Researchers and practitioners have studied how technology can support visitors' learning in science centers, but few have considered technology specifically designed for science center docents; the staff that explains and interprets exhibits to visitors. We present a qualitative, exploratory study at a zoo where we designed and evaluated technological supports for docents running an immersive, embodied-interaction. Our study focused on the affordances of portable tablets and large fixed displays, as well as on a comparison of two approaches to docent notification (an orchestration approach vs. a just-in-time approach). Making use of docent interviews, video observations, and feedback from zoo educators, we recommend the use of a hybrid approach. Our main contribution is the identification of advantages and disadvantages of display options and notification approaches leading to a list of design considerations for technology that assists docents in delivering information to visitor audiences.

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Informal science institutions (ISIs) are beginning to adopt mobile technology to support interpreters (docents), but not much is known about how to design these supports. One approach to designing technology for new scenarios is participatory design (PD), where end-users are involved as experts in the task domain who can help envision the application of technology. However, in our context end-users are often youth interpreters who are emerging professionals. This poses a challenge because traditional PD methods trust that the users can represent the task domain. Novice professionals may not yet fully understand the task domain, but eliciting their needs and visions is still important for producing a tool they will find useful. A design approach is needed that captures the requirements for supporting expert task execution as an underlying structure for the tool, while nonetheless eliciting and respecting the special needs of novices. We developed and applied two different framing strategies (one technological, one sociotechnological) to traditional PD methods to help youth non-expert interpreters generate task-relevant design ideas. We report results from using these strategies in an exploratory fashion and discuss opportunities for future research on PD methods that can address the needs of youth as emerging professionals.