Hi, I'm Dane.
nice to meet you!
I’m a mixed methods design researcher, data scientist, and software engineer.
I build & study data products to make people’s lives better.
Talks & Appearances
Advancing Research
Rosenfeld Media
March 25-26, 2024 // NYC
Keeping the Body in Mind: What Gestures and Embodied Actions Tell You That Users May Not
MindMeld: New frontiers in user research
Talk given at the MindMeld series hosted by DeveloperTown, a software consultancy. The presentation covers how design in healthcare can benefit from Design-Based Research, a systematic approach to research that studies complex problems in real-world settings, that focuses on gesture analysis. Generalized design principles for healthcare design are derived from the data.
Gesture & Mental Models: What co-speech gestures reveal about users' thinking during interviews
Talk given to the QuantQualBridge Society hosted by Rosenfeld Media. We cover how gesture can reveal the mental models that people hold and provide some guidance for conducting better interviews. The analysis highlights the mental models that people hold about ML/A.I. and how the HCI decisions used by LLMs like ChatGPT can evoke dialogic mental models.
Labflow: Using big data to trace and assess laboratory skills
Development of big data analytics to track skill acquisition from traces of user activity. Applies a competence assessment framework to telemetry data to provide insight into users' lab skill acquisition. Presentation to the annual gathering of the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education.
Data Insights: On Demand Course Analytics for University Lab Instruction
Webinar delivered on the use of Data Insights to support analysis of course health. This was part of the supporting multimedia ecosystem developed as part of marketing and Data Insights and instructing users on how to leverage it for common use cases.
Selected Projects
How can we deliver mission critical course data to support universities trying to run remote instruction during the early days of the pandemic?
In this case study I introduce the design rationale and research that lead to a beta release of Data Insights, a market differentiating course analytics tool in Catalyst Education's Labflow product.
How can we improve the usability of Data Insights?
In this case study I leverage my expertise in Design-Based Research and usability testing to iterate on the design of Data Insights.
How can we measure the active time users spend engaged in critical on-task actions?
In this case study I highlight both the computational R&D and user research I undertook before building a beta release of a grading time estimation feature in Data Insights.
How do user conceptions of and experiences with ML/A.I. explain their experience of A.I. powered grading?
In this case study I present the early stages of an R&D effort to bring A.I. grading functionality to Labflow. I draw on varied research techniques to both probe mental models of ML/A.I. and understand specific experiences of students, TAs, and instructors.
Design in Healthcare
How can applications of Design-Based Research improve design decisions in high-risk consumer areas like healthcare?