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Identifying Problems - Activity Description

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Assigned Problems

Problem 1:The students at Los Andes University face barriers to solving academic questions outside the class. On one hand, the office hours scheduled are at the same time as other classes, so it is logistically complicated that all the students can attend office hours. Before an exam or an important deadline, the session is full so there is no time to solve all the questions. On the other hand, it is difficult to find a study group with complementary abilities to have a balanced collaborative group with a similar level.

Problem 4:There is an inefficient cycle regarding the consumption of academic resources (books, physical tools, and licenses): advanced students accumulate costly materials that become obsolete at the end of the semester, while students in earlier semesters incur high financial costs by purchasing new materials, due to the lack of an efficient channel for transfer or reuse within the university community.


Structure of the Interviews

Interview Structure Problem #1

1). Introduction (6mn):  

    - Context: explanation of the problematic (4mn) 

    - Goal: Why are we doing the interview. (2mn) 

    - Can I record our conversation? 

2). Profile of the interviewee (45sec):

    - Career (25sec) 

    - Semester (20sec)	 

3). Guide questions: (3mn - 7mn/question) [These questions are a guide, they have the goal to open the discussion]

   1. When you try to attend a tutoring session, what is your experience usually like regarding time availability and personalized attention? It depends on the week we are in? Is it during the whole semester the same?

      Purpose: Know the experience of an student (Alejandra) in different moments of the semester.
   2. How do you usually organize or find study groups when you need to review a demanding subject? 
      Purpose: Knowing if she is the type of student that likes to study in group (why or why not) Knowing how does she choses her groups. Knowing under what conditions she prefers study groups or not. 

   3. What is the most frustrating thing about studying in a group or seeking academic support at university?
      Purpose: Knowing her experience when she attends to spaces like Prisma, Cupitaller, Pentagono as well as her group studies. Problems she had, opportunities of improvement that she identified. 

   4. Had ever occurred to you that at the end of a tutoring session you feel the same (lost your time) didn't solve any doubt
      Purpose: Knowing her feeling after a tutoring session, regarding how good she felt her question was answered and how clear was the topic at the topic at the end. 

   5. You think this dynamic discourages students from taking advantage of these spaces
      Purpose: How she thought the perspective/ experience of students is affected by the way the office hours are designed/proposed.

4). Conclusion (2mn) 

    - Short summary of the answers (to confirm/recapitulate) 

    - Thank you for your time. It helped a lot! 

Interview Structure Problem #4

1). Introduction:  

    - Context: explanation of the problematic (4mn) 

    - Goal: What information do we need and why are we doing the interview (1mn) 

    - Can I record our conversation 

2). Profile of the interviewee 

    - Career (25sec) 

    - How long ago did you graduate? (15sec) 

3). Guide questions: 3-7mn / question [These questions are a guide, they have the goal to open the discussion]

     1. Have you tried to sell, lend, or give away academic materials you no longer use, what was the process and what difficulties did you encounter? 
        Purpose: Knowing if the interviewed has a previous experience with the dynamic of selling second-handed material. In case he have know his experience, motivations, difficulties, results.

     2. When you need a resource for a specific semester, have you considered buying it secondhand from another student? Why or why not? 
        Purpose: Knowing if he has a bias using secondhand material and in that case which one and why.  If he have would he do it again.

     3. Typically, how did you acquire your academic supplies or materials at the start of a new term (buying new, using second-hand, or borrowing them)? 
        Purpose: Developing a profile of a user. His motivations in order to identify characteristics of possible users or ways to convinced new users. 

4). Conclusion 

    - Short summary of the answers (to confirm and recapitulate) 

    - Thank you for your time. It helped a lot ! 

Transcription of the interview Problem #1:

Evidence of the interview:

image +So, hello, good morning Alejandra, how are you? Fine, and you? Fine, thank you. Thank you for your time for this little interview. I want you to tell me if you agree with this meeting being recorded so we can have the audio.

-Yes, I agree.

+Okay, so I'm going to tell you why we're doing this interview. With my group, we identified like some issues in university like that we want to kind of analyze and propose like a solution and we would like you to know your experience as a student and, yeah, your perspective, your point of view. So, I'm going to explain you like really fast the problem we identified and then we're going to start with the questions. Do you agree?

-Yes.

+Okay, so in university, we're both in Los Andes, you know, we identified that students face barriers to solving an academic question outside the class. Yes, we have like office hours, they are scheduled, but at the same time, maybe, but at the same time, there may be other classes or some people can attend those specific like schedules, so maybe it's logistically complicated that all students can attend to office hours. Also, before an exam or an important deadline, the sessions are like full, so there is not like enough time to solve all the questions because most of the times it's like one assistant or one teacher and that teacher can also have other classes of the same topic, but other topics as well. So, that's what like one situation, but also, on the other hand, it is difficult to find a study group with complementary abilities to have like a balanced collaborative group with a similar level like peer-to-peer. So, I don't know, like, have that happened to you? Maybe when you try to attend a tutoring session, what is your experience usually, like regarding time availability or personalized attention, which factors it depends on, like time of the semester, like deadlines? Tell me.

