ClassMap

An inclusive classroom for international students to promote engagement and growth

#ux-research #ux-design #usability-testing

Time

2023.08-12

Type

Class Project

Group

Emily Lee

Yoojin Leem

Reina Li

Katherine Liu

Tools/Methods

Figma

My Contribution

UX research

User interviews, affinity map

UX design

Sketches, wireframing, usability testing, high-fidelity prototyping

Background

International students make up ~16.2% of Cal students. As a significant portion of the student body, it’s important to note their hesitation in class participation due to language and cultural barriers. Over time, this reluctance may lead them to become the “silent” ones in class, diminishing their self-value, as well as depriving the whole group of diverse perspectives.

We hope to help international students better navigate through new environment and engage in class. Stakeholders such as the class, including local students, and the instructors are also important in creating a better learning context.

How might we

Build a classroom environment that helps international students to adapt quickly in new context and engage more actively in the discussion?

User Research

To fully understand the needs of our users, we conducted semi-structured Interviews with 3 international students and 1 domestic student and observed the participants during class time.

Affinity Map

The core insights from the interview and observation show that the participants need:

❤️ Safe class environment free of judgement

🔤 Language tool that helps plan their speaking

📚 More engaging/relevant class content

🧑‍🏫 Open-minded & empathetic instructors who encourage diverse perspectives

Ideation

As a group, we collectively brainstormed and voted the four solutions: the most rational, the most viable, the most delightful, and the dark horse solution.

Prototype

I individually worked on the prototype of the physical engagement ears, which is a headband with interactive LED lights remotely controlled by a web application. This prototype is designed to:

Decrease inattentive reactions

Increase visibility of students' feedback
Help students feel supported by peers
Add fun to the classroom environment

Lo-fi prototype

Hi-fi prototype

1. Sign in

Students will be required to sign in with their CalNet account first

2. Connection

Students follow the instructions to connect their physical headbands

3. Course Selection

Course data will be recorded in reports

Reactions

Select the engagement state on screen will correspondingly change the color of the ears

Settings and Reports

Prototypes of other solutions

GrammarAI:

Records the lecture with real-time speech-to-text

AI gives grammar feedback and detects culturally inappropriate words

HeatMap:

Real-time engagement level input
Anonymous question forum
Available for instructors as well, so that they can adjust lecture content and pace

Usability Testing

For usability testing, we recruited 3 international students and 1 professor to identify any challenges and confusions that a user has when using the product. We also want to test if the prototype satisfies user’s needs in promoting a safer environment and increase engagement levels in class. We used all of our high-fidelity prototypes for usability testing and asked the participants to perform on certain UI features for the task.

Testing results for EngagementEars

Iteration

Upon usability testing, we identify the most valuable feature from each solution and decide to combine them in one prototype.

Expression:

4 levels of interaction from EngagementEars

Display:

real-time aggregated data from ClassHeatmap

Language:

Automatic grammar correction + translation in question forum from GrammarAI

Combined Design