All Students Deserve Great Resources.
Uplift K12 is a mathematics student engagement platform that provides teachers, tutors, and parents with digital games, manipulatives, and lessons.
Students and teachers need a resource that is budget-friendly, easily accessible and provides a wide range of resources for all learners. Uplift K12 enhances the teaching experience whether working in person or virtually.
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Login and Sign Up Screens
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Teacher Dashboard
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Library
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Various New Cards and Coaching Screens
My Role: UX Designer
Collaborators: Ryan Welch
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Miro
Timeline: 5 Weeks
Role & Scope
I was hired by Uplift K12 as a UX Designer to redesign specific aspects of the Uplift K12 learning platform. The scope did not entail a full redesign of the platform and website but only specific screens such as the ‘Resource Library’, ‘Teacher Dashboard’, and ‘Log in and Sign Up’.
For 5 weeks, the team met twice a week to conduct user research, create low fidelity and high fidelity frames, and present our work to our stakeholders.
Design Process
Since this was a partial redesign of an already existing platform, the design process was a lot more streamlined. We were tasked with defining problems on existing research and testing, iterating on current versions, and refining our iterations.
Reflections
I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project. I had an incredibly supportive team at Uplift K12. Working for this company gave me independence and room for growth as a UX designer. I learned how to work in a high pace and ever-changing start-up environment. I had a lot of fun returning to the sphere of education and working with both UX Designers and Teachers. I felt like my understanding of both industries helped me design this product from a unique perspective.
The challenges of this project came from the nature of the redesign, rather than a full redesign of the platform, the leadership team asked for very specific parts of the platform to be redesigned. It was a challenge to stay within my team’s scope and work with changes coming from other teams. However, we were able to quickly problem solve and incorporate changes by staying in communication with developers, and leadership and by remaining flexible.
I had a lot of fun putting in my perspective as a former teacher and current UX Designer. I had the opportunity to not only redesign the platform but have conversations on feature value propositions, how to make the platform more profitable and appealing to educators, and incorporating good design from non-educational online products.
Define
“On a particular day when we sent out messages on teacher Facebook groups to check out
Uplift K12, 125 unique visitors came to uplift's landing page and only 3 created a free
account. This is about 2%.”
Looking at the Problems
As a team, we met with our key stakeholders to get a clear understanding of the scope of our redesign. We discussed existing research and target users.
From our conversation, we were able to conclude that educators were not signing up for free accounts. The problem stems from poor UI, and UX from the homepage to the resource library, and confusion with the ‘freemium process’.
We asked the following questions:
How might we increase the number of teachers creating free teacher accounts?
How might we improve the onboarding and walkthrough process, once teachers sign up for a free account?
How might we make the lesson library accessible to a wide variety of math teachers who are at varying levels in their practice?
Initial Market Research
We conducted a competitor analysis of several student engagement platforms. We found that most of these products had simple onboarding and coaching screens that streamlined the platform launch process. These products also require users to make a free account and create a profit off premium features or limit usage to a 30-day free trial. However, none of these platforms contain all of the following: walk-through onboarding, whiteboard, math manipulatives library, and pre-written lessons.
Early Solutions
Removing the ‘freemium’ guest account and forcing new users to create a free account.
Creating simplistic and optional coaching screens.
Limit free usage to a 30-day free trial or charge for premium features.
Addition of Google, Clever, Windows, and Apple ‘one-click’ sign up and sign in.
Looking at our Users
Uplift K12 was created for educators who work with students both virtually and in person. Previous large-scale user research had also been conducted through surveys and social media outreach. This allowed us to streamline our user research phase.
We still conducted 4 user interviews to see if there were any gaps in our knowledge.
Research Methodology
Demographics:
4 Math Educators
3 Classroom teachers, grades K-8.
1 School mathematics coach, grades K-5.
Ages 26-65.
Educators from 3 different states.
Educators from both public and private schools.
Educators with experience using math manipulatives in the classroom.
Conclusion:
We found that previous research did not account for the following:
Teachers have varying levels of technological proficiency.
Teachers are unlikely to go through the effort of creating an account if it is too complicated.
Teachers will not use math manipulatives if they are untrained or have no background experience with using math manipulatives.
User Personas
We created two user personas to show the wide range of users and their unique pain points presented by platforms like UpliftK12. We used these personas to guide our redesign with a focus on reaching a range of teachers with varying tech and teaching expertise.
We also included different regions of the US, we put this into consideration because it speaks to how the platform can make math education accessible across different populations.
Evaluating the Current Platform
In addition to our initial research, we conducted 4 user tests of the current platform. We evaluated new users with no previous experience or knowledge of Uplift K12 and asked them to perform the following tasks:
From the homepage, access the white board and teacher dashboard.
Using the whiteboard, instruct finding the perimeter of a rectangle.
Navigate to the lesson library and launch a lesson on fractions.
From the ‘freemium’ guest account, create your own free teacher account.
From our user testing, we were able to find common pain points and areas of growth. We then took that feedback to redline and complete heuristic evaluations of the homepage, whiteboard, and library.
