ORG+RES - Helping Teachers
Help Each Other
Time: 10 weeks
Tools: Figma
Type: Mobile App Design
Role: Team Lead, UI/UX Designer
Team: 5+ (Irene, email for names)
Overview
This project was a part of Human-Centered Design Research course.
ORG+RES is an online application that allows local educators, volunteers, helpers, donators, etc. to post and take supply related tasks. Schools are disproportionately funded which leads to a discrepancies in resources. Instructors often have the trouble of getting enough funding, resources, and materials they need for their classrooms. ORG+RES aims to solve that issue by connecting teachers with each other and other volunteers so that they can help each other by sharing resources.
Needfinding
The theme this project centered around was education. More specifically, “how can we better support students or teachers?”.
To narrow down our focus, I went through the process of needfinding. I went through a number of interview transcripts to better understand the different target user groups and what they need to make their job easier. (These interviews had no clear research question focus and were conducted previously before the project started.) During this first stage of the design process, I looked through the interviews and used thematic analysis to find common themes. Some common themes included barriers on funding, time, and communication.
Some common themes for goals:
Collaboration (ex: working with teachers, students, guest speakers)
Aspirations (ex: career aspirations, continuing project)
Common themes for barriers were:
Time (ex: administrative),
Funding (ex: paying speakers and getting resources)
Communication (ex: issues of communication with between teachers, students, and speakers)
timing
funding
communication
aspirations
collaboration
User Personas
From the annotations, different user personas were created. This was to gain better insight on the user groups possible that we would be working for. There was the:
Superintendent
Advocate
Mentor
Local business owner
Problem Statement
I am Nathan Porter, a high school CTE construction teacher trying to more efficiently provide opportunities to show alternative pathways after high school to my students but having to create connections takes a lot of time, work, and money because people take a long time to respond and I want to make sure they’re properly reimbursed.
Well, I've taken some time to reach out and make some connections with local contractors and technical schools, like university, University Technical Institute, and that those connections have generated interest from a few students.
”
“
Why we chose this problem statement: We chose this problem statement because it displays the difficulties, time and money, it takes to gain connections and provide information on alternative pathways post high school.
User Persona Description
Nathan Porter is a high school CTE teacher focusing on construction. He wants to find time and funding to help students explore/learn about post high school pathways other than college. He wants to expose his students to more pathways/careers and although he already is, he wants “a variety and Oh, kind of different student opportunities and texture and context”. Something that motivates him to continue to look for connections is because he wants to “[show] what's out there and different internships or job opportunities would be really useful for a lot of high schoolers”.
Above is an example of one of the user personas created specifically for the “teacher” .
We looked at the transcript and coded what we saw as the barriers goals and etc, and then found themes surrounding the different barriers and goals there were. The user personas were a really good way for us to summarize what we had just read and annotated and coded so that we can always look back to reference and a better understanding of the humans that will be using the app/website we create.
Overview of Themes:
Influencers, Environment, and Other Context
Inspirations
inspire students and help them on their career journey and self exploration
Motivators
Online vs In-Person
the difficulties in communication for online events/classes
the ease of communication with in-person events
Students
students are interested in exploring different career pathways
Influencers
Career
worked in construction
Taught career education for 2 years
School
schools tend to only emphasize college pathways and do not promote alternatives
Environment
Goals, Barriers, and Current Process
Internship/job positions
a need for more career opportunities for student
helping student gain interests in and be exposed to a variety of careers
Presentation
interactive ways to engage students
Goals & Needs
Connect with
company/parents
Miscommunication and lack of communication between organization, school, students and parents
Set factors
Funding/budgets
Time/energy
Barriers
Connect with local business
local business have entry level job position for students
Organizations have a direct pathway to certain people in industry
YFIOB Support
YFIOB can support creating presentations
dedicated space to supporting students
Partial Solutions
Above of the themes we found in the “teacher” persona.
Ideating
How might we...
After looking over the interviews and coming up with common themes, the next step of the process was ideation. This was the time to use all the information obtained during the thematic analysis and come up with possible solutions. The team and I came up with a number of How-might-we’s (HMWs) based on the themes and user personas we created.
