Teach Anything!
Making workshops accessible to everyone
My Role: UX Researcher + Designer| Duration: 1Week | Project Status: Development
Project Overview
Users who conduct or wish to conduct workshops are driven by the desire to teach and connect with the community.
These users are passionate, knowledgeable, and driven. The logistical side of the workshop setup process is daunting and costly. Because of this users are dissuaded from conducting workshops regularly or starting to teach for the first time.
By creating a single location where the users can book spaces, organize supplies, and connect with students we hoped to give these experts a way to leverage their knowledge.
We constructed the mobile website Hobby , ran two rounds of testing (one in mid fi and one in hi fi) and iterated on user responses and reactions. From these tests we present you with Teach Anything, a mobile and responsive desktop website redesigned for the user.
The site has the core capabilities we hope to share with these experts.
Future recommendations are to add financial calculators, social sharing within the platform, and enhance the student site.
Scope of Work
Through concept mapping with the broad concept of education we collaborated to realize the problem of connecting those who have knowledge and wish to share it with learners who are interested in being taught. Further, we realized that many platforms exist which target the learners needs but none or few are available to meet the needs of a teacher, or workshop instructor be they brand new or a veteran.
Process
In order to better understand current workshop instructors and what their needs might be, we created a screener survey that would include those who have conducted a workshop within the past six months and would be willing to be interviewed. Additional contributors were sourced from the researchers existing social networks using the same criteria as the screener survey.
Through these interviews we sought answers to the below questions:
- Understand how experts currently organize their workshops (successes, pain points, how they actually do it)
- Understand how they get exposure
- Understand what they do
- Discover when and where they practice
- Understand their motivation behind organizing a workshop
Insights from these interviews led us to the core needs of our target group.
Problem Space
Workshop instructors find it difficult to start their own workshops or keep them going because there are no readily available resources.
Assumptions:
- Workshop instructors will want easy access to event spaces without jumping through too many hoops.
- Workshop instructors will want an easy way for potential workshop attendees to discover their workshops.
- Workshop instructors will want better communication with venue owners.
RESEARCH PHASE
Goal of Research
The goal of our research was to understand the challenges workshop facilitators faced when deciding to formalize their skills into paid lessons others interested in the topic could enjoy.
Methodology
In order to better understand the specific needs of this group we tapped into our networks and interviewed 3 independent business owners in the NYC area in the fields of Food Writing, Photography and Floral Design as well as 2 Users in the finance and cosmetics industries who had conducted workshops through their employer.
We used these interviews to affinity map and identify themes , goals, and pain points across the users.
Synthesis » Affinity Mapping
The above Affinity Map was created which revealed the below themes
“I” Statements:
Community/Motivation: “I’m motivated to teach workshops to give back to my community in a meaningful way.”
Spaces/Venues: “I find it difficult to secure affordable and adequate spaces.”
Logistics + Timing: I find it frustrating that logistics get in the way of the workshop itself.
Affordability: “I need volunteer speakers and donations to keep costs low.”
Accessibility: “I want to make sure my workshop is affordable and intimate.”
Social Media:” I use social media to market my workshops and to secure attendees.”
Attendee Information: “I want to know more information about attendees before classes begin.”
Profit: “I worry that I won’t have enough attendees to pay for everything involved and still make a profit.”
Insights:
Further, the below insights led us into our design phase. For each key insight we would design a feature to meet the users identified need.
- Users are passionate about their field of expertise and are motivated by giving back to their community.
- In larger cities, finding and securing workshop spaces is especially difficult for users.
- Because users are worried about the logistics, they’re unable to focus on the actual content of their workshop.
- Users largely used social media to market and find attendees for their workshops.
- Users would like to know more about the skill level of workshop participants and why they are taking it before the day of.
- Even though profit is not the key driver for users, they still must make sure they can cover cost and their time, which can be frustrating and time consuming.
Persona
Journey Map
Revised Problem Statement
The logistics of organizing a workshop interfere with instructors’ ability to refine the content of their workshops.
As a result, Heather feels frustrated that she needs to compromise her creative process with the ins and outs of running a workshop.
How might we help Heather focus on creating her workshop without having to deal with the headache of organizing?