The Homepage
Hero Image and Key Information
Users were unable to determine that the platform was a math-specific platform based on the information provided on the hero image.
Confusion around ‘Get Started’
Users found the Get Started button unclear.
It was not clear that this button would create a free guest account.
Log In
Many users were confused about the difference between Login and Get Started.
Many users were looking to sign up right away for a free account but the navigation was confusing.
Logo Does Not Return to Homepage
When users found errors from the ‘Login’ page versus ‘Get Started’ there was no way to return to the homepage.
The Whiteboard
Lack of Clarity around Icons
Users felt there were too many icons on the lefthand toolbar and bottom toolbar.
Many of the icon buttons performed similar features and were redundant.
Lack of Coaching Screens and Direction
The first screen when users create a guest account is the whiteboard and without coaching screens, it is not clear to users this is the main dashboard to access all the features of the platform.
Manipulatives and Lesson Library are Hidden.
Many users could not find the library with the thousands of resources that are essential to the platform.
The Lesson Library
Filter Options are Inconsistent
Some are drop-down menus, others are type-search requirements overall filter is inconsistent.
Since standards and domains are different from state to state there needs to be clarity around these sections.
The Differences between Launch and Assign are Unclear.
‘Launch’ and ‘Assign’ are confusing since the platform doesn’t have only a student-facing platform.
Users asked for other buttons and features such as favorite or saving a lesson.
Search Results are Disorganized.
The search results produce thousands of unorganized results in a list format.
Results don’t provide necessary information that would inform users of the best option for them.
Heuristic Evaluations
Recognition and Recall:
This current version requires the user to memorize objects, actions, icons, and options. The user should not have to memorize information from one page to another.
Instructions for use of the platform should be easily retrievable or visible.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use:
Interactions with the platform should cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. The platform should rely on frequent and repetitive actions.
Accelerators—unseen by the novice user—may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
Early Solutions
The Homepage:
Clarity around language, instead of ‘Get Started’ using ‘Create a Free Account’
When users click log-in have an option to create a free account.
State clearly the purpose of UpliftK12.
Logo that returns to homepage.
The Whiteboard:
Reduce the amount of icons for clarity.
Create coaching screens for the whiteboard.
Create a new user dashboard where all aspects of the platform are accessible as well as administrative features.
The Lesson Library
Use content or lesson type sections rather than a scroll list.
Allow users to use an advanced details search.
Allow users to save lessons.
Iterate
Early Solutions
We found that most problems with onboarding could be solved by:
Creating a proper ‘Login’ and ‘Sign Up’ process.
Creating a ‘Teacher Dashboard’ or ‘Landing Page’, rather than launching straight into the whiteboard with an optional onboarding process.
Re-organizing the process of using the resource library.
Login & Sign Up User Flow
Onboarding & Coaching Screens User Flow
Library User Flow
Sketches
Log In Screen
Teacher Dashboard
Library
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Teacher Dashboard
Resource Library
Refine
Feedback from Stakeholders
We presented our low-fidelity wireframes to our stakeholders to gain insight and feedback before moving on to the high-fidelity version.
Feedback on Low Fidelity Dashboard
Fewer words, more use of icons.
Feedback on Low Fidelity Library
Using a menu bar at the top
Library as the main header and then: virtual manipulatives, games, guided practice, independent practice, and lessons.
Organization of search results by resource type.
Adding to the Sign-up and Login process
Have users create a user profile.
Adding to google classroom or sharing link with students.
Moving to High Fidelity
Prior to creating new high-fidelity screens, our stakeholders had already created a new branding guide. We were able to take the new branding guide and logo and apply it to our high-fidelity screens.
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Login and Sign Up Screens
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Teacher Dashboard
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Library
Link to High Fidelity Prototype of Various New Cards and Coaching Screens
High Fidelity Sign Up & Login
New Features:
Whole Site Search Bar
Sidebar Navigation
Quick Launch of Platform Features
New Features:
Center Aligned Toolbar
Undo and Redo Icons
Simplified Icons
Optional Tour and Coaching Screens
High Fidelity Teacher Dashboard & Whiteboard
New Features:
Sign In with Google Option
Choose Your Role / Type of User Profile
Create a Free Account for Educators
High Fidelity Library
New Features:
‘Favorite’ Option on Resource Card
Return to Dashboard
Whiteboard Quick Launch
Optional Tour and Coaching Screens
Sidebar Search Tool
Breadcrumb Navigation for Search Results
Search Results Organized by Resource Type
Search Results in Carousel
High Fidelity Prototype of Coaching Screens & Various Card Options
New Coaching Screens
These new cards were created as the introduction to the Teacher Dashboard. They contain a skip option and explain the purpose of the Whiteboard, Digital Resource Library, and Manipulatives.
Various Card Options
Additionally, we created various types of cards as options for our stakeholders for various parts of the platform such as the digital resource cards, dashboard information, and dashboard shortcuts.
High Fidelity Library Screen
Next Steps
We passed off our designs to the front-end developers to implement aspects that the stakeholder approved of. We also know there is a possibility that the stakeholders would pass off our designs to be reiterated with another UX team.