EduTask:
Scheduling Made Easy
ContextTo combat rising teacher burnout, a former educator founded EduTask, an EdTech startup aiming to revolutionize classroom management. My team and I were tasked with designing and developing their first product feature — an appointment scheduling tool to alleviate the administrative burden of parent-teacher communication for Department of Education teachers. This was a critical step in securing government funding.
My Roles & ResponsibilitiesUX/UI Design, UX Research, Project Management
TeamC. Machado, PM
F. Cortes, UX Researcher
C.W. Zhu, UX/UI Designer
Project StatusIn Development
TimelineJanuary 2024 - May 2024
Challenge
NYC DoE teachers face a significant administrative burden, particularly in parent-teacher communication. This limits their focus on teaching and curriculum enhancement.
Solution
Through in-depth UX research, we identified communication challenges, especially around scheduling and follow-up with unresponsive parents. We developed a scheduling tool designed to streamline parent-teacher interactions.
Result
The interactive prototype was successfully incorporated into government funding proposals.
Problem StatementHow might we alleviate the administrative burden on Department of Education teachers, so they can dedicate more time to instruction and improve student learning outcomes?
Research
Primary Research InsightsDepartment of Education teachers in New York City struggle with...
Parent-Teacher
Communication
All interviewed teachers expressed frustration with parent-teacher communication citing unresponsive parents, parents who disregard teacher boundaries, and language barriers.
Attendance
80% of teachers reported frustration with manual attendance logging and the time-consuming process of contacting parents about student absences.
Teacher-Team
Communication
60% of teachers found communication within their teacher teams to be time-consuming.
My goal as a teacher is to efficiently & effectively connect and follow up with my students’ parents, informing them of important information about their children, so they can dedicate more time to supporting my students. This is especially relevant when the parents are difficult to get a hold of.
User Needs StatementUser PersonaDesign Process
User Story 1As a teacher,
I want to make sure that myself and parents find a feasible time to communicate,
so that we avoid scheduling issues and stress.
User Story 2As a teacher,
I want to let parents know what the meeting is about and how we will meet,
so that I avoid frustration in the planning process.
User Story 3As a teacher,
I want to have easy access to my history of outreach,
so that the information can be
used for mandatory documentation purposes.
User Story 4As a teacher,
I want to have easy access to my history of outreach,
so that the information can be logged for documentation purposes.
Initial WireframesUsability Testing
The team conducted 3 rounds of usability testing, gathering and implementing feedback after each round. Testing metrics included task completion rate and qualitative user feedback.
Usability Testing Scenario“Let’s pretend you are Mr. Clyde. One of your students, Han, had a physical altercation during class a few days ago. You used the EduTask app to set up a conversation with his mom, who didn’t show up for your scheduled meeting, and now you want to do follow-up on this outreach.”
Usability Testing InsightsLack of Signifiers
Usability Testing Feedback: Users overlooked the "Action Required" label on the initial screen, leading to confusion about how to proceed.
Solution: Using color to differentiate completed items and items requiring attention. Differentiation is also maintained through color contrast to ensure accessibility.
Missing Feedback #1
Usability Testing Feedback: “Before sending off the new appointment invitation, I want to double check it, make sure I did it right!”
Solution: Users were unsure if they entered the information correctly. To fix this, we added a summary screen so they can double-check their input before sending the meeting request.
Missing Feedback #2
Usability Testing Feedback:
“So, am I done? Did it save?”
“What just happened, did the appointment send?”
Solution: To ensure clarity and user confidence, we implemented a confirmation message. This message appears immediately after the user submits an appointment request, confirming the action's success.
High Fidelity Design
Product HighlightsReducing Mental Load
The teacher is presented with the call to action as soon as they land on the parent profile. Within one tap, they can start rescheduling, reducing effort and mental load.
Integration & Automation
Suggested availability based on the teacher’s calendar and automatic follow-ups, if parents do not schedule a time, are crucial features that significantly reduce teachers’ manual labor.
Automatic Documentation
When reaching out to parents, teachers have to file detailed reports every time they (attempt to) contact a parent. Gathering this information from the EduTask app would save teachers’ time and reduce their mental load.
What I LearnedImproving UX Research skills
This project was a wonderful opportunity to practice my interviewing, and research activity design skills. This was especially helpful as most of our research happened in person as opposed to video calls/zoom calls which significantly changed the dynamic between the researchers/designers and the users.
Understanding the DoE Ecosystem
The ecosystem within which the DoE teachers have to work is a complex one and a large part of this project was learning about the ins and outs of systems public school teachers have to interface with. I appreciate being able to gain a better understanding of this field and have even more respect for teachers.
Breaking Down a Complex Problem
While all of the teachers we spoke to talked about how frustrating ‘administrative tasks’ are, they cover a very wide plethora of tasks. Being able to narrow down the highest impact area by asking the right questions was an important takeaway from this project.