web
Graduate Student Guide for Reporting Harassment
projects.gradschool.duke.edu/reporting/
In fall 2020, I built an online guide to help Duke Graduate School students understand their options for reporting harassment and discrimination. These are significant issues in academia, particularly for graduate students due to the tricky power dynamics in their training environments.
The online guide was based on a PowerPoint guide created by one of our graduate students. She envisioned it as an interactive tool that walks users through various scenarios and succinctly explains the options and processes at each step.
I developed the site over the span of a couple months. I created the sitemap, designed the mockups, and wrote the code. I kept the design fairly simple and mobile-friendly. I also worked with Duke’s accessibility office to ensure the site met accessibility requirements.
I then worked with subject-matter experts in The Graduate School to review and edit the content. The original PowerPoint guide was aimed at a handful of programs in one school, whereas the online guide would serve all 80-plus programs in The Graduate School, which are spread across multiple home schools across the university. The content’s scope needed to be wide enough to apply to all our students, while at the same time preserving enough specificity to the individual student’s circumstances and location within the university structure.
Once we arrived at an MVP, I conducted some light-level user testing. Pandemic restrictions limited our ability to conduct full-fledged testing. Instead, we recruited about a dozen students, faculty, and staff, and asked them to take the guide for a test drive on their own time and share feedback with us. I provided some guiding questions to help ensure we get feedback in a structured manner. This netted a lot of thoughtful comments, and I synthesized a few clear themes that guided refinements to content and design.
I then socialized the guide with the relevant university offices. This secured alignment with our stakeholders and ensured that the information in the guide was accurate and complied with legal requirements.
Finally, I planned the launch of the site and wrote a story about the student whose work provided the basis for it. This helped to promote the guide and highlighted an example of how The Graduate School collaborates with students to create support resources for them. The guide rolled out to a positive reception. Several other departments reached out to request using it as a template for similar guides for their own constituents. It was also featured in an Association of American Universities showcase, where I and the graduate student who created the original guide gave a presentation.