RESEARCH » DESIGN (Intersection)
Users are passionate about their field of expertise and are motivated by giving back to their community.Because users are worried about the logistics, they’re unable to focus on the actual content of their workshop.» Feature A goes here
Insight B goes here » Feature B goes here
Insight C goes here » Feature C goes here
Insight D goes here » Feature D goes here
Insight E goes here » Feature E goes here
Insight F goes here » Feature F goes here
DESIGN PHASE (Design + Deliver)
MVP Reveal (Speak to what the concept is, supported by research)
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Design Studio: Sketching + Concepting (Describe early ideation)
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
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Mid-fidelity Screens (Wireframes — describe evolution of concept)
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
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Initial User Testing: First Round (What you tested, what you learned)
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
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Design Iterations: First Round (Annotations/Screen Flow)
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
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User Testing: Second Round (What you tested, what you learned)
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
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High-fidelity Screens (Annotations/Screen Flow)
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
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Overview of Usability Testing Round 2
Methodology
Round 2 of testing was done in part in person as well as over the phone with screen recording. All tests were conducted on iPhone models 8 and up. Similar to the previous round, five users were tasked to achieve the same set of goals. One out of the five users was not in our target audience, but gave our team important objective data towards the site as whole.
Usability Test Scorecard
Task Details
Task 1:
The success making a new account as an instructor rate for was 80% with an average time of 1 minute and 16 seconds.
Users tried inputting their own name and email. The path laid out was through the “Create Account” link underneath the text fields. Making that text bigger helped in most cases, but two out of five found it indirectly.
Frame the task for the user in a different way or emphasize the create account link in a different manner, so that users can easily navigate to that page.
Task 2:
The success rate for viewing available spaces was 70% with an average time of 2 minutes and 33 seconds.
From the starting point in the dashboard, users stumbled upon the spaces from the already created workshops. After some exploring, users would find the browse spaces tab in the hamburger menu.
Possibly adding links in multiple areas to lead back to the browse spaces page. Right now users are enticed to explore through their dashboard and ignore the hamburger menu.
Task 3:
The success rate for organizing a new class was 90% with an average time of 1 minute and 47 seconds.
Users easily found the (+) button to be intuitive, but lingered on the “create workshop” page to fully explore the capabilities within the site, resulting in a longer completion time.
Label and explain this page more clearly for users to seamlessly achieve their goal. Add pin drops on the map, give the users options for time slots and availabilities for spaces, and give a confirmation for when the space has been booked. This will give the user a sense of completion and confirmation.
Task 4:
The success rate for viewing the number of attendees was 70% with an average time of 17 seconds.
In our redesign, adding the attendee list to text overlays in the dashboard allowed the user to easily see the number of seats filled for each current workshop. The path we designed allowed the instructor to view not only the number, but the actual people who filled the class.
We recommend keeping it the way it is for now, and test it again in the future. Down the line, a notification feature to easily let the instructor know of new attendees can also be implemented.
Task 5:
The success rate for viewing an attendee’s profile was 100% with an average time of 22 seconds.
All users found the names easily found within the workshop page. Presenting the names in hyperlink form allowed the users to easily tap a user’s name to see their attendee’s page. The new users achieved their goal faster than the ones in the previous test.
We recommend adding a “NEW!” icon to draw attention to brand new site users attending a workshop. It will draw the instructor to try and learn more about them and their interests
Task 6:
The success rate for adding [rulers] to the supply list was 90% with an average time of 45 seconds.
Being on the create event page allowed user’s quickly learn and see where the rulers needed to be added. The save button was moved for easier access.
We recommend adding a To-Do list check off section to remind the instructor to compile their supplies. Future versions will also have an info icon to explain the function of the supply list.
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Findings + Themes + Insights + Takeaways
Overall the website was well received by the five users. Finding useful information on the site was the most common request of testers. These users were interested in seeing more about how the dashboard could be leveraged to advertise their workshop and also identify themselves as a professional. Additionally, more clarity was sought to various actions in such as adding drop pins, enlarging buttons, consolidating redundancies and fixing text.
- Users enjoyed the visual display and flow, but sought more ways to promote and verify themselves
- Users were confused by some of the wording, such as ‘join the family’ and want more information about the brand on the site
- Users would like larger fonts and more clarity on maps and forms
User Flows and Annotated High Fidelity Web Prototype
Next Steps
- Instructor profile with ability to add credentials and portfolio
- Instructor networking capabilities. Might lead to collaborations
- Develop our own brand (socials/about page). Many testers wanted to see how legit our brand is and if they should trust us
- Ticketing management
- Area on dashboard to see how many workshops ran, how much money they’ve made over time
- Payment options and how payment is handled
- Develop the student “Learner” site
- More usability testing!
