Class Ranked
Increasing student engagement by 70% by revamping the app interface.
MY ROLE: UX/UI Designer DURATION: Two Weeks PLATFORM: IOS App
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ClassRanked is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, UT, providing software solutions for course evaluation, reporting, and survey management. The project addressed low student participation in end-of-semester surveys and the absence of a dedicated app for completing them.
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As a UX/ UI designer, I led the user testing and development from beginning to end and collaborated with my UX partner throughout the project's growth. We achieved our goal through research, design, and testing.
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Lack of student participation in the ‘End of the semester’ Survey
No app for students to take survey
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Design an easy aesthetically pleasing app
Create non-financial incentives for students to take the ‘End of the semester’ survey
Increase participation by 50%
User Research
We surveyed 13 people, and the results show that 69.2% agree that the ‘End of the Semester’ surveys does help, but when it came to taking the survey 61.5% rarely took them while 38.5 % regularly took them.
We also interviewed 7 people who are either current students or recent graduates and they had responded that the surveys we not useful because they as students didn’t see how it would benefit or affect them on the current course they were taking. These responses are known as ‘Painpoints’, the users' frustrations and difficulties.
Pain Points
The students do not see how the surveys will affect them in their current semester
Students do not see the changes the surveys promise so the same problems continue for many semesters
No benefits for the student to completing the surveys
Surveys too long
Persona
After analyzing what our users go through, we put that experience into a persona we made to feel an empathetic connection. Lida Volk is an immigrant who came to the U.S. to pursue higher education. Her life is school and her internship which will help her set up her career. However, when Lida finds difficulty in a professor and their poor teaching skills, she can not do anything until the end of the semester. Even though the professor had a notorious reputation, they are the only professor who teaches a mandatory course and has been that way for years.
Emotional Journey Map
Journey Map
Ideating
A main Pain Point the users endured was that they were not being heard when they were currently taking a bad professor, they would have to suffer through the course and scrape by a passing grade resulting in them not taking the ‘End of the Term’ survey because they were done with the course and it didn’t affect them in their educational career. So we designed an optional ‘Monthly Mini survey’ in which the student could voice their concerns.
The users also stated the ‘End of the Semester’ surveys were too long so we gave the user the freedom to save their work and continue the survey at a later time and by finishing the survey the student has access to leave an ‘Open Review’ in which the student has a place to freely comment on the course and the professor.
For the incentives, we came up with nonfinancial options for the students that did complete the ‘End of the Semester’ survey. These included extra credit, early access to grades, study guides, and notes for future courses.
Design
Lo Fi
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Mid Fi
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High Fi
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Lo Fi • Mid Fi • High Fi •
Lo-Fi Sketches
Mid-Fi Wireframes
Style Tile & Components
"Let’s dive into the visual foundation of our design. These style tiles and components capture the essence of our brand, setting the stage for a cohesive and engaging user experience."
Prototype
Usability Testing
Below is the usability testing for the High-Fi of ‘Class Ranked’. According to our results, ten users tested the app for the user flow for taking the ‘Monthly Mini Survey’ and we had an 88% success rating. For the user flow for ‘Continuing the survey and Open Review’, nine users had a 78% success rate, and for the flow of ‘Redeem and Review’ 10 users had a 70% success rate. Due to the user-friendly design, these flows took less than one minute.
Next Steps
According to feedback, we need to review a different color scheme and make it more appealing to the eye.
Offer different notification setting for the user.
Continue ideating on how to engage students into participating in the ‘End of the Semester’ Survey
Conclusion
Upon conducting the user research, we have found two main points. The students
don’t participate in ‘End of the semester’ surveys because it doesn’t benefit them in their current courses and students feel like the University doesn’t listen to the students when there is a problem with a course or a specific professor.
Our design for the student app for ‘CLASS RANKED’ can give students a voice and help them get engaged in sharing their thoughts on courses they are currently taking that semester. Also, our recommended incentives which have no financial strain on the University, and our auto-saving feature, can persuade students into taking and finishing the ‘End of the Semester’ Survey.