Transferring soft-skills through a digital medium: A proof of concept for co-creation facilitators

How can a website be designed increase facilitator’s awareness of the effect of the attitude of a facilitator in co-creation is the question discussed in this research. Literature research brings forward design principles and the use of a virtual tutee. These principles and the virtual tutee were translated into a prototype in three iterations. The first iteration focussed on finding a structure for the website. This was determined by doing a co-creation session with one of the interviewed experts in the field. The structure, and the found design principles were then developed into a low fidelity prototype which was tested with students of the University of Twente and interns from Waag. The results were promising and some of the recommendations were taken on in the third iteration. In the final iteration a high fidelity prototype, based on the information found in the literature and during the first iterations, was built and tested with employees from Waag. The prototype was successful in increasing awareness about specific attitudes, but can still be improved greatly. The building and use of an online community in which situations are discussed and peoples interpretations are shared and discussed is seen as a good next step. Furthermore, the participants were very divided on the virtual tutee, the use of a buddy system could be a safer option.