-Okay, first, regarding when I've been tutoring, so usually when I tutor, it's difficult because I can't find a specific time that works for everyone, so what I usually do is like I send out Google Forms so people can vote what is the best time for them, but that doesn't work, that doesn't always work because what you say, like the availability of the person, of the people, but then. On the other hand, when I go to the tutoring sessions, like when I need help, it's usually when, as you said, like when we are on the hardest week of the semester and eight week or 16, most of the times my questions doesn't, my questions don't get resolved because the amount of people that's on the sessions, so what I usually do is I try to go earlier so I can find the professor or the person helping, so I can say my questions really fast or then at the end of the session, but it's, it really depends I think.

+Okay, so like, the way you contact your professors is like email or it is like more efficient if you just arrive to their office and see if they have any time or since you said like most of the times you are in the tutoring session, it's full because of the moment, the time of the semester. Have you ever tried to contact like or solve any doubt with an email only, or like not assisting to the tutoring session just by email?

-Not really, I think like email sometimes it's not the best way because not everyone checks their email every day, so maybe I need the answer for the question right now and then the exam is the next day, so it depends when it's the exam. If I don't have any hurry, I email, but if I need the answer right away, I prefer to go to the professor or the tutor session.

+Okay, so you maybe think this dynamic of tutoring sessions discourages students from taking advantage of these spaces because, I mean, these spaces are designed like after class in addition to class, you know, so it's like a really good opportunity to go and really solve any doubt, but maybe what you tell me that it's full, you have to be really early or really late and it has to be like really quickly. Do you think that discourages the students from taking, from assisting?

-Yeah, sometimes because, you know, everyone has the availability and all the time to spend on the sessions because sometimes they have other classes and they say like, wait, I don't have time for this, I prefer don't going and then they fall behind in class. It usually happens to me too when I have a lot of things, I say like I'd rather spend time in my home trying to figure it out than losing my time there.

+Okay, so it happened like more than once to you that you went to the tutoring session but at the end you said like you felt like you lost your time, you didn't solve any doubt.

-Yeah, sometimes, not every time because when it's the first weeks of the semester that is not really an issue, but yeah, like at the latest week it is.

+Okay, so that's for like tutoring sessions with professors or monitors, but when the other scenario, when you're in a group, study group with your classmates or with your friends, like how do you choose that? Do you choose your friends to be your study group usually? Because sometimes, like in our case, we hadn't like never shared a class, so sometimes it's like that those factors influence the way you choose your study groups.

-I do usually pick the friends which I'm taking the class to, that I know that they are gonna know something, like I know they are studying because either way I'm losing my time with people that doesn't pay attention to the class or don't really care about it, so we try, we usually speak in the WhatsApp group, like who has the time and we get together to study what we have to, but I'm not really the best person for studying in groups because I think I really get distracted but when it's a really important topic or a topic that I don't know a lot about, I do prefer trying to get with someone that does know something about it.

+Okay, so you had like looked for support in university groups like, I don't know, Pentagono, Prisma?

-Yes, when I was taking physics, I went all the time to Prisma for help because I didn't really know how to do the exercises. They were really nice about it and they can help you through it, so yes, I usually use those.

+Okay, so in terms of these study groups with support like Prisma, Pentagono, what is the most frustrating thing about assisting to these spaces? Yeah, they work, as you told me, they're nice but I don't know, sometimes maybe there was like, that happened something that frustrated you, that didn't like you or that really affects your process of like understanding or doing a homework.

-Okay, what usually happened to me is that I had to schedule all the sessions like at the beginning of the week because then if I didn't, then I wouldn't have it. I like, I wouldn't have find the time in which it works for me and it works for them, so I had to schedule everything earlier in the week in order to work later. So, I think that was the most frustrating thing and also sometimes there were students that weren't as prepared as I wish or weren't as experienced in one topic and it was like, okay, you can teach me that other thing but then I have to come again to understand that other thing.

+Okay, so it happened to you sometimes that the tutor was not, like, was not correct, like he made a mistake and he didn't knew he was making a mistake?

-Not really, like it was a mistake, just that they don't, they didn't knew as much as the topic as I wish they did, so I had to reschedule with someone else that was like, as experienced, but they usually told you, like, I don't really know about this one, we can check with the professor or we can do this. They give you alternatives, so that's good because they try to help you either way.

+Okay, great. So, well, in terms of the organization you just mentioned, like you have to eschedule, like, everything weekly. I know because I attended to these spaces that maybe sometimes there is, like, a limit of sessions you can schedule and at least for me, sometimes I needed more than the ones that I was allowed to schedule, so I don't know, maybe that happened to you? Would you, like, you, what do you think about it? Do you think it's fair or, because, I mean, if I know, if I have to go, like, five times in one day, I'm really taking the opportunity from someone that has not even go once and I already go, like, four or three, so this distribution of schedules and this, like, limits of, like, they, the limits they established, like, what do you think about it?

-It happened to me that I needed more time, so what I usually did was that I scheduled some sessions and then I told a friend to schedule others and we went together, but I think it's a good thing because sometimes we can take the chance from others and it help, but it also happens that then these spaces are not used if the other people don't take them, so I think a good alternative will be that you have a time to schedule with a limit, like, with a limit amount of sessions, but then at some point of the day, if anyone hasn't taken the space, you could take it even though you already had your limit. I think that's a good alternative because sometimes the spaces get lost because not everyone needs help or not everybody asks for it.

