Define

In addition to user needs, make sure we know business needs and have a product plan.

• Competitive Analysis

• Stakeholder Requirements

• Tech Requirements

As I mentioned above, I jumped over user flows to business needs (then circled back) to verify I was solving the right problem. In a singular sense, I believe an app is not the answer - that technology isn’t always the answer. However, I see some strategic and long term moves - ones I will elaborate - that could make this a valuable product. I have come to understand that using my problem solving skills to work through these details is the true spirit of this design exercise.

A better educated populace is good for the economy. A high functioning child can do wonders for the world around her. I immediately wanted to know if there was a way to stimulate something larger than the task at hand. Is there a way to find incentive towards a bigger solution? Again, address the larger problem instead of just the present symptoms. My research told me another app would be a waste. It would be adding a technological solution for technology’s sake. If we were to address the problem in a way that does two things at once, it needed to be lightweight and already exist within the technology inside the classroom.

Most teachers are clever about how they address their lack of resources. Thrift stores and estate sales are great for collecting stacks of random kinds of paper and school supplies. Instagram and other social sharing apps have created an ability to side hustle for many teachers, allowing them to network and sell their lesson plans and organizing tricks. Teachers are crafty, thrifty and short on time. If we give them an edge, they will use it.

Here’s a constraint; let’s call this a feature-add to one of the already in house systems like Skyward or Schoology. And here’s the incentive to build it, product owners: Teacher/student relationships foster better learners, attendance and overall success. Could it attract business? Make schools switch systems? Based on the incentive, why not?

A hypothetical press release:

“Schoology and Pierce County School District support building community and fostering the relationships that provide long term benefit. There is power behind feeling heard, feeling appreciated and finding strength in individuality. That all begins by knowing the student.”

Brands and schools have long been partners. Target’s Take Charge of Education program and General Mills’ Box Top program all generate funds for the classroom. Corporate giving requirements practically beg for these kinds of write-offs. The same kind of maneuvering could happen here, furthering incentive for both the student information system and the school district. Enlightened with the fact that Florida limits the amount of students in a core class, I might have found my hook. Having more than 18-20 kids per class make knowing the children difficult, even for the well practiced self proclaimed ‘good-at-names’ teacher. Let’s tie the participation of using this feature to monies generated towards a bill that would limit core class sizes in the relevant state, very much like Florida’s. Gamification can tidy up the loose ends, bridging the eager educator to the state’s slow-moving legislature.

Once I had a good reason to design this experience, funneled down into several constraints, I got to wireframes.

Ideate

Develop multiple versions for validation testing, messaging needs, and information architecture.

• Information Architecture

• Wireframes

While validation testing could not necessarily happen, wireframes certainly did. Mostly by hand with annotations, these served as a framework for my final pixel pushing.

Design

Send multiple design versions through validation testing to confirm user experience.

• Iteration

• Evaluation

These app screens show the student experience instance, currently in card view. There are options to change the view (top right) to class view. Shuffle, on the top left allow for the names to either be in or out of alphabetical order with that option enabled. This view allows the teacher to swipe through her student’s photos (generated by the existing student information system) and apply a contextual association using emoji and or text. A pronunciation tip is included at the bottom for names outside of the speaker’s native tongue.

Using Google’s Baseline Material Design System allowed me to focus on the user and not on the pixels. This kind of streamlined design approach is incredibly useful and a joy to play with.

Deliver

Deliver assets and specs, implement retrospective and complete documentation.

• Final specs & assets

• Review & Reasoning

• Retrospective

I hope to participate in a full retrospective, but for now I have a few thoughts about how this design can improve.

I’d like to refine the user flow. It seems bit clunky and the process of pairing context to photos could easily be toggled over to a practice quiz setup. No need for a new or simply copied experience if they could work in tandem. The option to turn on and off the contextual indicators could be a level up engagement, further testing the teacher’s memory. I’d like to make a prototype with the interactions I’ve been visualizing, and of course test it. Better, I’d like to tag along to the start of school with a few teachers and classes to setup a real world trial. If anything, that kind of case study might push the likes of Schoology or Skyward to adopt such a feature.

I have been using the name ‘Green’ while working on this case study. I saw three types of meaning in it. First, the concept of being new. New faces, new kids, new routines, new school. One can be ‘green.’ Second, it jumps into the concept of money. Money that if spent well can benefit and nurture the vulnerable souls walking into classrooms every day. It’s a forceful shield and a delicate shell. It’s both concepts working together. And finally growth. Proper care of anything in nature requires subtlety and nuance. Nurturing growth for the long term changes the kind of immediate care provided. I see an illustrated blade of grass as the app icon, but I suspect the existing student information system sponsorship constraints I put this exercise under would toss that directly out the window. Still, it helped with the empathy side of things, which is always important in these kinds of experiments.

Photo Credits

Thanks to @santivedri for making this photo available freely for the entry photo.

Thanks to Wang Xi for making this photo available freely for ‘Erica.’

Thanks to Kiana Bosman for making this photo available freely for ‘Nuna.’