Online Learning Product Case Study

My Role User Research, Data Collection & Synthesis, UI Design, Storytelling

Timeline 3 months

Tools Used Figma / Figjam, Adobe Creative Suite, Webflow, Optimal Workshop, Slack, Miro, Notion, Zoom, Proto.io, UsabilityHub, Maze

Higher education is key to upwards economic mobility. Incomes increase drastically with high school and college degree completion - the correlation between salary and pursuing higher education is undeniable.

Dropping out is a slow process that is preventable if intervention occurs at critical points of a student’s education path.

What pushes students towards dropping out? The National Drop Out Prevention Center ranks drop out factors into three categories:

︎︎︎ push out (the price to continue is too high) ︎︎︎ pull out (other factors are more appealing or urgent to the student) ︎︎︎ fall out (personal disinterest or dislike, ranking far below the other two factors)

Nationwide, people of all ages feel unable to finish school (86%), rather than being unwilling to / disinterested in school (14%).

User research conducted for Finish indicates the pivotal problems faced by past and current students:

︎︎︎ reaching out for help + not receiving it ︎︎︎ falling behind & not being able to catch up ︎︎︎ short attention span paired w/ dull course format ︎︎︎ comparison to peers (as opposed to collaboration)

Building resilience and persistent learning habits is also a process that takes place over time, occurring through external academic encouragement and internal incentives.

Visualize a time where you gave up or failed. We all have moments like this, but moments of failure can be internalized by students over the long term as an inherent flaw rather than an issue that can be overcome with the proper tools and resources.

︎︎︎ responsive site that deploys machine learning models in order to source solutions ︎︎︎ targets topics that students are struggling with ︎︎︎ centralizes upcoming assignments and tests ︎︎︎ allows students to quickly seek academic help and comprehend content without feeling overwhelmed ︎︎︎tracks exam dates so that students can be fully prepared during these key class evaluation points

The site follows student progress and incentivizes accessible education through individual student sponsorships (need based and progress driven).

Having worked as a solo and group tutor for 8+ years (essentially, from the moment I began high school) and as a student, I had a solid foundation for understanding our users.

I was incredibly passionate about discovering new insights from our users, and producing the final version of my designs that identifies how people understand and reproduce learned knowledge. Keep reading for a detailed look into my approach and the steps leading up to Finish being built.

Through my education background working with students from low and high income areas, I witnessed firsthand the direct correlation between income and academic performance. I began my research on the topic of student needs by linking together income and education:

Gathering statistics on achievement gaps and vulnerable populations was valuable in confirming that opportunities, resources, and success in education are distributed unequally and largely driven by income levels within the community, and more specifically, family wealth. There are high achievers in low income areas: outlier situations, not the norm.

From identifying the problem of systemic inequalities within education, I was compelled to look into the reasons that students themselves report as causing them to drop out of school at various stages.

My initial research translated into specific goals around learning:- assessing the reasons that students drop out and fail in both academic contexts and through external influences - tracking the various points that students struggle to stay on task - which factors exacerbate lack of motivation or interest in learning - the benefits of supporting students through feelings of frustration

This article details that failure can compound over time and lead to disinterest in learning, feeling a loss of control over outcomes, and fearing trying again.

The second study closely followed the academic progress among a population of 11,000 students who attended school from 2010-2011 over the course of a decade, as they completed various levels of school. The study corroborates the fact that achievement gaps are driven by income and adequate access to resources and support.

The current investigations into bridging education gaps confirms that students require strong guidance at various stages of their schooling, even more so when they are actively encountering problems with learning. It also emphasizes the systemic differences between students from a cultural and class based perspective, in accordance with who will benefit greatly from academic support.

Given that educational technology is a rapidly growing field and tackles on the challenge of assisting various types of learners, I assessed online platforms to gain an understanding of their distinguishing factors.

I looked into the specific problem each tool addressed for users, as well as social proof of existing consumers. Commonalities: - all businesses promote various options to learn and consolidate knowledge - personalization of learning journey = tracking progress as the user completes specific tasks - results driven, including compelling statistics on the achievements of current users

While emulating the features that were consistent across the board, I also dove into specific features of each digital learning tool to emphasize Finish’s unique approach to helping students.

Standout Feature: Lift - financial assistance to support parents pursuing higher education opportunities Quizlet - studying efficiently with digital flashcards and games Riid Labs - automated grading for practice tests and AI driven additional assessment generation Coursera - certificates and online courses related to high demand fields at affordable price points Duolingo - complete gamification of new language acquisition, paced repetition (more difficult content shown more frequently, based on individual user)

Following this assessment, I realized that many of our competitors do not focus around content students are actually learning in their classes, and no existing product offers guided explanations when students indicate feeling stuck, lowering motivation to continue learning.

By focusing on our users, who are already struggling with learning topics, falling behind, & self confidence around learning, Finish addresses the challenge of academic success by presenting immediate directions for problem solving,

Stand out feature to uplift struggling users:

︎︎︎ step by step guidance for assignments, breaking problems down into attainable portions to solve through + immediate feedback and help at each step

As a researcher, I mapped out the necessary context, expectations, and outcomes I wished to acheive from conducting explorations into our users.

After this commencement process, I was excited to meet our users. Screening for revelant participants consisted of asking questions related to academic backgrounds and measuring their personal relationships with academic inhibitors.

︎︎︎ students will derive value from use ︎︎︎ functions provide multiple approaches to supporting students

When we are wrapping up a project, I can validate design and user expectations one more time:

︎︎︎ designed for our users ︎︎︎ offers solutions around a relevant problem ︎︎︎ appropriately labeled and navigable for users ︎︎︎ users are able to easily and enjoyably accomplish tasks ︎︎︎ allows users to complete what they need to get done ︎︎︎ stands out from the competiton ︎︎︎ minimal, functional UI ︎︎︎ prepared for next step

︎︎︎ developer tasks: OCR to scan uploaded documents, open source searching for solutions + splitting into steps, export to data file, translate into interface

︎︎︎ design deliverables: interactive prototype + explanations of specific features and flows, user + task flows, spec tool assistance to simplify programming experience

Huge appreciation to you for being interested in my work and I would love to know what intrigued, informed, elated, and/or surprised you while browsing.