Uplift K12
Project Overview
Scope
To accurately pinpoint the drop-off of engagement between user registration and launching games. Also, we needed to figure out why there was a vast cease of interactions in the site’s features
Responsibilities:
Plan and oversee user research activities to gather insights about user needs, behaviors, and pain points.
Analyze and synthesize research findings to identify key user requirements, user flows and inform design solutions.
Summarize key research insights, user quotes, themes, and recommendations in reports and presentations for the design team.
Timeline: 5 week sprint
Role: Research Lead
Tools: Figma, Maze, Zoom
A little TLDR
The Problem
Our clients expressed concerns about user engagement dropping off around the registration and launching a game on the Uplift K12 site. In addition, users seem to be logging on but would drop mid-way before utilizing the site’s features
The Solution
Based on our problem and through research we were able to find the issue of our users having a difficult and confusing onboarding experience leading to the utilising the website’s main features. Once user signs in they are prompted to set up a classroom to help kickstart the users engagement with the site.
First Impressions
A little taste of the real world
This project was going to be my very first step into the real world, I thought I had plenty of practice with my previous projects and was prepared. Boy, how naive I was, doing small projects on my own was completely different than working with clients, a dedicated project leader, and assigned roles.
I was assigned as research lead, even though research is not my strong suit. the other roles were already taken, I had to roll with it and do my best so that I don’t drag my team down.
Before meeting with our clients I went ahead and explore Uplift K12 to get a better sense of what I’m working with. From there my group and I were able to spot some major design disconnection between the main landing page and the pages that follow after logging in. It felt as if it became an entirely different site. Other issues that we spotted were that there were some issues with the navigation system and minor bugs with the games.
In order to gain a more accurate insight, we decided to conduct a more through research
Discover
Research phase
Where do we start?
To start our research phase we want to speak with our client, to be able to gather as much data as we can get so we are not ill-prepared.
After gathering data from our clients, we were also given access to google analytics, giving us a more accurate tool to help us figure out where exactly the user drop off and the user’s trends and habits.
Conducting User Survey
Back when we spoke with our clients, we were asked to mainly focus on existing users when conducting surveys and interviews. This became our first minor bump in the road.
Even though my team and I came up with a 20-question survey to send out to the small list of existing users, Not many users were willing to participate in our survey or interview. With time limited time, this forced us to go back and forth with our client to come up with alternatives to gather more data.
Luckily we were able to come up with a compromise and expand our range, from there we were able to gather enough data to move forward
We are now ready to conduct user interviews on the existing site and any user experience with the site.
We decided to connect with a total of three users in order to arrange user interviews, during which we could delve into their firsthand encounters with Uplift K12.
Our intention behind this approach was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals were engaging with the platform and to gather insights directly from those who had interacted with it
“I want a more personalized experience when signing up.”
“I wish there was an easier way to filter games that I was looking for.”
Testing the Original site
Although we had a limited about of participants, we still manage to gather enough data to understand the painpoints our users were going through
Validating and Invalidating our assumptions
We wanted to solidify the assumptions we made earlier by conducting a heuristic evaluation. Through this evaluation, were able to identify some opportunities for improvement. Adding to our first impression, we also found a few other flaws.
The “import from library” can be very misleading because it doesn’t make it clear what the button’s function is
The home button when clicking on the logo would bring you to your profile page rather than a dedicated home page.
Lastly the confusing navigation layout.
There’s still hope
The site overall, has a nice and direct path to follow, with some rearranging and sprucing up the page to fit one cohesive theme the site should look and feel good as new!
MEET THE USERS
PERSONA
From my research, I found out that most of our users would sign up to use Uplift K-12 as an in-person learning platform. Remembering from our initial client meeting, the main goal for Uplift K-12 was to be a platform that could assist teachers both in person and virtually. There for we created 2 personas to cover both bases.
