MY LEARNING PORTFOLIO

STANFORD LDT 24

My Learning Portfolio

Pearlyn Kwang

Start

06/10/18

About Me

Hi there! I’m Pearlyn. I’m a psychologist by training, a designer at heart and an educator by choice. I believe that learning should be an adventure that transcends the boundaries of the classroom. I would like to explore how we can harness the power of technologies to create more inclusive, equitable and meaningful learning experiences, and help educators be better designers of such experiences.

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A Learning Journey

My one year at Stanford

11 Sep 23

Stanford Graduate Summer Institute

Fall overview

26 Sep 23

Fall Quarter

Winter Overview

8 Jan 23

Winter Quarter

Spring Overview

1 Apr 24

Spring Quarter

Summer Overview

24 Jun 24

Summer Quarter

Fall Overview

Course List

Artifact 2:

Artifact 1:

Research Proposal

Analysis of a Learning Tool

In my first quarter, I aimed to strengthen my understanding of the learning theories and frameworks.

For the course "Engineering Education and Online Learning"

For the course "Technology for Learners"

Winter Overview

Artifacts 5:

Artifact 4:

Artifact 3:

Artifact 6:

Series of Learning Tools

Gift-giving app prototype

Explorable Explanation

VR Lesson

For the course "Learning, Making, Crafting, Creating"

For the course "Designing with Machine Learning"

For the course "Designing Learning and Making Environment'

For the course "Designing explorable explanation"

Course List

Click on the images to find out more about each project!

Spring Overview

Mentoring

Internship

Course List

Artifact 7:

@ Stanford GSE Makery

Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo

Chrome Extension

In this quarter, the focus was on application of learning in different settings.

For the course "Designing for Accessibility"

Summer Overview

Capstone Project

Internship

Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo

Chalk Up!

Course List

Spring

Winter

Fall

Fine Tuning

Diving Deeper

Exploring the landscape

EDUC 229A LDT Seminar EDUC 193P Peer Counseling at the Bridge EDUC 200A Introduction to Data Analysis & Interpretation EDUC 281 Technology for Learners EDUC 391 Engineering Education & Online Learning COMM 159B Shaping America's Future: Exploring the Key Issues on Our Path to the 2024 Elections

EDUC 229C LDT Seminar CS 377Q Designing for Accessibility Internship with Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo Makery Mentor @ GSE Makery

EDUC 229B LDT Seminar EDUC 237 Learning, Making, Crafting, Creating ME 269 Designing Learning and Making Environments (VR) DESIGN 282 Designing with Machine Learning EDUC 432 Designing Explorable Explanations for Learning

Summer

EDUC 229D LDT SeminarInternship with Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo

Sharing Out

Thank you!

Research Proposal

For the course on “Engineering Education & Online Learning”, I decided to take on a partner project which is a collaboration with Stanford School of Music. The research project aligns with my background in psychology, and it provided an opportunity to explore potential implications of virtual acoustics on learning and performance. Together with my partner, Cindy Liu, we came up with a research proposal which has been approved by Prof Jonathan Berger, from Stanford’s School of Music. We were scheduled to carry out the study, but had to postpone due to renovations at the lab.

Our research questions are: ​​

• How does reverberation affect a singer’s self-reported enjoyment of performance?
• How does reverberation affect pitch and rhythmic accuracy?

Together with my partner, Emily Liu, we planned, designed and conducted an immersive VR lesson for Grade 3 students to learn about empathy and use active listening skills to show empathy. This was done using the Ecosystemone platform and the lesson is available for future use by other users on the platform.

Designing for Accessibility

In the course, I had the opportunity to conduct user interviews with blind / low vision users to understand their needs and design a tool that will enhance accessibility in online shopping. My group created a chrome extension that leverages AI to answer additional questions users may have about clothing items on shopping sites to help users make more informed purchasing decisions. Click the link below to view our demo.

Link

Explorable explanation

In the course, I learnt how to design effective explorable explanations for learning using evidence-based strategies and frameworks. For my final project, I chose to create a physical explorable explanation which children can interact with to learn more about forces and motion. Click on the link below to watch my video demonstration.

