Cherokee Seminary School

  • Project: Cherokee Seminary Education eLearning Program
  • Responsibilities: Instructional Design and eLearning Development
  • Target Audience: All Ages
  • Tools Used: Flash, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop
  • Company: Gilcrease Museum

Overview

The exhibition, After Removal: Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation, tells the story of the Cherokee Nation in the 19th century through the stark contrasts of the human experience — discord and harmony, war and peace, success and failure — and in the end, the creation of a solid foundation for the future of the Cherokee people.

Through art, material culture, and manuscripts, this exhibition tells the fascinating story of resilience in the face of extreme adversity and the rebirth of the Cherokee Nation in what became known as “The Promised Land.”

Design Approach

  1. Analyze the content. After reading the content, the education department had no clear road to where the project needed to go. The main goal was to educate patrons about the seminary schools. I worked with the education department at the Gilcrease museum to analyze and streamline the content.
  2. Design the concept. After processing the information, I came up with the concept of “The day in the life of a student at Cherokee Seminary School” The concept and storyboard were approved. One day for boys and one day for girls. Patrons chose what day they wanted.
  3. Develop the creation. Using Flash to create the program animation, sound, and interactive navigation. I created two versions, one for the boy school and one for the girl school. You choose which one you want to be, and they are very different classes and days for each gender. The program was reviewed and edited for changes and approved.
  4. Implement the program. A total of 4 touch screen computers were loaded with the program and tested for user feedback and issues.

Takeaways

Published: Gilcrease Museum

What I enjoyed about this project was learning how the events led the Cherokee to build and create an education program for the children. The overall process was seamless and fun.