ASTUTE

OVERVIEW

In this project, I developed an innovative app aimed at providing secondary school students with effective academic assistance from home, addressing common frustrations and stress associated with learning. The app integrates personalized AI tutoring and strategic push notifications to enhance user engagement and educational outcomes. By employing gamification and nudge theory principles, the app encourages productive study habits and provides a supportive learning environment. During the development process, I focused on usability, content, and efficacy through comprehensive user testing and iterative design improvements. This project exemplifies a commitment to creating technology that supports educational success while respecting data privacy and promoting user autonomy.

ROLE

UX & UI Design

DATE

January - March 2024

BRIEF

"How can secondary school students be provided with effective assistance in completing their academic work from home, to prevent frustration and mitigate stressful challenges associated with learning?" - Smart Health

PROBLEM

Secondary school students struggle with completing academic work from home due to inaccessible resources, difficulty managing study schedules, and insufficient guidance. This leads to frustration, stress, and decreased academic performance.

SOLUTION

The app provides secondary school students with personalized AI tutoring, strategic push notifications, and gamified elements to effectively manage academic work, access resources, and receive guidance, thereby enhancing organization, reducing stress, and improving academic performance.

DESIGN PROCESS -DOUBLE DIAMOND

By using the Double Diamond Design Process, I was able to maintain a user-centered focus throughout the project, ensuring that each design decision was informed by real user feedback and aligned with their needs. This methodical approach not only enhanced the app’s usability and functionality but also ensured a high level of user satisfaction and engagement.

01 DISCOVER

SECONDARY RESEARCH

To understand the challenges secondary school students face with at-home learning, I conducted extensive secondary research. This began with literature reviews of scholarly articles and reports focusing on the impact of remote education on academic performance and student well-being. Additionally, I explored existing data from educational institutions and government reports to identify common issues such as lack of resources, ineffective study schedules, and insufficient guidance.
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Market research and competitor analysis provided further insights. I reviewed current educational apps to understand their features, strengths, and gaps, paying close attention to user feedback and ratings. By examining similar apps, I identified best practices and areas for improvement, ensuring our app would effectively meet the needs of students and stand out in the market.

Educational Inequity: Children originating from wealthy households are more inclined to possess greater resources and benefit from parents who are more accessible to assist them with their academic assignments. Conversely, children from underprivileged households may lack the financial means to hire tutors or may not receive assistance from their parents due to their demanding work schedules.

Difficulties in Time Management and Organisation: Students lacking support may encounter difficulties in effectively managing their time and maintaining organisation. This encompasses challenges in decomposing extensive undertakings into smaller subtasks or devising a comprehensive strategy to accomplish all academic assignments.

Challenges in Growing Proficient Study Abilities: In the absence of proper direction, students may encounter difficulties in developing efficient study abilities. This might lead to a significant investment of time in studying without yielding substantial results, as individuals may lack knowledge of the most effective study methods.

Obstacles to Acquiring Independent Learning Skills: Although it is crucial for students to cultivate self-reliance in their learning journey, it is equally necessary for them to possess the ability to seek assistance when needed. Students may encounter challenges in striking a balance between seeking aid and fostering self-reliance in the process of learning if they do not receive any support.

THEORIES

02 DEFINE

PRIMARY RESEARCH

In the Define phase, I focused on gathering direct insights from users through interviews and surveys. I conducted one-on-one interviews with a diverse group of families and teachers to understand their challenges with at-home learning. Alongside this, I distributed surveys to a broader audience to capture a wide range of experiences and perspectives.

Enforcing Productive Study Habits

75% of teachers found that students have difficulty maintaining consistent study habits and often procrastinate on their homework

72% of parents believed that having a structured tool or app with personalized AI tutoring and strategic push notifications would help their children manage their academic work more effectively and reduce stress

42% of parents noticed their children experience significant stress when trying to understand challenging academic concepts without guidance

Addressing Students’ Emotional Challenges

60% of teachers observed that students feel anxious about tackling difficult subjects and assignments on their own

Understanding Emotions

65% of users expressed a need for more educational resources to help them understand and cope with their emotions

Questions Asked

• What are the biggest challenges your students face when completing their homework from home?

• Can you describe a situation where a student felt particularly stressed or overwhelmed by their schoolwork?

• How do you currently support your child in managing their study schedule and academic responsibilities?

• What are the biggest challenges you face when completing your homework at home?

