Teacheasy app

UX design

Context

Master’s Degree in HCI,
“Design experience” course, final project
Group project (6 people)

Focus

Mobile app
Design
Workshop

Software

Adobe XD
Illustrator
Photoshop

Duration

November 2017 – February 2018

IN A NUTSHELL

With the aim to design a tool that could help teachers in their everyday work, we collected data through interviews and a workshop to understand the school environment and teachers’ needs.

Starting from the data we designed the Teacheasy app and a paper prototype that we evaluated with the users. Once validated the structure and the functionalities of the app we created the Teacheasy interactive prototype and, finally, two paper tools for a scenario without the app.

IN DETAIL

THE PROJECT

Teacheasy is the final project of the “Design experience” course (“Participatory Design” module + “User Centered Design” module) of the Masters’ degree in Human-Computer Interaction of the University of Trento.

The aim of the project was understanding the school environment, in particular teachers’ needs and issues, by involving them in a participatory process, to design a tool that could help them in their everyday work. The activities within the school “Istituto Comprensivo Pergine 2” have been coordinated with the director of the Institute and involved sixteen teachers.

The project was divided into two main phases: [1] Data collection and [2] Teacheasy ideation. Data collection included four interviews (November 2017) and a workshop with 12 teachers (January 2018). Teacheasy ideation included: the design of the structure and the functionalities of the app, the creation of the paper prototype, the evaluation with the users of the paper prototype, and the creation of the interactive prototype.

All the activities and the materials reported are the result of the team’s work. I contributed to all the activities and, in detail, I carried out the functionalities diagram, the paper prototype, the app logo, the interactive prototype and the analogic tools for the weekly meeting.

DATA COLLECTION – INTERVIEWS

Understanding the context with 4 teachers

The issues addressed during the interviews with 4 teachers mainly concern six different areas: (1) bureaucracy, (2) communication, (3) weekly programming, (4) technology, (5) RAV and (6) INVALSI. The main considerations that emerged are summarized through teachers’ quotes.

Interviews outcome 1. Focus on six areas

Bureaucracy

The redundancy of bureaucracy is a problem that should be solved. It would give us more time for teaching, that is the core of our work. (teacher 2)

We are so overwhelmed by bureaucracy, that sometimes we don’t have time to discuss important issues… (teacher 4)

Communication

All these interlockings, new people, different ways to organize and manage didactics, ask you far more in terms of capacities and longer times to communicate. (teacher 2)

Chair assignment is more fragmented, consequently is more difficult meeting with each other. (teacher 2)

Weekly meeting

Weekly meetings are about practically solving everyday problems. (teacher 4)

The fact that in primary schools there are weekly meetings is crucial. (teacher 3)

Technology

Systematic and adequate maintenance of computers is needed. (teacher 2)

I always use my devices, but an interactive whiteboard might be useful for using technology in the class. (teacher 3)

RAV

Rapporto di AutoValutazione (i.e. Self-Evaluation Report).

When I notice that a suggestion that I’ve provided has been taken into account, it makes me feel as we’re sharing the same vision and everyone’ s thoughts are important. (teacher 2)

INVALSI

The national test aimed at verifying students’ competencies in Italian and math.

It should be structured in a way that gives us room for manoeuvre in order to improve the quality of teaching. (teacher 2)

Interviews outcome 2. Context vocabulary

Starting from the interviews we developed the “context vocabulary” to better understand and to summarize all the aspects of the school environment. It was used as a tool in the design of the workshop and the design of the prototype.

DATA COLLECTION – WORKSHOP

Eliciting information with 12 teachers and 5 tailored activities

The workshop, with five activities, involved 12 teachers and it was held at the “Scuola Primaria Rodari”. For each activity are reported: the typology (e.g. individual or group activity), the description, and the results (when present). The teachers were randomly divided into two groups, a “yellow” group, and a “green” group.

ACTIVITY 1. ICE BREAKING

TYPOLOGY
All together (teachers + facilitators).

DESCRIPTION
Round name activity in which a person has to repeat all the names of the people before him/her.

ACTIVITY 2. GROUP FORMATION

TYPOLOGY
Steps 1-2 individual activities, steps 3-4 group activities.

DESCRIPTION
step 1. teachers have to choose randomly one coloured paper;
step 2. teachers have to write some personal characteristics;
step 3. the group are formed by paper colours;
step 4. everyone receives a card from someone else and try to guess whose card is it.

ACTIVITY 3. TEACHERS’ OUTSIDE THE CLASS ACTIVITIES

TYPOLOGY
Steps 1-2 individual activities, steps 3-5 group activities.

DESCRIPTION
step 1. (Brain Dumping) teachers have to write on post-its all the activities that they do for their work, beyond teaching in class;
step 2. they stick on the wall post-its written;
step 3. teachers overlap similar concepts;
step 4. teachers cluster post-its in categories;
step 5: they choose the category they would like to dedicate less time and the one they would like to have more time.

