Providing teachers from Pre-K to Elementary with a way to create and share lesson plans that align with state educational requirements.
Project Overview
The Problem
Lesson Planning is a time-consuming task that presents teachers with numerous criteria to meet. When developing a curriculum for younger students, teachers often find themselves navigating multiple resources and websites to create customized lesson plans that align with state and education standards. This approach can lead to inefficiencies, information overload, and increased stress for educators, all of which divert them from their primary role as educators.
The Solution
Teacher's Toolbox is a mobile app where Pre-K to Elementary school teachers can efficiently create, share, and access compliant lesson plans and ideas. This user-friendly app streamlines the lesson planning process, from the convenience of a mobile device. This provides educators with essential information and creative ideas to enhance their teaching strategies within a collaborative and interactive community.
Before beginning my design work, I needed to develop a thorough understanding of the existing tools and options available to teachers. My main objective was to create a better lesson planning experience for teachers by identifying the challenges they face and the features that are important to include. The primary goal of Teacher's Toolbox is to make the lesson planning process easy to use and customizable on mobile.
Competitive Analysis
For my analysis I focused on four different resources teachers currently use for planning; Brightwheel, Pinterest, Planboard and Nearpod.
Key Findings
Users like to be able to link images and videos
Users like being able to access old lesson plans
Some users felt the platforms were confusing to navigate
Users appreciate the ability to share their ideas and lesson plans; only some platforms allow this
All of these products need to be used in conjunction with other tools, as they do not offer the level of customization required to create their own fully-formed lesson plans.
Interviews
Based on my competitive analysis, I identified the main areas to address, but wanted further confirmation through one-on-one interviews. I used my interview guide to ask questions that would confirm or refute my earlier findings and highlight a focus for my final design.
Key Findings - What Users Want
Offers the ability to filter by theme, activity or lesson ideas
Shows the education standards for lessons customized by state
Can incorporate visuals/images/videos/links in lesson plans
Can save and edit lesson plans
Simple layout and easy to navigate
Collaborative community forum
Easily shareable
How Might We’s
After analyzing my research, I created a list of HWM questions focused around the user and their needs. These questions provided valuable insights into what was crucial to keep in mind while designing my app, in order to create the best possible product.
Questions
How might we provide the user with all of the necessary features while still making the app streamlined & easy to use?
How might we give the user an efficient lesson planning app when working solely on mobile?
How might we allow people to filter and search for themes or activities using the app?
How might we effectively incorporate the necessary flexibility into lesson plans to cater to the diverse needs of children?
How might we foster effective collaboration among teachers?
Persona
Based on my research, I developed personas to identify the teachers I wanted to target. I selected three categories of users to focus on: those who prefer mobile planning for on-the-go flexibility, those seeking an all-in-one location planning solution, and those interested in an interactive online community for inspiration and collaboration.
User Flow
With limited time to create this project, I prioritized creating a user path that offered the most complete experience. I designed a flow where teachers select from a catalog of existing lesson plans and save a weekly lesson guide to their library for future use. Through this process, a user would see what information is displayed for each lesson plan and how it relates to state requirements. This approach provides users with a foundational understanding of the app's functionality, and does not include the customization element which would be the next phase of development.
2. Branding
Branding Inspiration
Teacher’s Toolbox is an app designed for teachers to help them plan for children’s educational needs. Therefore, I wanted to balance playful, child-like aesthetics and professionalism through color, fonts, and imagery.
Logo
The name 'Teacher’s Toolbox' communicates its role as a single location containing all the components needed to develop an educational curriculum. The toolbox graphic visually represents this concept and can be used alone or be paired with the written logo. The font choice combines a traditional sans-serif style with a playful, child-like, handwritten touch.
Colors
Color plays an integral role in the design. The dark blue is the primary color and adds a touch of professionalism. It also acts as a visual anchor against the vibrant colors and images on individual lesson plan covers. The bright blue and green colors are used for call-to-action elements like buttons and dropdown headers.
3. Wireframes
Low Fidelity
Low fidelity wireframes enabled me to better understand how someone would navigate through the screens. Based on my user flow diagram, I initially decided to showcase six screens. These screens would walk the user through every step of setting up their library - starting at the Login/Browse screen, then the Choose Your State screen. This allows the user to browse the existing lesson plans, which now showcases their state’s requirements. Finally the user would be prompted to save their selection using a Save Plan button.
High Fidelity
The low fidelity flow successfully led the user through the app; however, I changed the information order in the Lesson Plan section. I moved the Goals and State Standards to the top, as the previous hierarchy didn’t present the information in an efficient way. I also implemented an additional screen at the end showing how the Saved Library would be presented.
Usability Test Results and Revisions
I received very positive feedback from my user testing, and as a result, there were only minimal changes to make. A number of people felt that I needed to strengthen the brand identity. I decided to showcase the logo and color scheme more consistently throughout. I added the primary logo to the State Selection page, as I wanted to highlight it on key screens. Furthermore, I changed the section header colors on the Lesson Plan page, as it was too overpowering and was competing with the lesson planning content.
Test Feedback
“I am not tech-savvy at all, but Teacher’s Toolbox was so easy to navigate! I can see how easy it would be to plan my classes using this app.”
- Interviewee
Prototype
Conclusion
This was a fun and inspirational project! I enjoyed creating a comprehensive brand identity and product that resonated with the target audience. I'm really pleased with the final result and I think the app I created addresses a market need.
Due to time-constraints, I needed to be selective about the creative ideas and the direction I took the app. There were many other features that I wanted to explore; if I were to continue to phase 2 of development, I would incorporate a community forum and a feature that allows teachers to customize or create their own lesson plans.
Based upon the feedback I received from people within my target field, I have achieved what I initially set out to do.