+Okay, and, like, this suggestion you made, like, this alternative you propose, is there any other, like, I don't know, in terms of choosing your tutor, being able to assist in big groups, like, not only, because I know maybe I'm wrong, but at Prisma you can only go, like, two or three people max, so, I don't know, there's, like, another suggestion you have in your experience that you think, like, will really improve the experience and will encourage, like, students to assist to these spaces?

-I like the idea of that I'm able to choose my tutor because as I went a lot to Prisma, for example, I already knew the tutors and knew who was best for me, like, with whom I had the best direction and I really understand their teaching method. I think that's a good idea, but as large groups, I think that is not as good because sometimes you get, like, you're hanging out with your friends and then you're not really studying and you're not paying attention, so you're making the tutor lose their time, so, yeah, I don't think that's good. I think two, three people tops, it's, I mean, you can take it from there.

+Okay, so, to, like, to close, maybe, as you said, like, when you go with your friends, you end up, like, hanging out and not, really studying, so, like, that's, like, one scenario, but if there is, like, the possibility of assisting with people that, like, they're not specifically your friends, maybe they are your classmates or from other sections of the same subject, but, like, they're also in your, like, confused in the same points of the homework or the same topic of the exam, so, would you like to be, like, in a group of a tutoring group with people you don't know, like, but, like, with you, like, you share your doubts and the course, the subject?

-Yeah, I think, yeah, I would like that because sometimes people ask questions that I've never even thought about, but they also help me, so, I think it would be a good idea and also maybe with those persons, with those people that are taking the same class as me, they can have knowledge about topics that I don't, so, yeah, I think it's a good idea and also it works for networking within the class, so, yeah, I think it's good.

+Okay, and you think, like, in this point of your, like, of your career and semester in university, it's, like, useful?

-Um, maybe not. I think it will be useful at the first semesters, but at this point, I already have, has, like, I really like the way that I study and I've been through a lot of different methods to get where I am, so, not really. Maybe the group studies, yeah, but going to the tutoring sessions and all that, I already, like, like the way I study and it works for me, so, maybe not. Maybe it's more useful for the people that are beginning, so, they try to find ways to study that works for them.

+Okay, okay, thank you so much. Like, like a short summary of your answers, you do attend to these tutoring sessions with professors, they are useful, but the biggest, like, issue is the quantity of people and you, if you arrive, like, in order to solve your ideas, you have to be really early or really late at the end of the session and it has to be, like, really fast because, like, the waiting list is, like, a lot. Um, you organized your group, um, your study groups with your friends, but you choose your friends since, in order to know, in order to, like, have a result, a good result if your friend, um, pay attentions and it's, like, fully interested in class, you, like, you study with them, but in the other case, well, no, and these spaces university provide, like, a Prisma, Pentágono, CUpitalier, and all that kind of, like, spaces and, like, additional spaces to solve doubts, you do support and attending to them, but, um, there are, like, some restrictions that you will, like, need to change, like, um, maybe choosing your tutor, being able to be, um, in little groups, not, like, five friends, uh, in the same, like, tutoring session, but, um, also the last thing we talked about was to go to a tutoring session, but, uh, with a lot of people, not your friends, but people of your same section or, like, are giving, are, like, studying the same subject and that, like, you don't know each other, but you have the opportunity to be in group and solving ideas in these spaces, correct? Like, we, um, like, I said everything we discussed, right?

-Yes, yes, that's about it.

+Okay, thank you so much for your time. It really helped a lot.

-Thank you. Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.

Transcription of the interview Problem #4:

Evidence of the interview:

image

+Hi, good afternoon. How are you, Pipe?

-Hello, Sofia. Good, good. You know, cold. Bogota is pretty cold these days.

+Well, thank you for your time. Today, this little interview is because at the university we want to solve, like, we identified some problems, some situations we want to, like, analyze and, like, propose a solution. So we would like to know your perspective. I'm going to tell you, like, a little summary of the problem before we start with the questions.So I hope it's OK.

-Yep. Yeah, go ahead.

+So, you know, as a student of the university, that maybe, I don't know if you are familiarized with the situation, but we identified that there is an inefficient cycle regarding the consumption of academic resources, like books, calculators, other physical tools, and maybe also licenses. We identified that advanced students accumulate constantly materials that become obsolete at the end of the semester. So sometimes you have a class, you buy everything you need for that class. The semester ends, you pass the class, hopefully, and you never use again these, like, materials you used. So they become completely obsolete. And while this happened, other students in earlier, like, semesters have to incur financially in these aspects once again. So this caused by purchasing new materials due to the lack of an efficient channel for transfer or reuse within the university community. So, I don't know. We identified this. We would like you to know, to share with us what do you think it had happened to you before, if you know, if you have something you never used, if you only used one and it become completely, like, obsolete. And yeah, this conversation is being recorded. You had already previously given your consent, so it's OK. But before, tell me, are you still a student? How long ago did you graduate? What is your career?

