Project Brief
Provide full-service, LIVE classes designed for schools with high-quality instruction available to all students, irrespective of where they live, bringing equality to education.
Design Brief
Design a virtual learning management system software and classroom experience. Since the primary target group for the product is school children aged 6-15, the product should appeal to this age group with a unified brand that looks and feels like one system.
Role
- I led the research and design effort for a learning management system as a UI/UX Designer.
- I was involved in the designing of a hybrid product used for students to attend classes at home and in school during the COVID era; the product was then scaled up.
- Created a system of design components that could be reused and assembled into products, guided by clear specifications.
Duration of the Project
26 Months
Outcome
- Instructors could manage their time and cover the curriculum efficiently.
- Internal coordination between instructors, classroom coaches and operations team was now swift and seamless.
- A better learning experience for students despite poor internet connectivity.
- Less stress was experienced by instructors and classroom coaches as a result of being able to control the classroom & students.
- As a result of the design flexibility, classes could be conducted during the pandemic.
- Productivity increased in the operations team
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ECO-SYSTEM
DESIGN THINKING PROCESS
USERS
The majority of students at Elevate come from public schools in the United States, especially from remote districts that lack adequate teaching instructors for subjects like
Science and math.
A classroom coach is usually an administrator from the school or a company employee who manages classes and students.
Ensure the virtual classroom system works properly during class time.
Elevate K-12's certified instructors are women who work part-time or at their convenience at home, offering students excellent instruction through online
classroom experiences.
The operations team consists of virtual operations and field operations. Virtual operation following the creation and
management of courses, class schedule, and instructor coordination. The virtual ops team also includes online tech support and troubleshooting
Research Methodology
Group Discussion
Face-to-face Interview
Session Monitoring
Telephonic Interview
Competitors
Comparative and Competitive analysis
In the analysis, the features offered by the competition were compared with the differentiator Elevate K-12 offers, and then the design process was prioritised according to the company's mission and vision.
USERS
The application was designed to address the pain points of instructors. The following examples demonstrate where the feature resolved the highest priority pain points. Validating through testing before implementing
INSTRUCTOR
Sara Madigan is an experienced educational consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the educational and health wellness and fitness industry. She currently teaches Math in Two schools
AGE - 35-45
Occupation - Certified Teacher
Income - $20/hr
Status - Married
Location - Birmingham, MI
Instructor pain points
Pain Point Addressed - Management of time
Curriculum and class materials (presentations, videos, and YouTube videos) are shown here. The class name is listed at the top, followed by the module name. Each module's time requirements are listed, and the progress of each module can be tracked during class. By clicking on the tab in the presentation space, the instructor can retrieve the material. By doing so, the instructor can better manage class time.
INSTRUCTOR VIRTUAL CLASSROOM SESSION (LIVE)
Course material section
Collapsed view - Course material section
Pain Point Addressed - Increase income by teaching more classes
Under the payroll information tab, a subject certifications feature was introduced. These certifications are awarded to instructors from different states, and the list and its contents are editable. As instructors upskill and get certifications, the operation team will know immediately that they have the certification and will assign more classes accordingly, resulting in higher income.
INSTRUCTOR DASHBOARD
STUDENT
7th Grade student at Sterling middle school
"The thing I like most about the Elevate K-12 Class is that we get the learning we need and it's easier because she breaks it down so everybody understands that before she moves on"
AGE - 13
Occupation - Student
Income - N/A
Location - Peoria,IL
Students pain points
Pain Point Addressed - Issues with school Internet bandwidth
Solution - Split the classroom view and student view
I designed 2 separate views for the student laptop and classroom projector, which would be minimalistic and help students
focus only on the presentation. Doing away with video streaming of instructors on student screens (as seen on student
screens earlier using third-party software) and only streaming onto the projector will not only It is not only imperative to
declutter the view but also solve the technical issues faced due to bandwidth issues.
Classroom view/Projector View
Student screen
CLASSROOM MANAGER
Janice Bush is a paraprofessional at Sterling Middle School. She manages the 4 elevate K-12 classrooms and works hard to keep the student behaviour on track
AGE - 50
Occupation - Paraprofessional
Income - $24K
Location - Peoria, IL
Classroom Manager pain points
Pain Point Addressed - No way to track class progress
Solution - Students' progress on a quiz or test displayed Classroom coaches can check on this and track the slowly progressing students
Class progress can be monitored by the classroom coach by viewing the same content section as the instructor. However,
the Classroom coach can only view the section, not edit it
Pain Point Addressed - It is difficult to contact the instructor and technical support team
The classroom coach can initiate direct correspondence with the instructor the academic coach and the administrative team, while physically moving around the class. This was a great improvement from the previous laptop-based communication channel they had to use.
BACKEND SCREEN SAMPLE
Modifying the course builder
An option to easily shuffle the units which gives the flexibility to user to change the content order after creating content helped the user to optimize the time.
Course builder - Adding Units and Sections
Top-down approach of building the content from
Unit - Section - topic helped the content team to sort the Course in an order and also view all them in one screen
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User Interface
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Design System
