Industry Design Project

Class Compass

  • Class compass is a learning platform designed to create a better, more intuitive experience for teachers, parents, and students in grades k-12.

  • The website, however, was missing vital processes needed for users to complete their tasks. The client asked us to identify these gaps and find a solution that would create a complete, more organized flow.

  • I worked alongside three other UX Design interns to create the registration process for parents, learners, and teachers.

Project Details

My Role

UX Researcher/Designer (1 of 4)

Scope

August 5, 2024 - September 6, 2024

Tools

Miro, Google Workspace, Canva

Methods

Competitive analysis, Heuristic Analysis, Secondary research


The Problem Space

Unsatisfied with the Outschool.com platform, a group of former teachers came together to create a more intuitive, user-friendly way for various types of users to experience learning/teaching online.

The stakeholders required user flows as the final product, demonstrating:

  1. How teachers would register on the platform.

  2. How parents would register their children and sign them up for a class.

  3. How learners would log in to access class material.


My Process

Week 1 - Understanding the needs/goals of the business.

  1. Met with client to learn more about the learning platform, the needs of the business, and their expectations.

  2. Created a list of questions for stakeholders to better understand the problem space.

  3. Formulated research questions to keep us focused during the research phase.

Tasks

Questions for stakeholders

  • What is the problem the company is trying to solve?

  • Who is the intended audience?

  • What tasks would you like the users to complete?

  • What deliverables do you need for this project?

  • Has any prior research been done?

Email response from client

Insights

  • The developers had already started building web pages for the website when they noticed gaps in the flow of the site, preventing the user from successfully completing tasks (signing up as a parent, finding classes for a learner, registering as a teacher, and uploading curriculum.)

  • They asked us to create a “map” to be used as a guideline in helping the developers construct the missing web pages.

  • They needed completed flows for the parent, student, and hosted teacher user types.

  • The stakeholders had already done secondary research to help them create user flows for the admin and un-hosted teacher user types.

Research questions - brainstorming

Next, we created a shared Google Doc to collaboratively brainstorm possible research questions. Since the research phase would be the most vital process of this project, having these goals were invaluable in helping us focus on exactly what we needed to learn to create seamless, easy user flows for each user type.

We discussed the questions together and came to an agreement on the top choices to focus on.

Final research questions - chosen by group

For all user types:

  1. What are the primary pain points and obstacles parents & students encounter during the process of searching for and selecting online courses on Class Compass?

  2. What are the primary pain-points and obstacles teachers encounter during the process of registering to teach on an online platform like Class Compass?

  3. What research currently exists on the challenges of registering on an online learning platform?

  4. How do current user flows on Class Compass compare to industry leaders and where do they fall short?

Week 2 - Conducting Secondary Research

Tasks

  • Performed competitive analyses on the top websites in the industry.

  • Analyzed parent reviews of top websites.

  • Created a persona for the parent user type.

With the research goals in mind, we separated into groups of two, my group being responsible for learning more about the parent and learner user types.

Competitive Analysis

We analyzed the following competitors:

  • Outschool

  • Khan Academy

  • IXL

The competitive analyses helped me understand the current industry standard and possible steps that could be incorporated into our Class Compass user flows.

User reviews

Due to the time constraints of the project deadline, we were unable to screen for, or conduct, user interviews. I suggested researching reviews on websites posted by parents. I felt this would be the fastest way to learn as much as possible about the user’s frustrations in a very short period of time.

I checked several reviews on the following websites:

  • Reddit

  • Trust Pilot

  • Common Sense Media

  • Lack of variety

  • Inability to do research before signing up

  • Wasting money

Pain Points:

  • Parents like having the freedom to research classes and “shop for teachers” before they sign up.

  • They like to see star reviews and feedback from others.

  • Parents like the ability to change their mind and receive a refund for a class that wasn’t a good fit.

Insights:

User Persona

Paula Parent

I created a parent user persona that summed up the majority of the needs and frustrations expressed on the review sites.

  • Our flows were expected to be user-focused, so a user persona felt necessary.

  • Insights gained from this research (such as the importance of having the freedom to browse without being forced to sign up) helped ensure I was creating user flows that allowed the parent to do just that.

  • Due to time constraints, the other half of the group used insights gained from our meetings with the clients (all former teachers) to understand teacher pain points. They chose not to create user personas.

Week 3 - Creating the First Draft of User Flows

Tasks

  • Created first drafts of user flows for each user type.

  • Discussed designs with entire group to encourage feedback and highlight areas in need of improvement.

  • Presented drafts to clients at final meeting for feedback.

My user flow assignments: Parent and student sign in.

Rationale for designs

  • The clients were looking for very simplified flows.

  • Designs were created based on user needs of exploring platform freely, signing up, and registering children.

  • Designs were critiqued by group to highlight areas in need of improvement.

Weeks 4 & 5 - Revising Drafts and Presenting the Finished User Flows

Tasks

  • Met with client to present first draft of flows.

  • Made revisions to initial designs based on client feedback.

  • Presented final user flows.

Client Feedback:

  • The clients loved our work and had very little constructive feedback.

  • They requested I move the “create a learner profile” process to the parent dashboard page, rather than including it in the parent signup flow.

  • My group members were asked to remove the “Tax Input” option from the billing section for the teacher flow.

Conclusion

This project was unique. It was my first research-based project that didn’t require a high-fidelity prototype as the final deliverable.

Challenges

  • The research being the most important aspect of the project, it was difficult to conduct primary research with users under the time constraints.

  • Working with a group was a great experience, as I was given an opportunity to see how other UX Designers think and approach problems from their perspective. Everyone had strengths and talents in different areas and I felt we would have been more efficient as a team if I had spent more time learning about each individual’s talents and where they would be best utilized, including my own.

  • Further testing would need to be done to verify whether the needs of the user have been met.

Key Takeaways

Clients aren’t always looking for a prototype as the final product. For my next project, I intend to seek clarification about my client’s expectations from the beginning.

If the focus of the project is primarily research, I would clearly communicate what I’m able to do with the limited time given. This helps prevent unrealistic expectations and ensures we’re able to meet the client’s needs.

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