Meet Carol Roberts
Problem Statement:
Carol, a virtual math teacher, is struggling with incorporating UpliftK12 resources effectively in her lessons due to the absence of personalized recommendations. The generic suggestions provided on the website make it challenging for Carol to find suitable games, resulting in significant time wastage as she must tirelessly search for relevant materials. Consequently, her teaching efficiency is hindered, leaving Carol feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.
Meet Dylan Sanders
Problem Statement:
Dylan, an educator in a classroom setting, aspires to enhance student engagement by integrating an online math game website. Regrettably, he encounters difficulties when it comes to the setup procedure and effectively utilizing the website's functionalities. Consequently, Dylan experiences time-consuming and perplexing situations, impeding his smooth integration of the site into his teaching approach.
How might we…
So now that we have a good understanding of our users and their pain points, we can start to brainstorm solutions with our two user’s problem statements in mind.
Carol Robert
How might we…
optimize the customization of UpliftK12 materials to offer Carol personalized suggestions, enabling her to match her teaching objectives and lesson plans more effectively?
Dylan Sanders
How might we…
create an experience that boosts student engagement and smoothly integrates Dylan's teaching techniques, facilitating his effortless inclusion of the site into classroom activities?
Design
While I was the research lead, I still had the opportunity to participate in the sketching portion of the design process, Here are a few design sketches my team and I were able to come up with.
Once we were able to finalize on the main design, we were able to move forward to wireframes
Sketch concept
Bringing life to the sketches as lo-fidelity wireframes
Deliver
With our designs completed, it was passed back to me for some testing!
We performed three usability tests on our low-fidelity prototype to confirm a seamless sign-up process and smooth navigation between pages for users.
The goal for our participants was to complete these tasks:
Creating an account
Creating a class page and adding students
Starting a video call with an open whiteboard
The Results?
Among our 3 users, we achieved a task completion rate of 100%.
All 3 out of 3 users provided positive feedback regarding the registration process and navigation.
"It appeared [...] familiar and user-friendly."
Users recommended
Clarifying language in the class setup and toolbar of the whiteboard
A way to save open whiteboards into specific lessons
Final Prototype
After getting good test results back we were able to fully add the rest of the components to the site
Final User testing
we carried out the second phase of usability testing (using Maze for unmoderated testing) to conclude the process and gather extra user input on our high-fidelity prototype.
8 users completed our test, which consisted of:
Creating an account
Setting up a class page and adding students
Starting a virtual call and using a whiteboard with the newly added students
Answering questions about each process and their overall impression of the site
The Final Results
Account creation - Achieving success directly in 100% attempts.
creating a class page and enrolling students - Achieving success directly in 75% of attempts.
A single user misunderstood the initial step for creating a class as the "virtual classroom."
Start a virtual call with a recently added class - Achieving success directly in 75% attempts.
Success rate might potentially be 87.5% due to a technicality or lack of provision for diverse routes leading to the same outcome.
A user-provided feedback regarding the need to clarify distinctions between the "collaborate with class" and "present to class" selections
Next Steps
In order to improve Uplift K12's games, it is essential to collaborate with game developers, conduct further research on visual game design, establish a cohesive theme/design system, and ensure improved game previews and instructions for user-friendliness. Additionally, the platform could benefit from integrating state educational standards through pre-made lessons that assign games and interactive learning tools to enhance teacher and student engagement.
Our research found interest in integrating state educational standards into the platform through pre-made lessons that assign games and interactive learning tools to indicate addressed standards. This approach can benefit teachers by providing supplementary guidance for lesson planning and enhancing engagement.
Things I learned from this project
At the very beginning, our team struggled with leadership, We each had great ideas but didn’t know how to proceed. This is where we learned our first lesson, and that was to establish a leader to call the shots and guide us to victory.
The next lesson we picked up was about finding that sweet spot between what the client wants and what's actually doable. In the beginning, all we cared about was keeping the client happy, and we were pretty scared of disappointing them. But we had to learn the hard way, that our client's initial request was to go through a whopping 500+ games and make a list of just 50 unique ones for auditing was taking us off track from our main mission: figuring out why users were bailing on the platform after signing up, wasting precious time.
Thank you for reading my case study
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