How UX Came to CAST Tech High School
CAST Tech High School, on its own, has an exciting and unique story. With a growing Tech presence and bountiful businesses, our thriving and beautiful city of San Antonio became the perfect area for a system of career-themed high schools. With San Antonio Independent School district, the leadership of Jeanne Russell-Cofounder of Mission Street Consulting,LLC., and local industry partners, this in-district charter was opened in August of 2017 to create a pipeline of local talent for the Tech and Business sectors.
Three pathways were created for students to choose from: Computer Science, Business, and Digital Media. As the year progressed, my students were guided through a career project-based learning initiative by me, the Digital Art & Animation teacher. The students and I had an "Aha" moment when I shared with them how to use Glassdoor.com, Salary.com and Indeed.com for career research. What we found-a Graphic Designer in San Antonio would average approx. $35,000 whereas something called a UX/UI Designer averaged $74,000. Two of my students, Jason Salazar and Juan Bonilla, made the day we found the research on our SmartBoard, an unforgettable one. Their faces lit up in a way I will never forget and they said they wanted to research this more. That prompted me as their Learning Guide , to start my own research.
The User Experience(UX) field became even more interesting and exciting and I wanted to keep learning more. With my initial research, I emailed the beyond fantastic CAST Tech principal, Dr. Melissa Alcala, and stated my case to request to change the Digital Media pathway to UX Design. Being that I used to be a Debate coach before this, I delved deeper to find other high schools teaching this. My research came up with UX only being taught at the collegiate level. It is a field that can be overwhelming since there are so many aspects to it and many other fields fall under the category(Design Thinking, Human Computer Interaction, Interaction Design,etc.). I did find one school in California, Design Tech High School that taught Design Thinking as a whole, but was not specifically User Experience based.
With the thumbs up from Dr. Alcala, I met with our resourceful Partnerships Director, Amir Samandi. I pitched to him my plans for the school and the students, and in his office, he reached out to a contact at USAA. Two days later, him and I were coordinating with Jeremy Kearney and Steven Gonzalez for the first UX high school workshop at CAST Tech.
Since then, USAA has conducted 7+ workshops and their entire Chief Design Office has agreed to partner with us on this journey. Erin Haubner, the incredible USAA Director of Design Education, met with me to assist in creating a 4 year program that would get our students ready for UX internships their junior and senior years of high school. Yes, I said high school!
Currently, I am working on a proposal to the Texas Education Agency for 2 follow up high school courses to the Foundations of User Experience Design course that I got approved in May of 2019 with the guidance of a UX industry board which consisted of Dr.Laura Faulkner(Rackspace), Jeremy Kearney(USAA), Steven Gonzalez(USAA), and Clair Remmert( Jungle Disk).
There is much more for me to still learn! However, with the goal of helping our students to be more marketable; the support of an energetic and compassionate team at CAST Tech; and the pure excitement of wide-eyed students, I know this emerging field will find skilled designers right here in the Alamo City with programs such as this one. My sincere thank you to all for supporting me in this crazy and exciting endeavor!
What is UX( User Experience)?
Why the Change from Digital Media?
CAST Tech students have an opportunity to be more marketable with UX/UI Design skills over Digital Media.
First High School in the U. S. to offer this Pathway
As of now, my research has shown we are the only high school in the country to focus on UX
One high school on California does focus on Design Thinking as a whole: Design Tech High School
UX at CAST Current Update
8/9/19
Texas Education Agency approved the Foundations of UX course that I submitted as a proposal last year in May of 2019. The TEKS for the course can be found on their Innovative Courses page. I will begin teaching the course to incoming freshman for the 2019-20 this year. My goal is for my students to plan and conduct a conference for any teachers in Texas and beyond to see how they can get this pathway in their school.
10/16/2019
A few months into the course and so many of the freshman already know that UX is the pathway for them. With a focus on the field of UX, a few affinity diagrams, and a project using a simple vector tool and presentation skills, the students are now ready to learn about the next part of UX: research.
