TYPE: UX/UI, Web App, Case Study
ROLE: Concept, Research, Design
DURATION: Sep 2020 - Apr 2021
The Problem
Due to COVID-19, universities around the world have had to adapt classes to the digital world. As a result, many students have experienced the difficulties of learning through virtual meeting platforms, staying engaged, speaking up, and feeling a sense of connection with others. How might we create an online environment that reduces the barriers that inhibit students from speaking up and interacting with others in a virtual class setting?
The Solution
Bridge is a virtual classroom designed for Instructure, Inc. that makes connecting with peers and professors during classes more comfortable for students. Students can measure their own engagement and build their confidence in their abilities, while also giving professors insight into what they are learning.
Project Overview
For my undergraduate thesis, I explored how online classroom environments could be improved to reduce the barriers that inhibit students from speaking up and interacting with others in a virtual class setting. The idea for this project began when I started mulling over two challenges facing me and many of my fellow university students:
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I have experience with public-speaking anxiety and noticed that many of my classmates experienced the same thing. I wondered why we got so nervous before not only formal presentations, but also when just participating in class discussions or volunteering to answer questions informally.
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I and the majority of my classmates preferred to keep our cameras and microphones turned off during virtual classes and found it difficult to speak up and feel engaged.
I was the sole designer on Bridge (I drew concept sketches, created wireframes, and designed the final prototype), the sole researcher (I interviewed stakeholders, and conducted secondary research) and I created presentations and videos.
Throughout the project I was constantly looking back at my own experiences and those of my fellow classmates to design a solution that would actually solve our problem.
Secondary Research
Existing data on public speaking anxiety was used to determine a specific and relevant user group, university students ages 18 to 21.
Understanding the user
I started by conducting primary and secondary research to better understand the problem and the people affected by it.
Provisional Persona
Data from articles, research papers and personal experience was used to create a provisional persona to represent the target user group.
Summary
What I learned from conducting research
Through secondary research and interviewing stakeholders, I gained a lot of valuable information about students' experiences with public speaking anxiety and virtual learning. I also learned about educators practices, and how they've adapted to teaching online and engaging with students virtually.
I also was able to explore my own feelings about public speaking, and realized that it was a fear that for me started in high school and was exacerbated by the stress of getting high marks and getting into university, and the belief that I needed to be perfect.
Perfectionism is defined as the need to be or appear to be perfect, or to believe that it's possible to achieve perfection; and it is often mistakenly seen in our society as desirable or even necessary for success.
Overall, this stage gave me the opportunity to learn about public speaking anxiety from different peoples' perspectives and helped me understand the challenges my target user group face.
Data Synthesis
Data from secondary research and interviews with stakeholders was organized into an empathy map and affinity diagram to generate insights.
Defining the problem
I synthesized the research data to identify themes and connections, and define the core problem.
Concept Sketches
Insights generated from the synthesized data were used to come up with possible solutions to the problem. After ideating a variety of concepts, ideas were grouped and combined to create three designs from which one would be selected.
Ideating solutions
I came up with ideas to solve the needs of the target user group after identifying opportunities from the research data.
Site Map
Information architecture of the platform was organized in a site map in order to outline the structure and content of individual pages and visualize how they would be connected to each other.
Creating prototypes
I looked at the insights gathered from the research, competitive analysis and initial feedback to explore the structure of the platform and how it would be organized.
Next steps
Feedback from user testing was presented to peers and mentors as possible next steps for future development of the platform.
Testing prototypes
I conducted user testing and presented the final prototype to stakeholders.
Design Process
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Summary
What I learned from ideating solutions
By analyzing the insights and opportunities identified during the define stage and receiving valuable feedback from my classmates and professors on my designs, I decided to focus on improving virtual meeting platforms — to incorporate features that would address the needs of my target user group such as:
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Give students more control over who sees them on camera, simulating the experience of selecting where one sits.