-Yeah, so I am currently not a student. I just finished my master's degree in computer science, MISO, a master's in software engineering at the Universidad de los Andes. I finished on November. I got my diploma, but I finished studying, like, in August last year. So, yeah, I've been not a student for around six months, eight months. And yeah, I do think this has happened to me before. I remember for a couple of classes, I had to buy this huge calculator so I could do some analytic or probabilistic formulas. I also, for physics, I bought the books, for chemistry, for biology classes, I also bought the books. And those books are actually in my father's place, like, just wasting space. People could have used them, although they are pretty, they are not in the best state. I guess maybe they could be sold cheaply. I mean, I do think that I could benefit from just selling the books and being rid of them for some even small amount of money. And if someone else would benefit by buying those books cheap, that would be great. Yeah, there are some books that I do think I would not sell. But because they are more related to, like, what I actually work on in my career. But books like the physics book, the biology book, some like humanities books that I don't read anymore. Yeah, I could sell those. The calculator, I have like three of them. I do not use them. They're perfect. But yeah, they're like just laying down in a box. And of course, it would be great if someone else would have them and I could get something in return. Yeah, I do think this would make sense. So yeah, I do think any student empathizes with this, especially since we don't want to keep everything. Because not all the things we do at university are related to our degree. And our, you know, focus and the rest of our life will not be strictly... We won't be needing like a biology book or a chemistry book or a physics book or a computer science book, depending on the career. But yeah, I think that's the answer. Sofia, not sure.

+Okay. That's good. Have you tried to sell them or lend or give away academic materials you no longer use? Like once you have, have you ever like tried and then someone tell you like, no, it's okay. I will use copies or whatever.

-I gave them to my brother. But I have never tried to do anything about it. Yeah. No, I have never tried to sell them. I have seen people that actually copy them. But yeah. But so no, I basically have never tried to sell anything.

+Okay. And when you needed the resources, like you ever considered like having it with like a second hand resource?

-Yeah, yeah. I think I remember at high school, I remember that I asked for some friends. I had to read 100 years of solitude. And, you know, they asked for specific editions at the school. But they also told us like, hey, if you want to just grab an old edition, because I know people from other like higher grades have it. You can just ask. And I did loan them. I mean, I didn't, I loaned them. I borrowed them for free from people at school. But yeah, I never never loaned any book. Oh, I did loan one for a class from the for the at university, a geography book, because I mean, it's a geography book. And, you know, it's not related to my degree at all. So so yeah, I just loaned it for a specific class at university for very cheap. And I did forget to deliver it. But yeah, I had to pay some fines for that. But yeah, that's my only experience loaning books.

+Okay, so maybe you think like now that PDFs and online versions are like allowed and available. I mean, like at university, we have IRUs and resources like online resources. Have you ever like interact with them like, you know, like the UI between the ebooks? And how do you like that? Or you prefer physical books or PDFs? Or which one you prefer?

-Yeah, I think it's quite a dilemma for my master's degree. I relied entirely on online books, like PDFs, or we had a subscription to O'Reilly. I guess you've heard it. And if you haven't, it's really good. Really like it. I mean, I would say that reading a book on paper is just better for me. But I mean, I cannot control F search for specific words on a document. And that is something that I can actually do on these like EPUBs or PDFs or like online services for viewing books. I do think they are really practical. Like, I love O'Reilly. I think it has great programming books and you just pay a monthly subscription and you get almost everything you might need. So, yeah, but I do not think that, but it might be the price is pretty steep, right? I think O'Reilly is not cheap. So, yeah, that is something to consider. If you just want to loan a book or just buy a used book, it might be cheaper and maybe you can get it on paper, which is great. It's even better than on a platform. But I do think it's pretty useful. It just depends on you. For me, it's useful because I love computers and I like to use them. So, I think it's just, it's a good thing. But I do understand people might prefer paper books and I also prefer them on specific occasions. For programming books, I think that paper might not be the best, but it's because we live in computers and things just work better in there. But yeah, that is my answer. I like them.

+So, maybe you think that it would be better to digitalize all kinds of books and support the relative of a big repository with all PDFs and everyone has access to it. No one has to pay, but no one, like, yeah, it's completely free. And everyone has, like, access to it.

-It's also, like, an opportunity we can have there. Yeah, I mean, that's interesting. You could argue that the competition is hard, right? You have piracy is, I mean, everything is already pirated, right? Like, all of these O'Reilly books can be easily downloaded. I mean, like, these AI companies downloaded them from there, right? So, if you want, maybe if you want some very niche books that might not be there, okay. Like, you can have this very special repository for very niche books that no one has. But then why would people need them if we're studying, like, science, like, at a university and most of the books are, like, standards? So, yeah, I think that might be hard. But if you find a way to make it, like, legal and feasible, good. Like, I mean, I would love a way to not pirate books if I'm studying at university. Because I had to pirate a lot of things at university, right? Because, I mean, I didn't have to, but it was just easier. Because, yeah, it was just easier. And I did it. And I know every student does it.

+So, yeah. In that, like, situation, personally, I preferred, like, to have physical books. Because at least I know it's not pirated or it's not, like, in the grey area. I can be sure that, yeah, it's already used. But, I mean, if the edition is correct and it's physical and it's, like, original, I can be sure that it's not pirated. So, I'm 100% legal.