Thematic Analysis

After collecting the data, I used thematic analysis to identify recurring themes and patterns. By coding the responses, I distilled the information into key themes that highlighted the primary issues and needs of the students. These themes were then used to create detailed user personas that represented different types of students, each with unique goals and challenges.

To visualize the connections between these themes and user personas, I created an affinity map. This map helped organize and prioritize the findings, ensuring that the app’s design would address the most critical user needs.

How Can We Define Our Problem?

To define the problem, I began by analysing the user journey map and identifying the lowest points where users faced the most significant challenges in managing their academic work from home. This process allowed me to pinpoint the most prominent problems that students, teachers, and parents encounter.
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Problem 1: Students are unhappy because they don’t have sufficient resources or guidance to understand complex topics and complete their assignments effectively.
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Problem 2: Students feel anxious about addressing and managing their academic workload, which leads to procrastination and increased stress.
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Problem 3: Students are frustrated with their inability to maintain productive study habits and stick to a consistent study schedule, impacting their overall academic performance.

WIREFRAMES

03 DEVELOP

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Creating an information architecture was essential to organize the app’s content and features logically and intuitively. It helped me map out the user flow, ensuring that students, teachers, and parents could easily navigate the app and find the resources they need. This structure facilitated a seamless user experience, reducing cognitive load and enhancing usability by providing clear pathways to key functionalities such as AI tutoring, study schedules, and educational resources.

USER EVALUATION

During the evaluation process, I utilised a thorough strategy that included usability, content, and efficacy frameworks. In order to guarantee that the app fulfils the rigorous criteria necessary for an immersive and efficient educational encounter, I performed user testing with three unique individuals using the Figma prototype feature.

HUMAN DATA INTERACTION

I used Mortier et al. (2014) Human Data Interaction (HDI) Framework to ensure that the app handles user data ethically and transparently. This framework helped me design features that give users control over their data, making the data collection and usage processes clear and understandable. By prioritizing data privacy and user autonomy, the HDI framework ensured that the app builds trust with users while respecting their privacy and promoting a safe and secure learning environment.

04 DELIVER

Innovating at-home learning for secondary school students by integrating personalized AI tutoring, strategic push notifications, and gamification elements. Designed to reduce stress and enhance academic performance, it provides students with tailored guidance, organized study schedules, and engaging educational resources. By fostering productive study habits and offering comprehensive support, our app empowers students to succeed academically while respecting their data privacy and promoting user autonomy.

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STORYBOARD

This storyboard illustrates Rayan, a male student in year 11 of secondary school, as he prepares for his GCSEs and upcoming assignments. He utilises the app to effectively organise his tasks and successfully accomplish his work.

SOCIAL ETHICAL IMPACTS

When developing an application aimed at aiding secondary school students with their academic tasks, we took into account several social and ethical implications:
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Access and Equity: The software has the potential to greatly influence the availability of instructional resources. It has the potential to equalise opportunities for students with varying learning capacities and socio-economic circumstances by offering resources that might otherwise be unattainable.

Student Wellbeing: The app can alleviate stress and anxiety related to academic tasks by offering organised assistance for student wellbeing. Nevertheless, the app refrains from encouraging excessive usage of screens or substituting meaningful in-person engagement with professors and peers.

Academic Integrity: The app upholds academic integrity by fostering genuine learning and deterring dishonest practices such as cheating. Features such as AITutor facilitate students by providing assistance instead of simply providing answers, hence promoting comprehension rather than bypassing the learning process.

Cultural Sensitivity and Inclusivity: The app’s content and design are culturally sensitive and inclusive, catering to a varied student body.

OUTCOMES

The app effectively tackled the challenges secondary school students face with at-home learning, significantly improving their engagement, reducing stress, and boosting academic performance. Through personalized AI tutoring, strategic push notifications, and gamification, students received tailored support and developed better study habits. The project highlighted the importance of user-centered design and demonstrated the successful integration of psychological principles and data privacy considerations in creating a supportive and impactful educational tool.

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TAKEAWAYS

This project underscored the importance of user-centered design and iterative development in creating effective educational tools. Key takeaways include the value of integrating psychological principles like nudge theory to enhance engagement and motivation, the critical need for robust data privacy measures, and the benefits of thorough user testing to refine features and improve usability. Overall, the project highlighted how thoughtful design and user feedback can significantly improve the learning experience for students.

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