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Offer tools that allow students and teachers to simulate some typical in-person classroom communications, e.g., “whispering” to a friend, “tapping” them to get their attention, etc.
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Create a more friendly and engaging atmosphere through fun animations designed to offer encouragement and support.
Overall, I realized that there were not a lot of products or tools available to help university students with public speaking anxiety feel more comfortable speaking up in class and that the virtual meeting platforms that schools were using weren't designed for student learning.
Summary
What I learned from defining the problem
By synthesizing my research I was able to further my understanding of the problem, and see the underlying challenges that affect university students' abilities to speak up in an online learning environment and draw out important insights like they:
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Feel self conscious and intimidated to go on camera because they perceive many people are staring at them.
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Fear of speaking up because they might make a mistake or sound stupid in front of a large group of people they don’t know.
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Miss the subtle signals of feedback and engagement they get from in person communication.
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Want features that increase their sense of control and comfort during online classes.
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Judge their performance very harshly, and at the same time would like to improve.
Overall, many interviewees reinforced my initial thoughts by saying that their fear of public speaking and speaking up in class began in high school because they felt they needed to be perfect in order to get good grades and succeed.
POV Statement
Insights from synthesized data were used to phrase the problem and define design criteria.
"University students need a way to feel more connected and engaged with others in online classes because they often avoid public speaking for fear of making a mistake or looking stupid in front of their peers."
Primary Research
Qualitative data was collected from 7 interviews with stakeholders, university students and teachers across Ontario.
User Persona
Insights from stakeholder interviews was also used to refine the provisional persona to better reflect the target user group.
User Flow
Organization of the platform was displayed in a flowchart in order determine the most intuitive pathways users could follow to complete tasks easily and optimize the user experience. The flowchart also helped assess the efficiency of the interface and identify possible pain points in the user journey.
Final Prototype
A high-fidelity prototype was created in Figma in order to conduct user testing and present the final design to peers and mentors.
"Bridge is a virtual classroom designed to to be used alongside Canvas LMS by Instructure, Inc. that replicates the best parts of in-person learning, with features including choosing your seat, whispering to the person next to you, private group discussions, and other tools that can make the online learning experience more comfortable and engaging for students."
Concept Selection
Each design was compared to the design criteria and presented to peers and mentors for feedback in order to select the one that met the needs of the target user group best.
Competitive Analysis
Popular virtual meeting platforms were compared to identify key features and affordances.
Wireframes
Low-fidelity prototypes were created to explore the user experience in more detail on a screen-by-screen level.
Summary
What I learned from creating prototypes
Through prototyping Bridge, I was able to quickly implement working features, concretize ideas and understand which aspects of the design could be more difficult to implement if it were developed. I was also able to test the user flow, and visualize what the end-product would look like to assess the overall success of the design.
I also decided to create Bridge for the Canvas LMS environment by Instructure, Inc. because it is the top teaching and Learning Software used by schools around the world.
Overall, I designed and built the entire prototype including the logo for Bridge and used Canvas LMS as a guide, referencing Instructure, Inc.'s open source style guide so that my design displayed a similar look and feel.
Grad EX 106
Final prototype was showcased on the OCAD University Graduate Exhibition website.
Showcasing work
I exhibited my finished project at the 2021 GradEx 106 show.
Summary
What I learned from testing with users
Throughout the entire design process of this project, I received constructive feedback on my work from my professors, classmates and other stakeholders.
But it was through user testing with individuals within my target user group where I was able to assess the usability of my design in close to real-world situations by finding out if users could navigate the prototype, complete given tasks successfully without any issues or guidance, determine the amount of time it took to complete those tasks, and identify areas of improvement.
Overall, I was able to see if Bridge was successful and solved for the needs of my target user group. And I was glad that many stakeholders said that they liked the design of the platform and would use it, if it were developed.
First
Showcased on OCAD University's Industrial Design student led exhibition website.
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