EduBox
Asynchronous online learning is often more convenient for both the learner and the educator, however, users of these virtual learning platforms often fail to connect with the material. Our team set out to change that with the creation of EduBox, a subscription-based professional development tool that mixes asynchronous video instructions with physical, interactive activities. They are delivered to the customer in a subscription box, with each activity having a corresponding virtual module to teach the user the content that is relevant to that activity. EduBox combines professional development with practical, hands-on activities to help the user apply what they are learning.
Our team worked with CollaboXD, a service design firm based in Indianapolis, IN. We were tasked with adapting the in-person professional development workshops taught by CollaboXD’s founder into a scalable learning platform targeted at working professionals. Emphasizing professional development, we wanted to design a learning experience that allowed working professionals to better understand, connect with, and apply the material that they are learning.
// The Client
Industry project with CollaboXD.
// Project Duration
5 weeks
// Project Year
Winter 2023
// My Role
Project Lead, UX Designer, UX Researcher
UX Research > Ideation > Design > Prototyping > Usability Testing > Product Design
// The Process
Phase 01 — Research
During the kickoff meeting with the CollaboXD team we were briefed on the company and the problem space that we would be working in. They currently offer corporate workshops with the subjects of design thinking and human-centered design. These workshops are taught in-person and include engaging activities for participants to complete to better grasp the material. Due to the time it takes to lead these workshops, we were tasked with adapting the workshop material into a scalable platform that would be easier to distribute.
// Project Kickoff
We began our background research by performing an environmental analysis. Focusing on online and experiential learning, we looked at competitors in the space and dynamics within the online education space. This analysis of the industry provided our team with a baseline that we used to formulate questions targeted at working professionals to better understand how they view online learning and professional development.
// Environmental Analysis
We created an online survey via Qualtrics that we distributed to working professionals. We received 25 responses from professionals working in industries such as technology & IT, healthcare, education, and finance. The responses from the survey helped us to better understand how working professionals prefer to learn, the learning methods they found to be effective/ineffective, and their current frustrations with professional development.
// Survey Data Collection
*Top ways working professionals preferred to learn:
25.49% preferred short and focused learning modules
19.61% preferred self-paced learning
17.65% preferred structured learning
*See graph on the right
We also used our survey responses to create a persona representing working professionals. Our persona, George, is a mid-level engineer who enjoys learning but struggles to find the time for professional development outside of work (a common complaint from survey participants).
After synthesizing the findings from our background research and survey results, our team began working on problem statements to help us focus our design efforts. We began by formulating multiple potential problem statements that were then discussed with our client. With their feedback, we were able to finalize a problem statement that fit the vision of CollaboXD.
// The Problem Statement
How might we create a design that accommodates the different learning styles and time constraints of working professionals?
Phase 02 — Ideation & Prototyping
With our problem statement nailed down, we began brainstorming potential solutions. Working alone and as a group, we came up with multiple solutions before narrowing them down to a top three. These top three solutions were compiled into a presentation that was given to our client. With our client’s feedback, we were able to decide on the creation of a subscription box that could be sent to learners to teach them lessons.
// Potential Solutions
Storyboards showing the before and after of using our subscription box solution.
Now that we knew we would be creating a subscription box, we had to plan out the activities that would be included within it. Using resources provided by CollaboXD, we looked through the material they currently use to teach design thinking and human-centered design. Each team member pulled out activities and concepts that we believed could work in a subscription box. We decided that a simple, stand-alone activity would be best for usability testing so we decided to develop an activity centered around divergent and convergent thinking.
To teach these concepts, we developed a lesson plan centered around an ideation activity known as ‘Crazy 8’s—essentially an activity where the participant has 8 minutes to fill 8 boxes with ideas centered around a prompt or problem. From here, we began to layout the necessary parts to include in the activity.
// Potential Activities
Crazy 8 activity needs:
Video lesson to explain the concepts of divergent and convergent thinking.
An explanation of the activity and the material needed to complete it.
Activity instructions.
Worksheet with space to complete the activity.
Guided reflection to underscore the importance of the activity.
Using the needs for the activity that we laid out, we created a low-fidelity prototype that could be used for usability testing. The prototype activity was 5-pages in total, including an introduction page with a QR code that took users to a video lesson explaining the activity and the concepts of convergent and divergent thinking, and instruction page, two worksheet pages, and a reflection page with space reflect on the activity.
// Prototyping the Activity
My team and I constructed a moderator guide that was used in tandem with our low-fidelity prototype to conduct usability testing with seven participants. Our main goal with these sessions was to test the viability of physical activities and to gather feedback from working professionals on its implementation and impact on their learning. Before each session, we explained that these activities would be shipped in a subscription box and informed them that everything they needed to complete the activity would arrive in the box.
// Usability Testing
During usability testing, and while analyzing our observations, our team identified what did and did not work with the prototype. The resulting findings were used to refine the activity and create a high-fidelity version to use in a product pitch.
// Results
Unfriendly Problem Statement
Participants were unfamiliar with the problem statement format and had difficulty comprehending and addressing said statement. This issue could be mitigated by having a lesson on problem statements, however, we shot for simplifying the statement for the time being.
Unclear Instructions
Participants became confused with how to do the activity after reading the instructions. With questions such as “do I use both both these sheets or just one?” Better explanations for how to do the activity and a stand-alone video giving an example/walking participants through the activity, could alleviate this confusion.
Confusion with Multimedia Lessons
Having a video lesson and written context was supposed to cater to different learning styles, however, we did not include the same information in both formats. This caused confusion among participants as some opted to skip the video lesson and missed on context for the activity. We need to better align the material in both formats.
Phase 03 — Refinement
Our team used the participant feedback to address some of the issues that came up during usability testing. We adjusted parts of the activity to be more user friendly, created a subscription box to hold the materials, and updated the lesson video.
// The Final Design
Subscription Box
The subscription box holds the activity (or activities) that are part of a specific lesson. All the materials the user would need to complete an activity are included in the box.
Video Lesson
The video lesson teaches the user about the material in the box. The video provides further context for the ideas that are being learned and walks the user through the activities included in the subscription box.
Convergent and Divergent Thinking Activity
The activity pages lead users through the included activity and helps them to learn the material. They can be completed stand-alone, or can be completed as the user follows along with the video lesson.
We compiled the results of our usability testing and the final version of our activity into a presentation that was then pitched to the CollaboXD team. They were impressed with the idea and its potential for generating revenue through the marketing of both group boxes (for corporate team training) and individual subscription boxes.
Due to the time constrains of the project our team only had the opportunity to create a minimum viable product. If given more time, we would have liked to complete the following:
Conduct further usability testing on the revised version of the activity.
Adapt more topics into interactive physical activities.
Adapt current topics into a group lesson for corporate teams.
Create the online platform that would be used to order the boxes, host the video lessons, and manage box subscriptions.
// Feedback & Future Work
Phase 04 — Reflection
As this was my first project working on a physical product rather than creating an online website/application, the experience was different than I was used to. My team and I had to think about the physical interactions that people would have with our product and lead them through the activity process. I noticed that this process tended to be more linear than the typical paths in a digital product, but the experience still had to guide the user. Over the course of our testing we discovered the importance of wording and the hierarchy that is created by color, font weight, and font size. Participants were likely to skip over sections if they weren’t drawn to it, which is harder to replicate when using a low-fidelity version of the activity. Overall, working on the experience of a physical product has some unique challenges that became clearer to me during this project. While there are differences between working on digital and physical products, the overall goals and methodologies are very similar with the main difference being the considerations we have to take into account about how participants will interact with our product.