Registration for Wilfrid Laurier University’s Design for Change challenge, hosted by the user experience (UX) design program, is open until Nov. 12.
This year for the challenge’s third installment, participants will aim to answer the question: How can we harness generative AI to make education more accessible?
The challenge is entirely virtual and takes place over a 10-week period where students take part
by creating human-centred design methodologies that develop and propose a solution to the challenge question.
Resources such as mentors and workshops will be provided to participants as no prior experience is required. Undergraduate-level students from any Canadian uni- versity or college can participate and submissions for the challenge are due on Jan. 19.
“I think [participants] can highly benefit from that level of collaboration and the resources that we have available to them to help them succeed,” said Andrew Hawling, the strategic relationship officer for the UX design program, when describing how members from the challenge come from varying academic backgrounds — including artificial intelligence and accessibility.
On Jan. 29, the top five finalists will be announced, followed by the finalists pitching their solutions
to a panel of judges virtually on Feb. 4.
Submissions will be evaluated based on usefulness, potential impact and design process. More than $15,000 in prizes can be won, with the first-place winner receiving $1,100 per team member, the second place team winning $600 per member and the third-place group earning $300 per member.
The challenge was first hosted in 2021 and centered around climate change. The second installment was hosted last year with a focus on homelessness.
Abby Goodrum, a UX design professor and the program coordinator, explained that each year, the challenge has seen around 400 participants enroll initially and 150 who stick with the challenge all the way through.
“We’ve been wildly successful since the very first one,” she said.
Adam Joaquin, now a user experience specialist and mentor for participants in this year’s challenge, was a finalist in the 2023 challenge.
He said he heard about the challenge through one of his professors at the University of Toronto. Joaquin teamed up with a classmate to create their solution submission for the challenge’s homelessness objective.
“Through our research, we wanted to figure out what user group to focus on to best tackle this issue. We focused on youth and then more specifically, we focused on structural prevention by promoting social inclusion and community engagement for the youth,” he said. “We developed this initiative called the Branch Out Initiative, which harmonizes the public libraries as well as youth services.”
When asked if he recommended participating in the design challenge, Joaquin gave an overwhelming yes. “It is great for practice, portfolio and resume work. And I’d say after school, there’s not much time to be doing these kinds of things anyway so if you’re in school, might as well do it,” he said.
For more information on the Design for Change challenge and registration, visit wludesignforchange.com.