-And, of course, there's another thing that if you pirate something, you might not get the exact edition you need, right? Like, oh, you have to do your physics exercises, page 200, and that page doesn't exist. So, now you're screwed, right? That is something that, of course, with your IDA, you shouldn't have to worry about, right? You would be synced with universities or whatever. You would have the specific editions. Maybe if you loan the actual book from a past student, well, you don't need to worry about that. So, yeah, I do think that's a great plus. Monetizing it is different, but maybe you don't need to monetize it. So, that's also true. You can just do it for the love of knowledge and people, yeah. Okay.

+So, to summarize what we discussed, you have done it. You used books at high school, university, and, like, masters, and who knows in the future. But you used digital books, physical books, you loaned, you borrowed also.

-I loaned one, I borrowed. Yes, I borrowed a lot. Yeah, okay.

+So, then you're, like, open, and it's really an alternative for you to, like, use second-handed resources because you do also have calculators and other tools you buy once and never use them again. So, you will be open to sell them. I mean, not fully pressed because they're not brand new, but they're, like, perfectly prepped for the conditions. So, yeah, you think also that the original books have, like, these clues that we don't incur into pirating or downloading illegally or copies, like, not at all original. And it will be also a way to contribute to the culture of the university of, okay, I already used them. We took care. It's not new, but it's in good condition. So, I can loan it to you and, as well, not necessarily with having retrieved, like, a monetary incentive. Okay? Yeah. Thank you so much.

-Yeah, I think. I also think that it aligns with my ethics. I think that recycling and that kind of stuff is good. Okay. And, you know, I think that's another reason why I would do it, right? Like, maybe just for the ethics of just helping other people and helping, you know, the world, just not printing more books and selling them and just saving everyone money all around, just being more efficient with our resources. I do think I like the idea quite a lot on that sense. So, yeah, on that sense, I'm down, right? Like, I need to do this. I have to do it.

+Thank you so much, Pipe, for your time. It really will help us a lot. And if you want, I can, like, give you, stay tuned for, like, if we develop, what we decide.

-Thank you so much. Yeah, sure. If you want me to test something or not, it's okay. Yeah, I'm here. I'm pretty interested. Yeah. Hopefully, you can make it happen. I also know that at uni, there's a philosophy professor that gave me class that was interested on these kind of circular projects on tech. So, maybe you can find her, or maybe it's not as useful. Just, yeah, just let me know. Thank you so much. Let me know.

+Thank you so much. True. Yeah. Excited.

Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.


Summary of the interview:

Interview Problem #1:

summaryAleja.mp4

Interview Problem #4:

summaryPipe.mp4

What-How-Why

Interview Problem #1:

Situation What How Why
1 Alejandra chooses to skip professor and office hours during peak evaluation weeks (weeks 8 and 16) and stays home to study independently. She calculates the cost-benefit of her time: seeing that tutoring rooms are overcrowded and that she would have to wait through long queues just to ask a quick question, she opts out of attending. She feels that the overloaded in-person system causes inefficiency and uncertainty. Under strict exam pressure, retaining full control over her study time outweighs the gamble of attending a crowded session where her doubts might go unresolved.
2 Alejandra asks a friend to book a session at Prisma under their name so they can attend together, effectively securing an extra appointment beyond her weekly quota. She coordinates via WhatsApp to pool weekly booking allowances with classmates once she reaches the strict limit enforced by the university system. Her need for academic support in complex subjects exceeds the administrative restrictions set by the university; her drive to master the material overrides the policy limit on weekly appointments.
3 Alejandra selectively chooses to study only with specific friends who demonstrate focus and interest in class, while deliberately avoiding larger friend groups. She filters potential partners via class WhatsApp groups, strictly capping study groups at two to three peers and excluding classmates who do not pay attention in lectures. She prioritizes study efficiency; studying in large groups or with disengaged friends turns academic sessions into social hangouts, leading to frustration and wasted time.
4 She shows strong willingness to join tutoring sessions alongside students from other sections whom she does not know personally, provided they share the same course and doubts. She engages in small group problem-solving where participants raise questions and share alternative approaches to the same course content. She recognizes that unfamiliar peers introduce fresh perspectives and unconsidered questions, enriching her understanding and offering academic networking without the social distractions typical of close friends.

Interview Problem #4:

Situation WHAT HOW WHY
1 Andres Felipe keeps advanced calculators and physical textbooks (physics, chemistry, biology) at his father's home, despite having graduated and no longer using them. He stores them passively (in the basement or library) and lets them become obsolete rather than actively attempting to sell, list, or give them away. He doesn’t have a quick, low-effort, and reliable platform/medium within the university ecosystem; the friction of setting up informal sales outweighs the perceived effort required to clear out the items.
2 He draws a firm line between materials he is willing to give away and those he insists on keeping indefinitely. He filters items by their alignment with his degree and his interests: he keeps all computer science and software engineering texts, but is ready to give away humanities, basic science, and general coursework materials. He evaluates utility through long-term professional identity; non-core subject resources lose all functional value immediately after the course ends, shifting from valuable assets to physical clutter.
3 Despite the availability of free pirated PDFs, he prefers acquiring used, original physical textbooks for required classes. He verifies that physical copies match the exact course specifications, ensuring problem sets, page numbers, and editions align perfectly with the syllabus. He values academic certainty and legal peace of mind; pirated digital files often suffer from missing pages, formatting bugs, or outdated editions that cause academic friction. Used physical books deliver exact syllabus compliance at an affordable price.
4 He eagerly offers to join, test, and advocate for a student-led resource-sharing initiative on campus. He volunteers as a beta tester for early prototypes and proactively connects the team with a university professor specializing in tech-driven circular projects. His primary drive is not purely financial; he is motivated by personal ethics, environmental sustainability, and a desire to foster a collaborative culture that reduces waste across the university community.