The HMWs allowed me to reflect on the interviews and to summarize what specific personas to wanted to achieve and what their goals are. The process of HMWs also allowed for brainstorming possible problem areas the team wanted to hone in on.
Below is an example of some of the HMWs created
HMW help students feel prepared for the real world and learn skills to become leaders?
HMW find people who are willing to put in the time and effort into helping students find internship opportunities?
HMW connect students with positive mentors they feel comfortable to share their feelings with?
HMW help program volunteers to prepare necessary equipment?
HMW make people view the arts like they do STEM?
HMW accommodate different learning abilities in arts education for children?
Solution Concepts
From the HMWs we then created solution concepts. Every solution concept first starts off with the problem statement on their goals and barriers and then displayed a solution.
The one I highlighted below is what we ended up basing our final project off of.
I am an educator trying to improve the communication efficiency between organizations to better help students build their early career pathway. But miscommunication, tedious messages, missing supplies, and people slow down our forwarding steps or even ruin our progress. This makes me feel frustrated and tired. ORG+RES is an online application that allows local volunteers, helpers, donators, etc. to post and take supply related tasks. A review system based on attendance is built in to reduce scammers and ensure people take their responsibilities seriously.
From there, we came up with a series of problem statements that detailed both a problem and possible solutions involving a mobile application or website. From those problem statements, we chose as a team what seemed most valuable to create storyboards for.
Each solution that we ideated had multiple storyboards with different solutions per problem statement, a description of the problem, and supporting quotes.
<I am an educator trying to improve the communication efficiency between organizations to better help students to build their early career pathway, but sometime miscommunication and tedious messages slow down our forwarding steps or even ruin our progressions because sometime necessary supplies and people are missing, which makes me feel frustrated and tired. ORG+RES is an online application that allows local volunteers, helpers, donators, etc. to post and take supply related tasks. A review system based on attendance may be built in to ensure people takes their responsibilities.>
Problem and Idea Statement
What we heard
[Well, I've taken some time to reach out and make some connections with local contractors and technical schools, like university, University Technical Institute, and that those connections have generated interest from a few students.]
”
“
Well, I got a recent contractor presentation, but I had to go through I don't know about five contractors, and it takes a while to like, email them and call them. And that probably took a couple hours of work just to get one presentation.
”
“
Storyboard 2:
During the day, I’m now able to go grab the projector
and go teach the kids.
I am a teacher who’s looking for a projector
to use during my in- person job session
in W Elementary School.
I’ve been qualified as an user in ORG+RES,
so, I would like to check if anyone can
provide me a projector to use.
Luckily, after I searched my needs, I’ve find a
provider within 1 mile would like to borrow
a free projector for one day, which perfectly
fulfills my need. So, I contacted the provider
and scheduled a time to get the projector.
Above is an example of the problem statement-storyboard pairs. This was the one that we used to base our final solution on.
“Final” Ideation
As a class, the HMW’s and problem areas each team came up with were then categorized into different problem areas. While we had a lot of ideas for every problem area, we were ultimately assigned a problem area to focus on. Our team’s focus fell under: COLLABORATION AND MATCHMAKING: teachers organizing events.
With the thematic analysis, HMWs, solution concepts, and problem areas completed, the step of the process were to conduct our own interviews to determine what we wanted barriers we could address regarding “teachers organizing events”.
Speed Dating Interviews
A
B
C
I am a CTE instructor trying to provide students with opportunities for jobs, internships, and career education but finding and organizing opportunities for my students is difficult and costly because of logistical concerns, scheduling issues, and communication challenges which makes me feel limited in my ability to aid students in exploring careers. This app that automatically synchronizes schedules can help reduce the conflicts or challenges in schedules between me and my students.
Problem and Idea Statement
What we heard
As a CTE instructor, when I want to provide students with information about the opportunities for jobs, internships, and career education, I want to increase the efficiency communicatiing to my students so I can spend less time in doing so.
”
“
As a CTE instructor, when I update the information about the opportunities for jobs, internships, and career education, I want to urge and help students to update the information as well easier so I can fulfill my education goals easier and more efficiently.
