Student Game Design Challenge & Learning Ecosystem

created for MIND Research Institute logo

Game-A-Thon was more than a student competition, it was a full service ecosystem designed to help students learn how to deepen math learning in fun, collaborative ways. I designed the complete educational service ecosystem behind the program, defining the participation model, educator experience, learning resources, digital pathways, community touchpoints, sponsor engagement, and annual growth strategy that enabled the initiative to scale across schools and events nationwide.

My Role: Program Founder + Service Designer + Experience Strategist

Timeframe: Multi-year initiative

SERVICE DESIGN

ECOSYSTEM DESIGN

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Cropped image of left half of a tablet screen attached to a portable keyboard, showing a dashboard of student screens in a thumbnail view with some classroom controls in the outside of the interface.

THE CHALLENGE

Design a scalable learning experience that transformed students from math learners into creators.

MIND Research Institute identified an opportunity to create an educational challenge where students could design and build their own math-based games. The challenge was not simply game creation, it required designing a complete service system needed to inspire participation, support educators, enable creation, and sustain engagement year after year. Starting from the initial concept, I designed the full service experience architecture connecting:

Discover → Learn → Design → Build → Document → Submit → Showcase → Advocate

This required aligning students, educators, curriculum resources, workshops, digital submission tools, public events, sponsors, and community partners into a repeatable educational service ecosystem.

DEFINING THE SERVICE STRATEGY

A strategic blueprint aligned educational goals, stakeholder needs, outreach, and long-term program growth.

I designed the service architecture behind Game-A-Thon, defining the participants, workflows, touchpoints, and operational systems needed to support the student experience. Rather than beginning with individual activities, I first defined the participation model, learning objectives, operational strategy, and success metrics. This blueprint established how the program would attract participants, support educators, and evolve into a sustainable annual initiative.

A series of three images are shown including: a photo of the designer putting post-it notes on an affinity diagram, a mental model chart, and a task analysis chart.

DEFINING THE SERVICE ECOSYSTEM

An integrated ecosystem connected classrooms, digital platforms, workshops, and public events.

I mapped the relationships between students, educators, parents, community partners, physical experiences, and digital touchpoints to ensure every interaction reinforced participation and learning. Service blueprints and ecosystem maps defined how outreach, facilitation, submission, recognition, and advocacy worked together as a unified educational service.

DEFINING THE SERVICE MODEL

A scalable annual service that connected outreach, learning, participation, and community celebration.

Game-A-Thon was designed as an annual educational engagement system. A student game design challenge served as the core experience, supported by outreach, curriculum integration, digital submission, public showcase, and advocacy loops that strengthened each future cycle as a service with self-sustaining growth built in.

OUTREACH EXPERIENCE

Campaign materials introduced the program and motivated schools to participate.

I designed the visual identity, promotional motion graphics, educational videos, blog content, and communication materials that explained the challenge, showcased student work, and generated awareness across schools and partner organizations.

Two tablets side-by-side show UI depicting a content timeline with content tiles, and the other showing a dashboard of student icons with 'On Task' status visible.

EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

Workshops and learning resources helped students transform mathematical concepts into original games.

I designed and facilitated hands-on workshops where students explored mathematics by designing, prototyping, and testing their own games. To extend the experience beyond in-person events, I also created facilitator guides, classroom activities, and learning resources that enabled educators and after-school programs to independently integrate Game-A-Thon into their curriculum.

PARTICIPATION EXPERIENCE

The annual showcase transformed classroom projects into a community celebration of learning

I designed the end-to-end participant experience from game submission through public recognition, creating an awards program and exhibition that celebrated student creativity while reinforcing the value of mathematical thinking. Winning teams were invited to present their games at MIND Research Institute's annual Math Fair, where more than 4,200 attendees explored student projects, met participants, and engaged with hands-on game experiences alongside sponsors and community partners.

IMPACT

Built a scalable educational service that expanded participation, partnerships, and long-term program growth.

Starting from scratch, I designed the ecosystem, experiences, and engagement model behind Game-A-Thon, transforming it into a repeatable annual educational service. Participation grew from 15 to 99 teams in three years, while expanded educator adoption, national outreach, and public showcases increased sponsorship support and led to partnerships with Disney and Staples.

Two tablets side-by-side show UI depicting a Standards Report data readout of school performance, and the other a Response To Intervention report data readout of student performance.

Student Game Design Challenge & Learning Ecosystem

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