Final Problem

Interview Structure

  1. Introduction:

    • Context of the analyzed situation at the University (5mn)
    • Goal: Why we are interested in the interviewer's experience/perspective (2mn)
  2. Profile of the interviewee

    • Role/Job (7s)
    • Time of experience (10s)
  3. Guide questions: (3-4mn/question)

    1. ¿Cuántas veces por semana en promedio reportan objetos perdidos en la biblioteca? Purpose: Knowing how frequently this happens since the library is a place frequently visited by students.

    2. ¿Hay algún procedimiento estándar para reportar los objetos perdidos?
      Purpose: Knowing how they communicate (email, phone call, WhatsApp), if there is a specific security division for lost items and how they register the items, to understand the procedure.

    3. ¿Después de cuánto tiempo se considera perdido un objeto? Purpose: Knowing if there is a time window for students to get back a lost item before it goes to the office.

    4. ¿Que hacen cuando una persona vuelve a la biblioteca a buscar algo, lo redirigen a algún lado?
      Purpose: Knowing if there is are connected with the process after they give the item to security

5.Conclusion

  • Short Summary of answers (3mn)

  • Confirm that the interview was authorized to be audio recorded (5s)

  • Thank you for you time!


Transcription of the Interview

+Hola María, ¿cómo estás?

-Hola, buenos días.

+Puedo grabar para hacerte una entrevista sobre objetos perdidos en la Universidad de Los Andes.

-Sí, claro.

+Bueno, entonces te voy a comentar un poco de la problemática y la idea es que respondamos unas preguntas muy cortas para saber tu perspectiva. Identificamos como problemática que no hay un puente de comunicación, no sabemos cuál es el puente de comunicación en la universidad para objetos perdidos. Entonces muchas veces uno pierde un objeto como estudiante, no sabe qué hay detrás para ir a recuperar ese objeto a la oficina oficial de objetos perdidos y cuando uno llega a esa oficina, en la experiencia que hemos recopilado, te sacan una caja y es como cuál es el tuyo, después de responder unas preguntas sobre las características. Entonces queríamos saber, desde tu perspectiva, cómo es y nos puedes contar cuál es tu trabajo, qué rol desempeñas, más o menos en qué lugar de la universidad.

-Bueno, mi cargo es de tipo asistencial en el sistema de bibliotecas y usualmente estudio en la biblioteca general del edificio M.L. +Ok, entonces, ¿cuántos años llevas trabajando en la universidad? Dos años. Ok, y ¿cuántas veces por semana reportas un objeto perdido? Usualmente al menos una vez al día.

-Al día, ok. Pero eso depende de varias cosas, porque la biblioteca está abierta desde las 7 de la mañana hasta las 9 de la noche. A veces o nos encontramos objetos o un estudiante o algún usuario de la biblioteca lo reporta. Entonces nosotros al menos intentamos identificar en qué zona de la biblioteca se perdió y tenemos como una especie de bitácora donde registramos los elementos perdidos. Esperamos un tiempo, puede ser a veces una hora, si llega alguna persona a preguntar por ese objeto perdido. Si en el momento no aparece o a veces se deja hasta ya el cierre de la biblioteca para hacer esa entrega al personal de seguridad. De igual forma en la bitácora nosotros registramos si aparece el usuario, colocamos los datos de la persona a la que se le entregó ese elemento o se especifica que se entregó al personal de seguridad.

+Ok. ¿Y esta bitácora es digital? ¿Es un Excel?

-Sí, es un Excel que es la que todos en el sistema de biblioteca registramos, tanto en las salas, digamos como en la biblioteca general que está por salas, es decir cada piso es una sala, estamos en las satélites. En caso en que sí se acerca un usuario a preguntarnos, nosotros podemos responderle de pronto si en Humanidades se entregó cierto objeto que puede ser parecido al que tú perdiste y a quién se entregó, para que ella sepa si se encontró o no.

+Ok, y se entrega, o sea lo reportan a ti en el escritorio y esperan el tiempo que me dices que es una hora. Aproximadamente. Ah, porque también está la particularidad de que los estudiantes suelen dejar las cosas e irse por un café, a clase, a recoger algo.

-Entonces cuando ocurren esos casos en los que si se demoran mucho tiempo en regresar por sus cosas, el personal de seguridad es quien los recoge, no nosotros. Entonces ustedes reportan, lleva aquí una maleta con un computador 5 horas, o cuánto tiempo más o menos. Más de media hora. Además porque también influye en las reservas de las salas. Entonces si ya lleva 15 minutos esos elementos y hay un usuario que necesita utilizar las salas que reservó, llamamos a seguridad para que recoja los elementos.

+Ok, y ese procedimiento de comunicación es a cualquier persona de seguridad o hay como un departamento específico en seguridad que se encarga de recoger los elementos abandonados?

