Concept Exploration: Student
I explored video features for the student to receive help from the tutor
In the paper wireframes, I explored integrating the incoming video from the tutor in more depth with asynchronous video messages and video calling. I decided that async video was a better solution.
Concept A: Video Calling
Concept B: Async Video
Seamlessly integrates into the test-taking experience
Requires tutor and student to be online at the same time
Before
The student reviews the skipped Question 6 before submitting the test.
After
The student receives an incoming async video from the tutor.
The Challenge
Mentor A Promise tools did not support students, tutors, and managers
I was originally hired to simply build out the user interface of the web app. This ultimately led to an opportunity to pitch a redesigned app to better support students, tutors, and managers.
Student: Today, students interacted through an outdated static inbox, which is similar to an email service provider, outside of their 1:1 meetings.
Tutor: Tutors couldn't tailor learning experiences for students. Each student receives the same lesson, regardless of their individual progress, strengths, or weaknesses.
Manager: Managers lacked visibility into key data points that could trigger proactive support and donations for the organization.
Mentor A Promise’s Original Design → Product Didn’t Support Students
Desktop computer is the wrong form for students on the go
Students send messages to tutors and can expect delayed response times up to 1-2 weeks
Tutors add a basic lesson plan for all students enrolled in a particular grade and subject
Tutors can edit a lesson but it affects all students
Before Redesign
Empathize
I pitched a new solution for students, tutors, and managers
The pitch was centered around 3 stories:
Student: Roberto P. is an eleventh grade student in New York City whose tutor is Sylvia
Tutor: Sylvia A. is a Calculus tutor for Roberto
Manager: Max L. is the manager of the tutoring program overseeing Roberto and Sylvia
Step 1
The student taps the notification for an upcoming test on the lock screen to open the app.
Step 2
The student partakes in a 10-minutes timed test in the app.
Step 3
The app displays the score including total time to complete the test.
After Redesign
Mains Screens: Student
I created a supportive test-taking experience
I designed 4 features that help students when they get stuck. An ‘I Need Help’ button to alert the tutor and open the chat (in real-time). Both the chat and the learning media features alleviate anxiety during the test. Research has shown that 40%-60% of students experience anxiety during tests (Phan, 2019).
1. Learning media
2. ‘I Need Help’ button (alerts tutor) and opens chat
3. ‘Add 5 Minutes’ button
4. Tips
Step 1
The user reviews their student's Chapter 2: Product Rule test with missed Question 6 explanation.
Step 2
To create a lesson, take into account 3 learning styles, live comments, and an AI--powered suggestion.
Step 3
Record and share a video notifying the student of the lesson update.
After Redesign
Concept Exploration: Tutor
I surfaced the at risk students using test score and attendance metrics
It was not obvious that students who scored below 80% needed more specialized attention. I pitched an inline alert to provide immediate feedback to the tutor in the app. In order to calculate the score for an at risk student:
1. I determined two key risk factors: test score and attendance.
2. I assigned equal weight to each risk factor: test scores (50%) and attendance (50%).
3. For each risk factor, I developed a scoring system that quantifies the student’s current status.
4. I calculated the at risk score by multiplying the score for each factor by the weight I’ve assigned them.
Before
The tutor scans her students' weekly test scores in ascending order in the app.
After
The tutor reads an inline alert that she has 3 at risk students (with corresponding exclamation marks).
Ideal Scenario: Tutor
I enabled the tutor to tailor lessons for students
I drafted a scenario for a tutor named Sylvia to identify Roberto as at risk and tailor a lesson for him. The close-up storyboard highlights the 7 main screens from the story. From the storyboard I was able to develop innovative features.
