Washington, DC

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Blue Dragonfly Labs worked with the Kennedy Center to reimagine their digital learning offerings and to develop a digital learning strategy.

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ABOUT THE KENNEDY CENTER

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a vibrant cultural hub that connects thousands of artists with millions of people each year — in person, online, and in their home communities. The Center’s mission is to present classical and contemporary music, opera, drama, dance, and other performing arts from the United States and other countries; promote and maintain the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the National Center for the Performing Arts; strive to ensure that the education and outreach programs and policies of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts meet the highest level of excellence and reflect the cultural diversity of the United States; provide facilities for other civic activities at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and provide within the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts a suitable memorial in honor of the late President.

 

To fulfill the mission as the nation’s cultural center, the Kennedy Center presents world-class art by the artists that define our culture today, delivers powerful arts education opportunities nationwide, and embodies the ideals of President Kennedy in all the Center’s activities provided throughout the living memorial.

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OUR PROJECT WORK

Blue Dragonfly Labs worked closely with the digital education director and her team, as well as other Kennedy Center senior staff, to reimagine their digital learning offerings and to develop a digital learning strategy. Our goal was to develop a more innovative approach to digital educational resources and experiences at the Kennedy Center. 

BDL led their team through design thinking processes to envision a next generation Kennedy Center educational suite of resources and experiences. These experiences included those at the Center, including its newest building under planning and development at the time, in-person learning experiences that were part of their outreach programming, as well as those that could be replicated across the country and around the world. BDL was embedded in the digital education team as an expert and guide throughout this strategic planning process. 

 

As part of this holistic strategy project, BDL did concept development for integrated digital and participatory learning content for educators for the Kennedy Center's ARTSEDGE educational hub redesign. This included assisting in the creation of a suite of flexible templates for presentation of arts learning content, including educator-facing toolkits, inquiry guides, activity and lesson plans, and other resources.

 

We also did substantial research on new and emerging technologies and their applications in such experiential learning settings, including AR/VR, as well as more experiential learning approaches that could be incorporated into the new offerings, including maker spaces and role playing games.

The project work included:

• Discovery, planning, and needs assessment

• Goals and Vision

• Stakeholder and User insights

• Landscape and Market Trends

• Competitor and Peer Models

• Identification of Sweet Spots in KC artistic practice, education, and tech

• External digital identity and user flows through digital channels to educational resources

• Internal education ecosystem & digital opportunity for education within KC

• Content types and templates

• Pedagogical Framework / ID Philosophy

• Model Content

• Model Programs

We also developed Strategic Recommendations including:

• Brand & Identity

• Business Model

• Content

• Partnership Opportunities

• Technology/IA

• Mobile

• LMS and eLearning

• Gamification/Badges/Credentialing

• AR/VR/Wearables/IoT

• Blended Learning, Flipped Classrooms, and eLearning

• Social Learning

• Learners as Creators, Makerspaces, Hands-on Learning, Game Design

• STEAM

• Audiences & User Research for Data-Driven Decisions

• Workflows / data-driven decisions

• Distribution/Reach & Revenue/Cost Recovery Opportunities

 

The Kennedy Center has an incredibly rich collection of online learning resources and also provides a number of valuable learning experiences.