I just began introducing them to Qualitative and Quantitative data with a flipped classroom model. Our 10th and 11th graders are also delving deeper into UX research with a series of 6 Saturday workshops where they are actually working on a UX design project for a San Antonio organization. More to come on their progress and the Foundations of User Experience Design course.
I’m working with UTSA professor Dr.Carmen Fies to document this journey and will be presenting at the 2020 TCEA convention on how to begin a UX program at the high school level. This field has an abundance of opportunities and with the help of my students, I’m hopeful to give that opportunities to students in Texas and beyond.
UX Manager in Glassdoor 2019 top 25 list
2/8/20
TCEA UX Presentation
In order to help more students be as marketable as possible, my goal is for UX to be taught in as many Texas high schools as possible. The Texas Computer Education Association convention is the largest EdTech gathering with educators from all over Texas and other states coming together to teach, learn , and explore. This is where I discovered bulb Digital portfolio 3 years ago. This year, my proposal was selected for a presentation called"Teaching User Experience Design in your high school". Because I do not lecture in my class or give worksheets and it is very hands on working together, I designed this workshop for teachers to be the same. I knew I needed help, so I invited some of the top UX students in my class. That included my UX teaching intern Calista Olivares, UX Design intern Alena Chavez, and sophomore phenom Kiersten Dannenberg. I was so excited to see them document their experience on the CAST website
2/21/20
Students share out of what Design Thinking is.
3/19/20
In order to help students see the possibilities of a career in UX design, I researched which schools were leaders in UX design if students wanted to continue the collegiate route after high school. There are many great schools, but I was drawn to Savannah college of Art and Design because its UX program was created in conjunction with the UX team at Google. The CAST network made the trip possible for 6 UX Pathway all-stars. They call themselves the "SCAD Pack". (I love this because I always play the rat pack music in my classroom). When the trip ended and we were ready to board our plane back to San Antonio, COVID hit hard and we returned to the reality that is the pandemic. I count my blessings for the trip, the kids, and the hope that it left indelibly ingrained in all of us that visited. We learned how Savannah,GA was hit with yellow fever in the 1800's and the devastation it caused. And we saw how people can come together to rebuild a community and a society as we will do as well. The students did a great job capturing this journey in the CAST Tech News.
6/30/20
A sad goodbye! I made the difficult decision to not only leave CAST, but to leave the classroom. Just like the students, I saw my own growth at CAST and what I am capable of and wanted to pursue helping as many educators and students as possible. To continue my mission of getting UX in as many high schools as possible and to help students realize they are more than just a letter or number grade, I joined bulb Digital portfolios. As a CTE teacher, I have used everything for a portfolio and this true portfolio platform was so powerful, that as an EdTech Solutions Specialist, I can help so many grow in their own endeavors.
I know that Dr. Alcala will find a wonderful teacher for the UX program, but that was the goal. To create the classes so that any teacher would be able to implement it. To the students, families and colleagues I was fortunate enough to meet while at CAST...you will always be in my heart and my story! Love and light to you all.
9/19/20
CAST Tech now has 2 UX teachers. Jonathan Earley, who taught Web Design and Game Development, is now the Advanced UX teacher. So happy to announce that Tyler Idrogo, first time teacher ever, is now the Foundations of UX design teacher. I have been working with Tyler on his lessons and so far he is doing a great job learning UX and teaching it.
4/6/2023
CAST has now found the perfect magic with what makes a great UX teacher. I am so excited to have been coaching and passing along the torch to Yaritza Farillas the new, and out of this world , foundations of UX teachers. For me, I continue to wirk with Digital Influx who is a company out of London founded by a UX recruiter who was trying to fill open positions and realize that to produce amazing UX designers, they need to start young. I consulted for them to create the first UX kids course(10-12). A few weeks ago, I became the President of their foundation they just opened to help bring UX into as many K-12 organizations globally. We will focus on providing schools with strategy services to create and implement UX design programs; work to get UX certifications in every state; provide in-depth training for upcoming UX teachers; and provide no-cost access to Digital Influx curriculum for title 1 schools.
It all started at CAST!