Factors Affecting the Achievement Gap
Socioeconomic
poverty and income inequality, parental involvement, access to resources
school funding, teacher quality, curriculum instruction
access to language instruction, proficiency, cultural differences
poor nutrition, mental health issues, lack of affordable healthcare, chronic illnesses
Educational
Language
Health
An experience that better supports tutors →
Mains Screens: Manager
The manager decides to hire new tutors and add them to the app
I also wanted to provide the general managers with the oversight to balance student to tutor ratios. I integrated AI-powered summaries in order to highlight the most relevant information on the tutors from the tutoring program. There are two carefully placed ‘Contact’ buttons under each panel allowing the manager to reach out to the tutors. Finally, the general manager can hire new tutors and add them to ‘Members’ page in the app.
The 'Incorrect Answers' section needed a link to the report with explanations for missed questions
After Testing
Before Testing
Before Testing
After Testing
I changed the 'Overall Tutor Performance' widget to a tutor response time comparison between Sylvia and all the tutors
532
Estimated Users
+88%
Desirability KPI
-80%
Reduced Report Generation Time
The Result
The next step is to complete another round of concept testing and refine the prototypes as I gain feedback on the desirability of the app. The goal is to align the prototypes to students, tutors, and their managers interests so that the app can be fully adopted by the organization.
Next Steps
I created a concept handoff for the CEO to develop the product
Before handing over the designs to the CEO, I documented the project with a sticker sheet to guide the developers.
Design System
Main Screens: Tutor
I built-in an early intervention mechanism for at risk students
Next, I looked at the tutoring experience. I pitched AI-powered suggestions to offer tutors topic-specific ideas to copy and paste into the ‘Details’ section in the lesson. The tutor’s user experience focuses on early intervention to ensure the student achieves learning outcomes.
1. Learning styles
2. Live comments
3. AI-powered suggestion
4. Asynchronous video
Redesigning Web-based Tutoring Tools for Students, Tutors & Managers
Impact
-80%
Reduced Report Generation Time
+88%
Desirability KPI
532
Estimated Users
Client: Mentor A Promise
Role & Team: Lead UX Designer (Team Lead, 1 Front-End/Back-End Developer, 3 Data Analytics Managers)
Version: 2.0
Timeline: Dec 2024 - Feb 2025, 3 months
Result: Students are more likely to grasp difficult concepts, improving their learning outcomes for the organization because of new one-on-one attention and tailored learning in the web app.
I collaborated with Mentor A Promise to redesign tools for students, tutors, and managers. I designed the timed test for students, personalized lesson creation for tutors, and manager oversight dashboards of tutors and students.
An experience that better supports students →
Ideal Scenario: Student
First, I pitched features that better support the student
I drafted a scenario to capture a student named Roberto to complete a timed test in the app. Each of the 5 main screens from the story are depicted in the close-up storyboard. The storyboard allowed me to identify areas to develop the innovative features in the paper wireframes.
1. ‘I Need Help’ button (alerts tutor) with asynchronous video
2. Reminders (on lock screen)
Max sees the increase in failing grades for Calculus compared to Algebra II and Geometry in 2024
Max is alarmed Sylvia, who is a Calculus tutor, has the lowest weekly response rate
Ideal Scenario: Manager
I unlocked key data points incentivizing Max to hire new tutors
In the final scenario, I wanted to provide more oversight to the program manager to be able to review student and tutor performance in a dashboard. Student and tutor performance metrics are stored in SQL and hard to access for the organization. The solution was to effectually highlight them on a dashboard in order for Max to take swift action. By reviewing the:
1. Increase in failing grades for Calculus on the Student Exam Results bar graph
2. Sylvia’s Lowest Response Rate (35%) on the Overall Tutor Performance widget,
Max can confidently decide to hire new tutors for the tutoring program.
The 3 experiences tested really well, except for the AI-powered suggestion feature
I conducted a concept test with 9 participants to measure the desirability of the app. It tested really well.
All: How likely would you be to use the app regularly? 4.38/5
Student: How likely would you be to use async video? 5/5
Manager: How likely would you be to oversee tutors through this app? 5/5
There were 3 major improvements I made to the app based on the user feedback: incorrect answer explanation for the student, Roberto’s profile for the student’s manager, and Tutor Response Time for the tutor’s manager.
Research