-Pues lo que hacemos es llamar a la central de seguridad, que la extensión es 3555.Nosotros hacemos el reporte y ya ellos se encargan de llevar a la fe o de mandar a una persona.

+Ok, no saben si es como de un departamento específico o es el que esté.

-Exacto, a veces si son maletas creo que es un supervisor. Pero ellos ya lo confirmarán, porque no sabemos cómo.

+Entonces acá llega alguien de seguridad y como que hola vengo a recoger la maleta que reportaron.

-Sí, nosotros intentamos darle la mayor información que se pueda donde se perdieron o donde se encontraban esos elementos.Y ya.

+¿Y con las cámaras de seguridad no hay como que lleguen a la biblioteca sin que ustedes lo reporten? Como nada más llegan, como vimos por la cámara de seguridad una maleta que lleva tres horas ahí.

-No, en el momento creo que no. Lo que ellos hacen de pronto es un seguimiento de hacer rondas y ellos a veces como que identifican que esta maleta lleva mucho rato ahí.

+¿Pero ahí el procedimiento es no hablar con ustedes antes como ay vimos que hay una maleta no sé qué vamos a ver que si ya si tiene dueño si no o si te comentaron algo?

-A veces nos comentan y decimos como ok esperemos tal vez esa persona justo cuando pasaron estaba en el baño o algo así. Pero como nosotros no tenemos acceso a las cámaras entonces no sabemos de cómo.

+¿Entonces no hay un procedimiento como tal estandarizado de ustedes para reportarlo? Sí. ¿Pero si lo identifican para reportarlo a ustedes?

-No. O lo desconectamos.

+¿Entonces reportan el objeto y ya es como no saben si el personal de seguridad lo tiene en algún lado y después va a la oficina o si directamente va a la oficina?

-No, no sabemos.

+Ok entonces si alguien llega a preguntar como ay yo dejé mi no sé computador hace 6 horas cargando no sé qué ya no está ¿dónde está?

-A nosotros les indicamos que pues es un centro igual personal de seguridad y que pues debe ir en todo caso a objetos encontrados. Ok. Si ya objetos encontrados dice que no ha llegado lo mejor es que se dirija a seguridad. Directamente.

+Entonces el canal es bueno lo pierden lo reportan ustedes dicen reportamos no hay manera de saber si a menos que el elemento esté marcado o no si es del estudiante realmente o no es como ah pues se perdió algo que igual a lo que tú estás reportando pero no sabemos si es el tuyo.

-Exacto. Ok. A menos por ejemplo ocurre con un carnet.

+Ah bueno.

-Si ya es distinto cuando dejan los carnets nosotros sí enviamos un correo como tienes hasta la medianoche hasta las 9 de la noche que hagamos cierre para reclamarlo si no pues se va a entregar al personal de seguridad.

+Ok. No me queda claro si cuando reportan cuando reportan a seguridad es entregan los elementos hasta el final del día o si es como van pasando o cada tanto tiempo.

-Sea de ambas formas.

[Aqui hubo un corte de la entrevista, porque llegó alguien a preguntar algo]

+Ok. Entonces es como oficialmente toca sí o sí al cierre de las bibliotecas a las 9 de la noche hacer ese reporte y ya mandarlo con seguridad.

-Sí a veces es la verdad es muy raro que se quede algo en el día y al otro día o al menos a primera hora si se llega a quedar lo primero que hacemos es entregar eso.

+Ok. Entonces si nadie lo reclama durante el día pero a mi punto es durante el día ¿ustedes lo tienen aquí en el escritorio?

-No siempre se puede dar pero digamos esos elementos que son tan importantes como una billetera, una maleta, un computador si procuramos que si no llega en un momento prudente pues sí es mejor entregarlo a seguridad. O a veces llamamos y pues si se demora y justo no ha llegado pero llega la persona a recorrer la computadora.

+Ok.Entonces el contacto es por radio, por correo, por extensión.

-Por extensión.

+Ok. Y si lo que me mencionas del tiempo de llegada ¿no hay un tiempo como estandarizado? Como usualmente son 15 o te dicen como en el protocolo en máximo 15 minutos una persona, máximo una hora una persona de seguridad va a llegar a recorrer el objeto.

-Pues es que a veces no se demora pero pues creo que también depende mucho de cómo ellos cubren sus turnos, de qué tasa tenga la persona que pueda.

+Y te dicen un estimado de tiempo o es como ok ya mandamos a alguien.

-Sí, ya mandamos a alguien por lo general.

+Ok. Pero esas cosas que son, esos elementos que si son de mucho valor pues sí. Tienen más prioridad.

-Sí.

+¿Esa prioridad es arbitraria o es como que en la planilla está una casilla que dice prioridad alta billetera o media lápiz?

-Pues todo lo reportamos.

+¿Igual?

-Sí.

+Ok.

-Sí, sí, sí, todo lo reportamos. A excepción de elementos personales como pasa en el centro deportivo que si tú pierdes no sé, una camiseta. Pues eso queda. Ah, eso queda ahí.

+Es verdad, hay una cosa, hay como ni siquiera, o sea es como una pared donde está cosas perdidas de la pared.

