UI UX - Case Study
E Learn: Case Study
Making online learning more accessible and enjoyable!
Objective
The main objective of developing the ‘ELearn’ website and a mobile app is to provide an enriching and accessible online education to the students. There are already many reputed educational websites. To stand out from them all, I needed to figure out the unique selling point which will help ‘ELearn’ to flourish. Research about user experience had provided me required inputs to find out the lackings, best and worst features of educational websites.
Students of all age groups, across the globe, are the target audience. Enhancing the quality of learning and teaching is the business goal. Our challenge is to research from students’ points of view, to know their pain points, and to provide feasible solutions.
I was involved in this project as a UI UX designer.
Background
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a huge demand for online education.
BestColleges’ seventh annual Online Education Trends Report
It provides the latest online and remote learning experience data with insights from students and school administrators.
Program Design and Administration
One-third (33%) of school administrators planned to continue with both remote and online course options after returning to normal campus operations.
Twelve percent of administrators realized they don’t need to be on campus to perform their jobs.
Almost half (47%) of administrators said there is a need for more investment in instructional design-related processes and resources.
A majority (58%) of administrators shared that institutional finances are the most challenging aspect of preparing for 2021.
The vast majority (96%) of administrators said that faculty development is a top priority in the coming year.
Eighty-three percent of administrators agreed that there will be an increased need for online courses over the next few years, related to issues such as social distancing.
Student Satisfaction
Ninety-five percent of students overall, and 83% of remote learners, said they would recommend online or remote learning to others.
An overwhelming majority (93%) of students said they have had or expect a positive return on their online education investment.
Overall, a majority (74%) of students thought that online learning was better than or equal to on-campus learning; 64% of remote learners felt this way, too.
As per the World Economic Forum Report, dated 29.4.2020:
The COVID-19 has resulted in schools shut all across the world. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom.
As a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms.
Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay.
My Role
My role is to research, gather and analyze user data, create personas, ideation, scenarios / storyboarding, and prototyping, and design a user-friendly and intuitive learner interface.
Before conducting User Research, I have done research on available websites and their mobile apps in this sector.
User Research
At the research phase of my project, I conducted user interviews to better understand the issue.
The aim is to get first-hand information from the school and college students.
I interviewed around 20 students. It is interesting to know that some of them are already pursuing some courses online. Most of them are in the planning and researching stage. They are confused about which site to choose as there are many big players in this field such as Coursera, Khan Academy, Open Culture, Udemy, Lifehack, Academic Earth, edX, Alison, etc.
My questions involved their background, learning methods, the amount of time they spend online, their expectations from the educational sites, and the problems they are facing in using the available websites and apps.
The main insights I got:
- The responses revealed that there is an increased interest in online studies.
- Short-term job-oriented courses are in more demand.
- Some students are considering online graduate programs.
- Information Technology is the most sought-after sector.
At the same time, they have certain concerns too. The common pain points are:
- Standard/quality of the Courses being offered.
- The ability of the Trainers/Instructors to explain the concept.
- The availability of the Professors to clear doubts.
- Understanding the material in an online format
- Internet/Wi-Fi speed or availability
- Staying focused and self-motivated
- Access to computers and technology
- Concerns about the validity of online degrees.
- Learning to use online tools.
- Lack of social interaction with classmates
- Limited access to Lecturers/Trainers
- Security of online tests and exams
- Keeping track of assignments or due dates whatsoever.
Persona
Based on the interviews, I created two personas to understand and empathize with the end-users. I referred to them throughout the design thinking process.
User Journey
I created a user journey map to get into their shoes and see their perspective with an intention to help them reach their most important goals of online education.
Ideation
I started putting all my ideas on paper. The aim is to find out the best, most practical, and most innovative design solutions.
The points I pondered upon:
- If a student is not happy with the quality of the training, there should be a provision of returning fees within a prescribed period.
- Verification of the credentials of the Trainers/Instructors before approving their services.
- There should be an online provision for students and Faculty interactions to clarify doubts.
- Ensure the availability and quality of the downloadable study material.
- Video lessons must be made available offline too.
- An updated Mobile app may come to the rescue in case of an internet glitch.
Wireframes & Prototypes
I converted my ideas into wireframes. This is to establish the basic structure of the app before visual design and content are added.
User Testing
To find out the best user-friendly design, I conducted an A/B test with two different design options.
High-fidelity Design
After receiving the feedback, I made the necessary changes to the wireframes and created the high-fidelity design and mock-up of the app eLearn.
