For market research we took our final product back up to HAF in the Bronx and had five peers—young men and women who had already been through the program—go through the online class and share their reactions. They did this individually, so as not to be influenced by the comments of those around them.

They all took their time, really studying the material, watching the video (many of them saw themselves), taking the quizzes and reviewing the widgets. Some of them tried their hand at posting comments on the discussion board.

After they spent some time on the site, we asked them what they thought, how it could better serve it’s purpose, and whether they would have been comfortable on it when they were going through the program.. All of them loved the video; they felt like it was the right combination of entertaining and educational. They also liked the quizzes, and all of them said that they would like more of them throughout the lesson–which should be taken into account in creating other lessons. They all said that they would have liked to have an online component when they were going through the program.

Two of them mentioned the fact that they felt that having the curriculum online could potentially bring out youth who would use the online curriculum as a bridge to being able to speak openly and honestly about the issues that affect them and their community.