Bridging the Gap between Traditional Teachers and Technology
Project Type
UX DESIGN
(Capstone Project)
Timeline
80 Hours
Responsibilities
Research
Prototype
UX Design
UI Design
Context
This case study focus on the Mandarin reading product of Level Learning, specifcally designed for Mandarin teachers who teach reading in classrooms
The product provides digital books in various genres, including social studies, science, and authentic literature.
Teachers can create, implement, and track individual student progress using the platform's video lessons, interactive games, writing prompts, and quizzes.
business goal
Increase teacher engagement of digital library
Help teachers to monitor student progress
Increase rate of assigning digital books from the library
user problem
Teachers don't see the value in using the digital library
They prefer using physical books over books from the digital library due to easier collection of student work with physical books.
Difficult to keep track of student progress with digital books
success metrics
If this was rolled out, success is measured by how much teachers use the library
For this capstone project, success is determined by user feedback from usability testing
Solution
Collecting Student Annotatioin
Teachers can collect and view student annotations on assigned books
Able to track student progress with the annotations
Adding value to using the digital library.
Understanding the Mandarin Teachers' Current Reluctuancy to Use Digital Library
Through interviewing Mandarin teachers, I learned that most participants see no value in the digital library, the two main reasons being:
01 No annotation tools available
Students are not able to annotation directly on the books from the digital library
Teachers can annotate with technology such as smartboards, but they are not available in every classroom.
current available quiz feature in the library only shows the end result, but not students' thinking process
02 No way to collect and view student annotations
Student annotations are only useful for teachers if they are able to track them
Teachers collect student annotations to understand how they think
Teachers use annotations to track student progress
Other pain points discovered:
Distraction for Students
Having students use digital books causes distraction.
Time-Consuming Lesson Material Creation
It is time-consuming to create lesson materials with digital books.
Annotation vs Collection
Hypothesis:
The collecting of student annotations is more important than the annotation tool.
reasoning 01
There are other ways for teachers to annotate without using a native annotation tool from the product.
➡️
However,
without being able to track student progress, there is ultimately no reason for teachers to use the digital library.
➡️
Therefore,
without the ability to collect and view student annotations, there is no way to understand student progress.
quotes translated from Mandarin to English. original interviews conducted in Mandarin.
"Being able to annotate is good, but I won't be able to see what they highlight…it would only be helpful if I am able to see what they annotate" - K. Liu
"The annotations needs to be checked by teachers, otherwise it just becomes a drawing tool, then it wouldn't be as helpful." - S. Dalton
reasoning 02
There are many readily available annotation tools, but few products offer features that allow teachers to collect student annotations.
Developing a tool that enables annotation collection would address a significant gap in the market and better meet teachers' needs.
Based on the hypothesis and the data collected, I decided to add a feature to the existing library that allows teachers to collect and view student annotations to better understand student thinking.
Features Prioritzied in order to Collect Annotations
01
Ability to Collect Annotatioins
Teachers are able to collect student annotations to understand student thoughts and track student progress.
02
Ability to View Voice Annotations
Teachers are able to listen to the voice annotations students make.
Speaking is a skill students acquire before typing and writing
This is supported by research* and personal teaching experiences.
Students have a choice to leave voice notes or written annotations when reading
The choice depends on their language level
*Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis by Cummins (1981)
03
Access that fits into their workflow
Version 1:
Integrating the new feature with current UI and flow.
Version 2:
Redesigned table with newly added pages to decrease user mental load for access to assignments.
Testing the New Feature
Version 1 of the wireframes was testing with 5 participants.
Success Criteria
Participants can…
complete each task with 2 or less misclicks
understand the copy and complete all tasks related to it with minimal confusion or difficulty
indicate that they think the new feature will be useful in their classroom instruction
Results
100% of the participants think that annotation collection will help them understand the students learning progress better
all participants completed each task with less than 1 misclicks
some confusing around the copy some tasks, but feedback is collected for iteration
quotes translated from Mandarin to English. original interviews conducted in Mandarin.
"I like the option of voice and written memo. This will help my lower students who can't write in Chinese yet." - S. Zhang
"Having the annotation feature can help me understand what the students are thinking, and is easy for me to use it to show learning progress." - A. Yao
Final Design
Mandarin teachers needed ways to monitor students' understanding of texts, and track student progress.
Collecting Student Annotations
Allowing teachers to see the notes students make on their digital texts provides a way for managing student work.
Reflection
➡️
Project Next Steps:
Monitor teacher library usage
If this was a real-life project, the next step is to monitor teacher library usage and identify further issues if the usage rate does not improve.
🔁
Something I'd Do Differently:
Focus more on the teachers' current experience with digital library:
In the interviews for this project, I asked teachers how they use the product and discovered reluctance in using the digital library, which aligns with the broader issue of low library usage. If I were to do this again, I would focus more on their current experience with the digital library rather than the product as a whole in their classrooms.
jch3 design
cj.chang06@gmail.com