A3 outcome. Categories of activities

Yellow group categories
Planning of didactic, educational and pedagogical activities
Deal with colleagues
Bureaucracy	Less time
Training and in-service courses
Free time	More time
Coordination
Responsibility
Scheduled meetings

Green group categories
Planning of didactic, educational and pedagogical activities	More time
Deal with colleagues
Bureaucracy	Less time
Training and in-service courses
Dealing with school users
Contingent activities
Individual tasks

ACTIVITY 4. WEEKLY MEETING

TYPOLOGY
Step 1 individual activity, steps 2-5 group activities.

DESCRIPTION
step 1. teachers write on post-its positive and negative characteristics related to the weekly meeting;
step 2. teachers attach the post-its on a group poster;
step 3. each group swaps its poster with the other group;
step 4. each group have to propose improvements related to the negative characteristics that they found in it;
step 5. each group present to the class their ideas/improvements/suggestions.

A4 outcome. Weekly meeting characteristics and proposals

Positive characteristics	Negative characteristics	Proposals
Collaboration for shared projects	Lack of time for addressing all issues	Defining priorities
Essential	Less focused on didactic	Timed agenda
Sharing opinions with colleagues	Making complicated what is simple	Less time devoted to communication about bureaucracy
Sharing ideas and materials	Usually, it is used for addressing other issues (not planned)	Address school issues only once
Decision-making/crucial	Minutes requires time for writing	More flexibility

ACTIVITY 5. RAV + INVALSI

TYPOLOGY
Group activities.

DESCRIPTION
step 1. teachers choose adjectives from the list provided in relation to RAV/INVALSI. One group focuses on RAV, the other one on INVALSI;
step 2. teachers cluster the adjectives in positive and negative or neutral;
step 3. teachers pick one piece of Lego for each adjective;
step 4. teachers create and describe an artefact that represents the RAV/INVALSI concept;

A5 outcome. RAV and INVALSI artefacts

GREEN GROUP’S ARTEFACT – RAV CONCEPT

This is the Aztec divinity snake, you can see the head and a tail, it is obscure but meanwhile ambitious. It could be something nice, but it is improperly built. It could be something important, in the end, we are not yet done.

YELLOW GROUP’S ARTEFACT – INVALSI CONCEPT

It is a tower oriented to the sky. Positive aspects are overlooked by an excessive and disproportionate focus on evaluation. Evaluation-based misunderstandings and caused anxiety lead to more negative than positive considerations.

TEACHEASY IDEATION – DESIGN

From data to the ideation of the Teachesy app structure and functionalities

Starting from the information collected and analysed, both from the interviews and from the workshop, we developed the structure of a mobile application. The application is called Teacheasy, as its goal is to support the teachers’ work, trying to intervene in the most problematic aspects that can be addressed using a mobile device.

The app focuses on two key concepts of “team” and “weekly meeting”, to make communication between teachers easier, to help prioritize topics on the “weekly meeting” and to facilitate the drafting of minutes.

KEY CONCEPTS

Team

A group of teachers that work together in the same classroom (e.g. 3A or 5B).

Weekly meeting

Time spent every week by the team to discuss important issues related to the school environment.

TEACHERS’ NEEDS and APP FUNCTIONALITIES

Needs	Functionalities
Team management A group of teachers that work together in the same classroom.	Create/Join a team Tools for team management.
Communication Teachers have difficulties passing information to each other due to their schedule	Post-it wall A space where teachers can share information of any kind (issues, suggestions, homework…) regarding their classes
Events Teachers would like to know if there are particular events or news about their classes, the school and the institute. Generally, this information is shared through a blackboard, but it can happen they miss something	“What’s happening today” Section dedicated to general news Calendar Section dedicated to news/events about teachers’ classes (team) or school.
Common rooms Teachers would like to know which common rooms (e.g. laboratories) are booked to organize their classes more in advance	Spaces Dedicated section containing information about laboratories/common room availability
Weekly meeting organization The weekly meeting is an essential task for teachers, but sometimes there are problems related to organization and management	Weekly meeting section Containing an item for each week, with the possibility of consulting previous meetings and re-read minutes
Weekly meeting efficiency The same topic is discussed many times over meetings, need to avoid repetitive discussions	Topic Teachers can introduce a new topic to be discussed and comment the others Statistics Section with the statistics of the topics dealt in the meeting
Weekly meeting minutes Sometimes filling in the minute is very time consuming	“Precompiled” minute The app inserts automatically in the minute the topics proposed by teachers and dealt during the session Minute web editor The minute can be opened in a browser and filled in using a computer

FUNCTIONALITIES DIAGRAM

TEACHEASY IDEATION – PAPER PROTOTYPE

Home

Personal profile settings

Team overall view

Joining or Creating Team

Create new Team

Join a selected Team

Write a new Post-it

Post-it wall

Weekly meeting archive

Current weekly meeting topics

Add a new topic

Minutes

Calendar

Minutes web editor

TEACHEASY IDEATION – PAPER PROTOTYPE EVALUATION

Testing the concept with 5 teachers

The evaluation of the paper prototype involved 5 teachers. During the tests, we received positive feedback regarding both on the structure and the functionalities of the app. During the test phase, we collected observation notes and the suggestions provided by the teachers.

