Summary
Save the Children developed and launched the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) in 2014, an assessment tool for 3 to 6-year-olds that measures motor development, emergent language and literacy, emergent numeracy, and social-emotional development. They had received a grant to develop an online portal to highlight the tool and serve as a knowledge hub and central repository for international Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) evidence and a community to share global advocacy program and policy best practices.
Save the Children hired me to lead the creation of a web portal for early childhood education (launched in August 2017). I played a dual role of Product Owner and Content Strategist for the project. I orchestrated the project from initial planning and design, to development and final delivery.
The IDELA team’s specifications and grant proposal had four main components:
1) A dynamic, online repository of IDELA published materials and best practices.
2) An online Community of Practice for IDELA practitioners, advocates, and early childhood education experts.
3) Data visualizations demonstrating the effectiveness of the IDELA tool in capturing and measuring young children’s development in several dimensions.
4) An online archive of the IDELA tool and its translations accessible and downloadable to members of the IDELA community.
Based on review of the project’s grant and staff and stakeholder interviews, I developed the digital content strategy of a website with a dynamic, taxonomy-driven archive of resources and using Tableau for data visualizations. In addition, the website will have a “members only” feature where access to the IDELA tool will be restricted to designated and approved members of the IDELA community.
Product Owner
1) I simplified client requirements and prioritized competing requirements to define the technical and design scope of the project.
2) I developed an RFP and led the process to solicit competitive bids from multiple vendors and to select a digital agency to execute the project.
Impact: Our team was able to identify and partner with a digital agency who met the scope and specifications of the project within the required budget. The site launched on budget and on schedule.
Content Strategy
1) I performed a content audit and inventory
2) I curated offline content into an archive to be formatted for online publication for the IDELA website: journal articles, presentations, white papers, reports and other publications
3) I developed a taxonomy to drive dynamic content (resources, publications, and data visualizations)
4) I conducted user research: user and stakeholder interviews, survey, card sort, tree test, usability testing
5) I reviewed and evaluated wireframes, sketches, information architecture, and designs from our digital agency partner
6) I partnered with subject matter experts to optimize content for the web and repurpose print material for online publishing
7) I created documentation for WordPress and trained staff. I developed guidelines for editorial procedures and web governance
Impact: We were able to launch a modern, mobile-responsive portal for early childhood education and development from the ground up. The site launched populated with a ready archive of downloadable resources and data visualizations, and a plan and procedures for managing, producing and formatting content for online publishing for the future.
