MITx: 11.

132x Design and Development of Educational Technology

Week 4 Assignment 4.2: Use case scenario
Eugenio Jacobo Hernndez Valdelamar
November, 2014.

Introduction
In this assignment you will think about the big picture of how your intervention fits into a learning
ecosystem, and write up a use case scenario. This should give you more insight into what specific uses
you may need to design for.
What is a use case scenario? Its basically the story of one user (or group of users) of your tool. Its a
written (or maybe drawn) narrative telling about who this user is, why theyre using the product, and in
what context they are using it. So in the case of ed tech, we like to include things like the age and
background of the learner, why theyre using the product, where, with whom, what are the stakes, etc.
The key thing about a use case scenario is that it doesnt detail all possible users and everything they
might want to do with your technology. You just get to dream up one learner and tell the story of their
experience.

SAFE: survival planning

Have you heard the news about natural disasters around the world? People are not prepared to face a
thing like that.
I am developing an educational technology that let people (kids & teens) make their own survival
planning to learn to be prepared in case of an emergency or a disaster.
Do you know what to do in case of a disaster? Are you prepared?
Well, with this product people will play the role of a risk analyst, and in the process they will learn
what to do to prevent a disaster or at least, how to be prepared.
After all, climate changes are a serious threat around the world.

Use case scenario.

Ivan, Alex and Melina are seventh grade students. It is September, and every year an earthquake drill is
organized on September 19 to remember the 1985 earthquakes in Mexico city. This year, their teacher
prepared a session where some basic disaster prevention concepts will be reviewed. As part of their
semester grade, their teacher assigned them to make a risk map and a family emergency plan, using a
web application called SAFE.
They need to work together to gather some important information like:
1. locate important public buildings in their neighborhood (schools, hospitals, churches, shelters)
2. locate transport routes
3. locate their homes and their parents works
they must insert all these locations in a map provided by the web application.
Next:
4. Do some research to determine possible menaces in the city (seismic zones, volcanoes, rivers)
5. Do some research and ask people in their community about disasters in the past.
they must insert all these menaces in a map provided by the web application.
One funny thing about menaces is that icons of the volcanoes have some options. When they start to
play with those options, an area around the volcano icon is drawn, and depending of the option this area
change its shape and size.
When they choose seismic zones, they are asked by the application to give a zip code, and then, the
map is colored with several areas, and a color code palette is displayed.
Some weeks later, their teacher organize another session about disaster prevention, but this time, when
he opens the web applications and the project related to the group, all students are surprised because
most of the information they collected previously is now on the group's map.
The teacher then starts to make questions like: do you know what to do in case of an emergency here at
the school? Do you know the hospital that the school will take you in case of an injury? Do your
parents know how to communicate with school personnel?
These additional questions establish the need for a prevention school plan. Although in principle this
plan is the responsibility of the school, students are entitled to participate. Moreover, the teacher asked
the teams begin to develop family emergency plans, considering where they can meet their parents,
where other family members are, what they need to have if you must evacuate their homes. All these
data remains confidential to the web application.
In the web application they find some guides of how to make emergency plans, some references and
forums related to family plans, and get some ideas for their own.
A final session is proposed at first December week. This time, the teams will present their plans, and
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their comments from their parents. Additionally, the teacher reviews the school emergency plan,
simulating one risk at a time, for example, runs a simulation of a volcano eruption. This displays an
area on the map, showing the school position. The interesting thing is that additionally to the boom
thing, the wind direction can be changed, so they realize that maybe the lava won't get to school, but
ashes will do, and they will need to protect their respiratory tract and eyes.
Teacher told everybody that they can access to their projects anytime, and can print their risk maps and
plans.
On holidays their teacher told his experience to one of his cousins, who is also a teacher, and he want to
know more to take this experience to his community.
Kids are so fascinated that they comment all their results with their parents. Fortunately, one of them
works for the government and it seemed interesting this way of engaging citizens.

References
UN office for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR)
http://www.unisdr.org/
Community Disaster Management
http://www.weready.org/CDM/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=14
Community Preparedness
http://www.ready.gov/community-preparedness
Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA)
http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/preparing-for-disaster/disaster-preparednesstools1/