Overview
Problem:
College students struggle to find immediate assistance in their courses. Due to large class sizes, students have trouble networking with one another for help and many stray away from asking their professors or TAs. As a result, students are often stuck with unanswered questions.
Solution:
In order to address this issue, I designed a mobile app that would allow college students to quickly find solutions within a virtual classroom setting.
Role
Product Designer
Type
Personal Project
Duration
2 weeks
Tools
Figma
Stakeholders
I recruited 5 college students to ask how they navigate the help they need.
I learned from my stakeholders that students were most likely to use resources readily available (friend, internet, discussion board) before having to seek official help.
Our early stakeholder conversations led me to the following opportunities:
How might we make the process of searching for help fast, easy, and reliable?
Exploring Solutions
The focus of this project was targeted around the moment the student gauges through the home screen for help. This was the most promising direction because it provided a solution for students to gain assistance quickly and easily without having to ask.
#1 Hashtag Channels
The first potential solution was using hashtag channels to organize the student’s feed according to the type of posts.
The drawback was the difficulty with having students correctly categorize their posts for the channels to be used effectively.
#2 Following + Trending
The second potential solution was using following and trending modules on the top of the feed for quick navigation.
The drawback was the ineffectiveness of gaining an overall view of all the following and trending posts at one quick glance.
#3 Recent + Trending + Pin
The third potential solution was dividing the recent, trending, and pinned posts in to three different screens. This would allow users to have a continuous scrolling feed and a quick easy overview of what’s new, trending, and pinned.
This was the winning solution.
Exploring Features
#1 Search button
Allows students to quickly search up a specific question.
Solves: How might we make the process of searching fast?
#2 Connect Button
Allow students to make connections with classmates to have access to personal messaging and be notified of each other’s activities.
Solves: How might we get students to feel comfortable to ask?
Solves: Stakeholder’s issue with difficulty networking in class.
#3 Pin Button
The pin feature would allow students to pin posts they wanted to follow and be notified of its activity.
Solves: How might we allow students to quickly navigate to questions they want to follow up on?
Storyboard
Our user’s journey began with downloading the application from the app store and ended with finding the help they needed. Other important moments included:
Scanning the different screens.
Searching their question.
Pinning relevant questions.
Connecting with classmates.
Crafting the Sketch
I generated a realistic prototype to bring the solution to life and to get high-quality feedback from users.
Home Screens
The split home screens allow students to quickly navigate questions they may find relevant to their needs.
Recent
Shows recent posts from classmates.
Trending
Shows most engaged posts.
Pinned
Shows all the user’s pinned posts.
Features
Search Feature
The search feature enables users to quickly navigate specific questions and posts.
Pin Feature
The pin feature enables users to follow posts and their activities.
Connect Feature
The connect feature enables users to make connections with classmates for access to instant messaging and to be notified of their posts.
Testing and Evaluating
I recruited 5 college students to conduct user testing and received high quality, unbiased feedback. Interviews were 30 minutes long.
Students were presented with a scenario and were tested for the hypotheses.
The four hypotheses I tested were:
Students will scan both recent and trending screens.
Students will use the search feature to look for a question.
Students will pin questions they find relevant.
Students will connect with classmates to ask questions.
Key Takeaways
After completing interviews, I synthesized my notes & summarized key takeaways to inform next steps.
Students will scan all resources available before having to ask.
Students are interested to see their classmate’s activities.
Students like to form connections with helpful classmates.