Suggestions

News

Add a section called “What’s happening today?”, that could provide information about other classes activities and “Plesso” meetings.

Spaces

Change the name of “Laboratories” section in “Spaces” to highlight the possibility of seeing reserved rooms and booking them.

Privacy

Privacy was one of the main concerns for teachers. Appreciated the opportunity of “closing” teams.

TEACHEASY IDEATION – INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

Once validated the structure and the functionalities of the app, in the design of the interactive prototype we implemented the observation notes and the suggestions emerged during the testing phase of the paper prototype. The interactive prototype was developed with Adobe XD.

Splashscreen

Home

Team overall view

Post-it wall

Write a new Post-it

Team info

Weekly meeting overview and archive

Weekly meeting topics stats

Current weekly meeting topics

Add a new topic

Create weekly minutes

Weekly minutes

Minutes web editor

Minutes web editor (precompiled)

ANALOG TOOLS

Paper tools for a scenario without the app

Considering that the app would not have been implemented at the end of the project, we created a scenario, without the app, in which two paper tools to be printed and concretely used by teachers are proposed.

Scenario

Before

On Wednesday Roberta attends the weekly meeting with her colleagues of class 3A. There’s a lot to discuss and there is not a clear vision on the topics to deal during the two hours. She wanted to discuss an issue, but the general confusion and the lack of time left forced her to keep it for the other week.

After (with paper tools)

On Wednesday Roberta attends the weekly meeting with her colleagues of class 3B. There’s a lot to discuss, but the topics have been organized in a table (see tool 1), to establish a priority and timing. Her issue is the fourth to be dealt and there’s enough time. The overall atmosphere is more relaxed because everyone tries to follow the guidelines for a constructive meeting (see tool 2).

Persona

Name: Roberta
Years: 46
Years of teaching: 23
Years of teaching in Pergine: 18

In the scholastic year 2017/2018 she teaches in two classes: History and Geography in 3A, and Italian in 5B, so she takes part in two different teams.

Paper tools for the weekly meeting

1. Weekly meeting scheme

The scheme allows to easily manage the items on the agenda, divided by week, by assigning a priority and setting a time for discussion. Once completed, the document provides a general view of the issues addressed over 6 weeks.

2. Weekly meeting guidelines

The guidelines, adapted from the brainstorming guidelines and tested by our team, are simple rules to be followed in moments of sharing and listening by all the participants to facilitate the “weekly meeting”.

CONCLUSIONS

The project was developed incrementally. The workshop was designed based on what emerged in the interviews and the app was designed based on teachers’ needs as a result of the analysis of the data collected through the interviews and the workshop.

UX design

TEACHEASY APP

Context

Focus

Software

Duration

IN A NUTSHELL

With the aim to design a tool that could help teachers in their everyday work, we collected data through interviews and a workshop to understand the school environment and teachers’ needs.

Starting from the data we designed the Teacheasy app and a paper prototype that we evaluated with the users. Once validated the structure and the functionalities of the app we created the Teacheasy interactive prototype and, finally, two paper tools for a scenario without the app.

IN DETAIL

THE PROJECT

DATA COLLECTION – INTERVIEWS

Understanding the context with 4 teachers

Interviews outcome 1. Focus on six areas

Bureaucracy

Communication

Weekly meeting

Technology

RAV

INVALSI

Interviews outcome 2. Context vocabulary

DATA COLLECTION – WORKSHOP

Eliciting information with 12 teachers and 5 tailored activities

ACTIVITY 1. ICE BREAKING

ACTIVITY 2. GROUP FORMATION

ACTIVITY 3. TEACHERS’ OUTSIDE THE CLASS ACTIVITIES

A3 outcome. Categories of activities

ACTIVITY 4. WEEKLY MEETING

A4 outcome. Weekly meeting characteristics and proposals

ACTIVITY 5. RAV + INVALSI

A5 outcome. RAV and INVALSI artefacts

TEACHEASY IDEATION – DESIGN

From data to the ideation of the Teachesy app structure and functionalities

KEY CONCEPTS

Team

A group of teachers that work together in the same classroom (e.g. 3A or 5B).

Weekly meeting

Time spent every week by the team to discuss important issues related to the school environment.

TEACHERS’ NEEDS and APP FUNCTIONALITIES

FUNCTIONALITIES DIAGRAM

TEACHEASY IDEATION – PAPER PROTOTYPE

TEACHEASY IDEATION – PAPER PROTOTYPE EVALUATION

Testing the concept with 5 teachers

Suggestions

News

Spaces

Privacy

TEACHEASY IDEATION – INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPE

ANALOG TOOLS

Paper tools for a scenario without the app

Scenario

Before

After (with paper tools)

Persona

Paper tools for the weekly meeting

1. Weekly meeting scheme

2. Weekly meeting guidelines

CONCLUSIONS

The project was developed incrementally. The workshop was designed based on what emerged in the interviews and the app was designed based on teachers’ needs as a result of the analysis of the data collected through the interviews and the workshop.

The Teacheasy app, if developed, could concretely support teaching and related activities in the school environment.

In a scenario without the app, two paper tools to be used by teachers at the end of our project were developed.