”
“
I am an educator trying to improve the communication efficiency between organizations to better help students build their early career pathway. But miscommunication, tedious messages, missing supplies, and people slow down our forwarding steps or even ruin our progressions.This makes me feel frustrated and tired. ORG+RES is an online application that allows local volunteers, helpers, donators, etc. to post and take supply related tasks. A review system based on attendance is built in to reduce scammers and ensure people takes their responsibilities seriously.
Problem and Idea Statement
What we heard
Well, I've taken some time to reach out and make some connections with local contractors and technical schools, like university, University Technical Institute, and that those connections have generated interest from a few students.
”
“
Well, I got a recent contractor presentation, but I had to go through I don't know about five contractors, and it takes a while to like, email them and call them. And that probably took a couple hours of work just to get one presentation.
”
“
Storyboard 1:
Storyboard 2: CTE instructor
replace with your 4-panel storyboard (w/ figures and captions)
Storyboard 3: small business owner
replace with your 4-panel storyboard (w/ figures and captions)
Storyboard 1:
Violet is an educator who would like to
organizing job opportunities
activities for younger students.
This online application is built for educators,
social workers, volunteers who would like to
contribute to our events.
Users may post and take tasks and resources that are free to use to the application.
Organizers may be required less communication
and arranging time to gather up the resources.
Storyboard 2: teacher
During the day, I’m now able to go grab the projector and go teach the kids.
I am a teacher who’s looking for a projector
to use during my in-person job session
in W Elementary School.
I’ve been qualified as an user in ORG+RES,
so, I would like to check if anyone can
provide me a projector to use.
Luckily, after I searched my needs, I’ve find a
provider within 1 mile would like to borrow
a free projector for one day, which perfectly
fulfills my need. So, I contacted the provider
and scheduled a time to get the projector.
Storyboard 3: potential volunteer
The first person, I approve/accept, to see and respond to my post, may take away the resources I provide.
After posting my task, anyone, who has been
verified to not be a scam, may see my post through their recommendations or search.
So I make a post to ORG + RES and state the
details about location and pick up info.
I’m a volunteer who would like to provide
some free drinks for event holder.
I am high school teacher trying to find companies/employees to talk to my students but its difficult to find people interested because it takes a lot of time to find them which makes me feel …sad. Link is website/mobile app that allows companies/employees to list they’re interest in guest speaking, their communication preference, and also allows for teachers to also post events that potential guest speakers can apply for. This will help make it easier to find people willing to talk and also put a variety of speakers for teachers/instructors to look through all on the same site.
Problem and Idea Statement
What we heard
And there are some companies that are too busy or not that interested. So it takes time to filter through and find the ones that would be interested in presenting.
if there was a group that could help me with those connections or make more connections, they'd be really helpful and, and probably really useful to the high schoolers
”
“
”
“
It's interesting to hear from a boss and it's also interesting to hear from a laborer or an employee, so.
”
“
Storyboard 2:
I am a teacher trying to decide on who I can ask to speak to my class about their career.
I see that there’s this app called ‘Linked”.
Through ‘Linked’, I can look for guest speakers through a detailed filter.
I found the right person! I can’t wait to invite them to my class.
Storyboard 1:
I am a teacher trying to decide on how I can advertise my career event to potential guest speakers.
I see that there’s this app called ‘Linked”.
Through ‘Linked’, I can advertise my event and the types of careers I’m looking for,
I got people applying and asking questions!
Storyboard 3:
I am a teacher wanting to partake in a career event to talk about my career.
I see that there’s this app called ‘Linked”.
Through Linked, I can look up for events that interest me and work with my schedule.
I’m now speaking at an event.
Above is just a quick look at what the interviewees saw during the “speed dating” interviews
From the solution concepts, we were able to narrow it down to the three concepts we had for the theme we were assigned. (COLLABORATION AND MATCHMAKING: Teachers Organizing Events).
To finally narrow down our idea and know what our final project was going to be about. I had to conduct speed dating interviews on our target user group to better understand what their needs are and how we can address them.