-Sí. De allá solamente. A veces también dejan cosas abandonadas como tipo cosméticos y demás. Eso pues creo que personal de seguridad o al menos sujetos en control no lo reciben.

+Ah, ok. Ok. Bueno, entonces como para resumir todo lo que hablamos hay un procedimiento en donde ustedes identifican un objeto perdido en cualquiera de las bibliotecas. Y el procedimiento es lo identifican, reportan vía teléfono, pues extensión y cuando se comunican quedan en mandar a alguien, más no especifican tal persona o de tal como subgrupo de seguridad o en tanto tiempo. Entonces en esa ventana de tiempo el estudiante puede volver a la biblioteca a preguntar si está ese objeto y ese objeto estaría aún en la biblioteca. A veces se puede, a veces no. Y hay una planilla en donde registran todos los objetos perdidos que durante el día no se como reclamaron, que se encontraron más no se reclamaron.

-Sí, o si no se reclame se especifica a quién se encontró o a quién se reentregó.

+Ok. Tal persona lo reportó y tal persona lo recogió en la planilla. Ok. Esa planilla es un Excel Y está compartido en todas las bibliotecas.

-Ok.

+Sí, no, eso sería todo. Muchas gracias. ¿Autorizas tu audio para esta entrevista? Para que sea utilizado en este proyecto que te comento de la universidad.

-¿Como fines de investigación?

+Sí, como fines de investigación. Muchas gracias.

-Muchas gracias. Gracias.

Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.

Summary of the Interview

summaryMaria.mp4

WHAT-HOW-WHY

Situation WHAT HOW WHY
1 Internal logging of items found across library study areas. She logs the item description, location found, and delivery status in a shared digital logbook (Excel) accessible to all library branches. She needs internal tracking and cross-branch visibility to inform any student who approaches any library desk asking about a missing item.
2 Direct outreach upon finding a student ID card. She proactively emails the student directly, notifying them that they have until closing time (9:00 PM) to claim it before it is handed over to security. Because the ID card explicitly identifies the owner, it allows for direct communication to return it immediately without sending it to the main lost and found office.
3 Reporting high-value items or unattended belongings exceeding tolerance time (15–30 min). She calls the security dispatch via phone extension (3555) to request an agent to collect high-value items (laptops, wallets, backpacks) or clear a booked study room. She aims to safeguard high-value student assets, avoid long-term custody liability at the library desk, and ensure fair room-booking availability for other users.
4 Uncertainty when directing students about items in transit to security. She advises students to check the central "Lost and Found" office or "Security," but cannot specify which agent collected the item or when it will arrive. She lacks access to security's internal dispatch system and campus cameras, causing her to lose visibility over the chain of custody once the phone report is made.
5 Exclusion and non-processing of low-value personal items (cosmetics, clothing). She skips calling security for low-value items, leaving them in local library holding areas or refraining from logging them for security transfer. She knows beforehand that security and the central lost-and-found office do not accept or process hygiene products or clothing due to policy and low priority.

Journey Map

Blue Purple and Green Modern User Journey Whiteboard

Empathy Map

Alex - Student

Diagrama en blanco(1)

Maria - Library Assistant

image

Persona

Diagrama en blanco(3)

Designs Patterns used in Features

Feature: gps-location and location-aware-reporting

Diagrama en blanco(4)

The diagram illustrates the architecture between the location service and the app's core logic. On one side, the GPS Feature works as a low-level service that manages phone permissions and gets the raw coordinates from the device. On the other side, the Location-Aware Feature handles this process through the ItemViewModel, converting those raw coordinates into a location object and combining it with the form data inside the ItemModel. Finally, data saving is handled by the DAO pattern, which hides the Cloud Firestore database details from the UI layer and manages the data conversion using toMap() to save items and ItemModel.fromSnapshot() to read real-time updates.

Feature: Ansewar Business Question Type 3

Diagrama en blanco(5) The architecture implements a decoupled, event-driven analytics approach structured across three primary layers: View or Presentation, Service, and Data. When the backend generates a match notification, a notification_sent event is asynchronously stored in the Firestore /analytics collection. When the student taps the notification card within NotificationsScreen, the MatchAnalyticsService logs a corresponding match_reviewed event. To answer the Business Question on the MatchAnalyticsScreen, the service queries the /analytics collection, aggregates unique matchIds using Set data structures to eliminate duplicates from repeated taps, and evaluates the conversion percentage via set intersection.

Analytics Pipeline for Individual BQ

1.Event Emission (Ingestion Layer): Captures system-dispatched notifications and student user taps within NotificationsScreen along with key metadata like matchId and recipientUid. 2. Persistence Layer (Raw Data Storage): Asynchronously writes standardized event payloads to the Firebase Firestore /analytics collection under the match_review_bq feature tag for persistent audit logging. 3. Data Ingestion & Deduplication (Processing Layer): MatchAnalyticsService queries Firestore and populates raw matchId entries into Set collections to automatically eliminate duplicate tap events. 4. Metric Computation (Analytical Layer): Evaluates the true conversion rate using set intersection, returning a default if no notifications exist. 5. Visualization Layer (Presentation): Asynchronously fetches and displays the computed percentage alongside raw counts within the MatchAnalyticsScreen Flutter view using a FutureBuilder with pull-to-refresh capabilities. Diagrama en blanco(6)

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