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Raychel.Design

Achievement Level Explorer

My Role

Lead UX Designer,

End-To-End

Timeline

One Year

Product Type

Online resource

Desktop & mobile

Company

NWEA

The Problem

Teachers need easier, contextualized access to Achievement Level Descriptions so that they can use them to inform classroom instruction.

Achievement Level Descriptors exist to break down educational standards and help teachers better understand how to adjust instruction to help their students meet those standards. However, many teachers are unaware that ALDs even exist, and those who are only have access to them in the form of a large and cumbersome spreadsheet.

Process

Discover & Define

  • Tiger Team: A small group was assembled with the goal of finding a "quick win" to deliver our customers. This "tiger team" dedicated all of their working hours for two weeks to collaborate and ideate on this concept, with the goal of presenting a product outline for internal stakeholder approval.

  • Compiling Feedback: We started by reviewing various sources of feedback from our customers; we looked at past usability studies and interviews, live in-product feedback form submissions, and anecdotes from our customer-facing coworkers. 

  • Workshopping: I designed and facilitated a workshop to help the tiger team assess our findings and start to pick out clear themes. It was at this point the answer became clear: we wanted to develop a product that would allow teachers to better utilize Achievement Level Descriptors.

Develop

  • Diverge: We separated into even smaller groups to each focus on what we did best. I floated from group to group to create visuals to share out with each other.

  • Narrowing it Down: As a team, we reviewed all the product ideas and came to an agreement on what we wanted to pitch: a new report type, that would use ALDs to show what a student had already learned, and what they might be ready to learn next.

Deliver

  • ​Design: With a clear idea in mind, I was finally able to design the report we wanted to see. Because of the quick pace of this process, we stuck to a lower fidelity just to get the idea across

  • Presentation to internal stakeholders: I put together a powerpoint that outlined our process, and clearly defined the problem we wanted to address, then showcased the final design. We presented it to internal stakeholders who made the decision to add the idea to our product roadmap and put together a development team to make our idea a reality.

Research

Comparative Analysis

  • We took a deep look at the current process teachers used to access ALDs as well as similar products from our competitors and made comparisons to help hone our idea.

  • This allowed us to set goals for our own product, particularly around improving visuals and ease of use for our users.

Usability Studies

  • ​After completing the first full prototype for the tool, I worked 1:1 with our UX Researcher to put together a virtual usability study to get feedback directly from educators.

  • With results from the first study and feedback from internal stakeholders, the direction for the product shifted from a paper report to an online resource. Due to time and technical constraints, the decision was made to develop a more general online resource rather than a report specific to an individual student's test scores. I redesigned with this in mind and we conducted another virtual usability study to solicit further feedback.

  • The last study left us with some clear areas for improvement. I made revisions to the design once more and launched a final usability study.

Outcomes

Launch

  • ​Version 1 of the resource went live and was rolled out to multiple state partners.

  • We implemented a live feedback tab and heap analytics to continue to gather information on how the site was used, what could be improved upon, and how our users felt about the new offering

Product Updates

  • Our ongoing feedback gathering provided us with insights into what else could be done to improve the tool.

  • I revisited my designs in order to improve search functionality, add a tutorial for first-time users, and create a clearer visual alignment between pieces of information.

Personal Reflection

  • This project is my go-to example of a project gone wrong. I still stand by the work that I did on it, but I don’t believe we hit the mark on delivering value to teachers. However, I am proud of the way I advocated for our users, even if the org didn’t want to hear it, and in my ability to adapt to changing technical and time constraints. Even though I wasn’t satisfied with the final result, I do feel it is a good start towards something better; if the company ever decides to return to this idea, I feel that I left a good foundation to build from, and I hope that one day this product can become what the tiger team and myself had always wanted it to be.

Screens

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