We conducted 4 interviews with people that would match our user group: K-12 teachers, professors, as well as a director of a tutoring service. In these interviews, we had interviewees voice their opinions on the concept’s potential usability and any possible concerns they had with the concepts. The general consensus seemed that concept #2 was the most preferred as they could see immediate uses for it in their current positions. (Concept #2 is shown in the above figure Row B as well as the problem statement-storyboard pair in the “Solution Concepts” section)
“I feel very limited in what I'm able to do in my curriculum, because the space that I'm in is not, you know, is lacking those resources for me.” Highschool Teacher
The above quote from the interviews really resonated with me because it brought attention to how public school education doesn’t have enough funding or resources. Teachers are often having to resort ot paying things out of their own paycheck to get students the materials they need. During another interview, a public school teacher had told me that they often had excess of random miscellaneous materials such as index cards or popsicle sticks. There should be a way teachers can help each other exchange resources.
Solution!?
The final solution was “ORG+RES”! A mix of the two words “organize” and “resources”. As this
We are making org+res primarily for teachers to help them organize obtaining the resources needed for the classrooms to function.
Prototyping
What are the next steps in creating our solution? --> Prototyping!
Continuing the design process, we first started with a task flow/(above) detailing what the app would present and what options would be present to the user and where those choices would take them. This helps during the design process as it helps organize what screens are needed as well as giving an initial insight into how the app would work and identify any areas of improvement needed.
Creating low-fidelity wireframes and a mood board also providing the ability for the team to organize the designing and the overall experience. (There were a mix of drawn and digital wireframes due to this being a team project, however they all provided the same value.)
Solution
These are the key frames to the final prototype.
Starting from the left screen to the right:
teachers can look through posts on the home page,
click onto a supply they need,
communicate with the poster via in app chat or phone number if the poster allowed it,
and a map view can be used to help teachers gain a better sense of whether the location of the items makes sense for them to get.
ORG+RES aims be only open to teachers, verified through a third party, and with volunteers that have also been background checked. Teachers can sort through resources within a school district, or if necessary look at other cities.
test out the prototype below! or click for figma link
my portfolio presentation (which i referenced slides from)
Reflection
If I were to do this project again knowing what I know now:
added key screen/tasks
I would have added another feature where teachers could share resources (e.g. articles, contacts, worksheets, workshops). While this was a feature I wanted and advocated for, due to time and the lack of supporting quotes from interviews, I was unable to push it forward. Websites already exist where teachers can buy worksheets off of each other, however, there should essentially be a teacher resource hub where they can gain help from each other for free.
competitive analysis
This brings me to the next point where I would have conducted competitive analysis to compare what is already out there. This app is a lot like facebook marketplace but with the intention of it being only for teachers. Competitive analysis would have brought attention to how this solution could be developed more.
usability tests
Continuing in developing and deepening the contribution of the project, there needed to be usability tests to understand if users knew how to use the app. While we conducted usability tests within our team, we needed a third party perspective.
interviews
It would have also been nice to have conducted out own exploratory interviews, so that we could delve deeper into our target group as the provided interview transcripts didn’t ask the questions that made sense for our project as the focus evolved and narrowed throughout the school quarter.
Some other notes:
I worked on this project during the Winter '23 quarter with a team of five. This was the first design project that I did from needfinding to ideation to interviews to prototyping. Before, I had no idea just how rigorous the design process was. I just assumed it was a simple ideation to creation, but in reality it's more an iteractive cycle.
⭐️ This project gave the foundation I needed to continue learning about UX research and made me want to dive head first into the field.
Looking back on this project, there is definitely a lot of things I would redo. Having tutored the course almost a year later, I noticed so many things that the students I was in charge messed up with. I had to do a lot of teaching on my part and a lot of redesigning or teaching for my team members. I never realized just how much I appreciated leadership until this course. I remember asking the professor for help and was told that I could step up and take leadership: give them specific tasks, due dates and times, and explain to the best of your capability. I did exactly that, and now I’m leading a research team, mentored a UX skill-building team, and TA-ed for this exact course.
Overall this project was really what drew me into UX research and made me want to pursue it as a career.
thank you for looking
- iren w