UX in EdTech
Before I began
As a teacher myself, I had a truckload of assumptions about the current state of play. As I wasn’t currently working in a school, I thought a safe place to start would be to have some wonderful coffee catch-ups with some teachers.
My challenge
Enjoy some coffee, and maybe a cheeky slice of cake. Oh and also to gain an understanding of how technology (if any) is used by teachers in the context of remote classrooms (including the use of digital resources and learning platforms), to identify future opportunities.
Problem space through the COVID lense
So what edTech solutions are teachers actually using?
Through one-on-one interviews and a poll on a Facebook online community, I found out that teachers were lapping up the opportunity to use the various platforms and apps available to them. Here are the poll results:
What else did they have to say?
They were overwhelmed having to quickly pivot their classrooms and resources from in-person to online during COVID.
However, they had to use multiple platforms/apps to source inspiration, resources and customise them. Which was making the process a lengthy one.
The platform of choice
I landed on Teach Starter because the pain points relating to Teachers Pay Teachers and ClickView were feature orientated. However, Teach Starter presented some unique user experience opportunities.
Let the research commence
Below are some of my research findings form:
- interviews
- observations
- a survey
- heuristic evaluation.
Observations (incl. usability testing)
From my interviews, most of the teachers found the resources on the listed platforms great. Almost all of them preferred to download an editable version to tailor it to their need. So during the observations, I presented the users with this brief was:
‘Find a Year 7 English resource that is customisbale’
The outcome:
None of the users found a customisable resource :(. However, this quote from a teacher solidified the opportunity was worth persuing.
Heuristic evaluation
I uncovered examples of great heuristics on the Teach Starter, particularly in the error prevention and recovery space. However, the stand out opportunities related to:
Match between the system and the real world, and, consistency and standards.
Particularly the use of iconography. For example, if I wanted to find a customisable resource, I would need to either recognise the blue magic wand icon as the symbol for customisation or hover over the icon for a tip.
Survey
Earlier in this case study, I said that teachers liked to customise the content they found on the platforms. The number of responses was disappointingly low, however, those who responded provided the same insights.
The opportunity
The prototype
I used Adobe XD to create a high fidelity prototype. Due to the remote situation, I had some challenges with conducting some testing. I’d also like to return to the drawing board….literally. There are some other possible designs I’d like to test through sketches.
Time to take a breather
This concludes my progress on this project. I’d like to conduct deeper and more robust research to ensure I don’t find myself deep down a rabbit warren that nobody wants.
To summarise
Respect the process, don’t jump ahead to the shiny things, and finally, know when to call it and start again (iterate, iterate, iterate).
Thank you so much for reading and watch this space!
