Discover Navigation and Usability Problems of an Ed-Tech Platform

Role: UX Researcher

Project: Internship at the School of Information, University of Michigan

Timeline: Four months

Platform: 1Cademy (Ed-Tech platform)

Team Members

Product owner, UX research team, UI/UX design team, and Project coordinator

What Happened

Research Question

- How do users perceive their experience (incl. attitudes, pain points, needs, and motivations) while using the platform?

- How do users compare 1Cademy to other platforms or tools?

Research Phases

Phase 1: User Interview with in house experienced users

Phase 2: Heuristic Evaluation (by UX team members)

User Interview

Participants

Eight employees of 1Cademy platform

Data and Analysis

Use Miro platform for teamwork

Tasks: Recruit participants, Conduct interviews, Transcribe interviews, Generate notes (no. 329), Conduct thematic analysis, Classified notes in 40 categories, 9 clusters, and later 4 main themes.

Result: Affinity Diagram

Recommendation

Evaluate platform design based on Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design (based on the category of broader issues of 1Cademy).

Heuristic Evaluation

Team Work

- Distribution of tasks

- Regular meetings

- Using images and videos to showcase platform problems

- Scope of evaluation: Description, System location, Heuristic violated, Severity, and Screenshot

Results

Total of 15 violations

Severity (from 3 to 2)

Impact

- Add "Help" button to the platform

- Optimize user training and increase user engagement by working on navigating issues of the platform

Constraints

- Pushbacks from the stakeholders

- Diversity of the team

- Time management

Recommendations

- Interview with non-employees: Overcome bias in previous data

- Usability testing: Focus on usability problems

- A/B testing: Compare two versions of some features’ designs

Lesson Learned

- Team management skills

- Working on multifaceted projects

- Collaborating with diverse stakeholders