Link

GSE Makery Mentor

As a makery mentor, I supported and guided students in using various tools like laser cutters, 3D printers and embroidery machines to bring their ideas to life. In Week 9, I ran a candlemaking workshop and a laser cutting workshop. In the latter, participants learnt how to easily create earring designs using PowerPoint and laser cut it. All the participants were able to make their own unique pair of earrings at the end of the workshop. This stint provided me with opportunities to hone my skills in providing effective instructions to help students gain technical skills.

Link to workshop photos

Internship Overview

I was fortunate to intern again at the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo (JMZ) this quarter, an experience that continues to enrich my understanding of science education and how to engage young learners effectively. This time, I had the additional responsibility of guiding new volunteers, which felt like a "train-the-trainer" experience. It was an eye-opening opportunity to develop my skills in facilitating the learning of high school volunteers, who in turn, help visitors learn. The experience underscored the importance of demonstration over mere instruction when scaffolding learning. For example, showing volunteers how to ask questions proved far more effective than simply telling them they needed to do so. A significant challenge this quarter was redesigning the program kits used by volunteers for mini science sessions. The existing kits, with their unclear instructions and materials, were not intuitive. This task required me to shift my perspective and consider how someone unfamiliar with the content might approach it. Creating teaching materials for oneself is relatively straightforward, as you already have a mental script of what to say. However, making these materials accessible and user-friendly for others demands empathy and a deep understanding of how different people process information. The difficulty I encountered in making these kits more user-friendly offered me new insights as an educator: delivering information is one thing, but translating that information into something

others can easily use requires a different level of thoughtfulness and care. This internship has solidified my career aspirations and sharpened my focus on the path ahead. The hands-on experience of working with young learners has not only deepened my understanding of how to engage and educate, but it has also provided me with practical skills that I can directly apply to teaching and program development. Guiding new volunteers in their roles added a valuable "train-the-trainer" dimension to my experience, further boosting my confidence in teaching courses related to developing programs for children. Now, I can offer authentic, experience-based guidance, drawing from my firsthand experience of interacting with children and training others to facilitate learning in children. Additionally, this internship has opened doors to potential collaborations with educational and community organizations that share my passion for science and nature education. These connections are invaluable as I continue to build a career dedicated to creating inclusive learning environments and integrating technology into education. While this experience hasn’t changed my career goals, it has enriched my perspective and equipped me with new tools to pursue them with greater confidence and effectiveness.

Capstone Project - Chalk Up

Partner: Danielle FongThrough a comprehensive needfinding and research process, we recognize limitations of existing teacher evaluation methods, which often focus on performance rather than continuous improvement. To address the issue, we based our tool on Brookfield’s (2009) recommendations for facilitating self-directed learning. "Chalk up" guides teachers through a structured process of self-assessment, helping them identify their learning needs, visualize their strengths, and set SMART action plans for ongoing growth. The tool provides personalized learning resources, supplementing traditional evaluation processes and fostering a more effective and self-directed approach to professional development. Prototyping and user studies have demonstrated initial effectiveness. Click on the link below to watch our promo video.

Watch

Internship Overview

I conducted various learning experiences for visitors at the museum and zoo. I also designed activity worksheets for children of different age groups and am in the midst of redesigning a program kit which volunteers can use to conduct a learning experience for visitors. The most interesting part was watching how kids interacted with the exhibits. They all had their own interests and fixations. One moment that stuck with me was asking a girl playing with a balancing toy what would happen if she moved a piece. We ended up having a whole mini-exploration session testing different combinations! It made me realize learning can happen anywhere, sparked by curiosity and exploration, not just in planned activities. This internship didn't change my career goals, but it definitely gave me a ton of practical knowledge on creating effective programs for children. Now I can share my own experiences of catering to different learning styles and using prompts and questions to spark curiosity in young learners, which will be amazing when I teach others how to design engaging activities in the future.

Analysis of Learning Tool

For the course “Technology for Learners”, I wrote an analysis paper for a digital learning tool called Mimo. In the paper, I discuss the theory of change model adopted by the developers, evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the tool using learning theories and frameworks and provided recommendations for improvement.

App Prototype

In this course, I learnt more about machine learning tools and algorithms. For my final project, my group and I applied the design thinking process to identify needs and prototyped a tool using ML to make the gift-giving process easier. Members: Sumanth Nethi, Irawati Puteri, Natalie Salk

View the presentation deck

Try the prototype