticed  changes in behavior once the observer was recognized, documented the  associated facilities and interviewed users. Students learned not only how to  collect qualitative and quantitative data but also how to understand the  users’ most important challenges and needs and communicate these  insights. They also learned to gain insights from the contradictions between  what people say (e.g., they say they wash their hands for 20 seconds with  soap) and what they do (e.g., they are observed to wash hands with no soap  for only 10 seconds). Students also enjoyed the cookstove case study, in  which teams tested several stove designs to cook a large pot of rice.  Cookstoves make a good case study for development technology design and  deployment as half of the world’s population cooks on dirty and inefficient  stoves [40]. On each team, students acted as participant observers (that is,  cooks), focusing on the user experience; as design researchers, gathering  observational data; or as data analysts, collecting temperature information  using thermocouple sensors.

“What seemed like a very simple task (lighting a fire and boiling rice) turned  out to be much more challenging than anticipated. Our success could be  attributed to resources which the typical user would not have. The  experience was enjoyable, in part because it was for class and not for our  family’s livelihood.”

