From connect-exchange to ConnectX: the (iterative) story of a mobile app

Students and faculty studying abroad do not have one multipurpose tool they can use to document and reflect upon their experiences, as well as navigate and understand unfamiliar cultures. To address this, we designed a mobile application that supports and fosters intercultural competence through content sharing. Users tag their media with relevant terms and post it to a stream, allowing peers to interact with others' cross-cultural experiences. We conducted interviews that challenged preconceived proto-personas and allowed us to follow iterative methods to develop a mobile environment that fulfills the need for reflecting upon intercultural situations before, during, and after study abroad.