McGraw Hill
Enhancing the teacher experience
Overview
McGraw Hill is an education publisher providing a range of education content, software and services and they also provide a dense selection of resources for teachers and students for all learning levels. Although the platform is extremely robust, it lacked alignment between products and experiences. Recognizing their need for a cohesive user experience, we provided a product assessment and design strategy to bring a more united feel across the platform. Additionally we demonstrated the improved design direction and produced innovative concepts aimed to enrich the teaching experience and drive engagement. All together we delivered 6 key concepts leveraging the improved design approach. I was directly responsible for building interactions applying our approach and creating smoother workflows and flexible feature sets for teachers.
Project Details
Timeline: April 2022 - June 2022
Role: Researcher, Interaction designer
Team: 1 Design principle, 1 Program manager, 1 Product strategist, 2 Interaction designers, 1 Visual designer, 1 Design technologist
Tools: Figma, Miro, Adobe illustrator
Deliverables: 6 key concepts, UX assessment, User research
Research
Our research involved interviewing full-time teachers with a minimum of three years' experience teaching at least two core subjects. These teachers, hailing from diverse locations and schools in California, Texas, and Florida, actively used digital programs and technology in their classrooms. The pool of participants, which included teachers from Title 1 schools and those belonging to underrepresented groups, aimed to reflect the diverse range of educational environments.
The objectives were to understand the attitudes, behaviors, and needs of K-5 teachers using digital tools, analyze their workflows to identify enhancement opportunities, and envision a future where McGraw Hill products offer comprehensive and indispensable support.
Synthesis & findings
Teachers seek a flexible curriculum that balances standards with student needs and promotes clarity. They need improved avenues to foster meaningful connections with students, their families, and colleagues, and tools that empower decision-making and time efficiency.
Data synthesis revealed improvement areas such as a cohesive, collaborative approach to workflows, enhanced communication, and streamlined processes
Opportunity Areas
We identified several opportunities to enhance the product experience. These include boosting cohesion by creating a unified design language, thus reducing friction in user experience, and increasing flexibility to support custom content and individual needs.
The actionable aspect could be improved by integrating better reporting and analytics. Implementing modern best practices could increase intuitiveness and make the products more user-friendly. More complementary features and an integrated system would provide a seamless user experience.
Concept Designs
Launchpad
These educational tools streamline task management, individualized instruction, efficient resource discovery, and curriculum customization, also promoting real-time collaboration through a mobile support tool. Collectively, they augment teaching efficiency and effectiveness, ultimately enhancing educational outcomes.
Differentiation Support
The student learning management portal facilitates personalized instruction by providing dynamic student tracking, tailored content recommendations, and smart grouping tools.
These features enable teachers to monitor progress, assign appropriate content, and form effective learning groups, ultimately improving student outcomes and simplifying the teaching process.
My Teaching Team
This concept provides a collaborative platform for teachers to share resources, stay updated, and exhibit their work, all facilitated by an AI bot that identifies collaboration opportunities, ultimately streamlining teaching and fostering teamwork across various classes and grades.
Content Curator
This concept empowers educators to personalize lessons and enrich student learning through content customization and supplementary materials, fostering an engaging classroom setting.
It promotes collaboration and knowledge-sharing among teachers via a recommendation engine and portfolios, enhancing teaching practices. The lesson gauge feature aids teachers in maintaining organization and meeting objectives within set timeframes.
Genie
This tool enhances teachers' access to relevant content via an advanced search engine and personalized collections, factoring in search history, class theme, and performance for improved recommendations.
It offers tailored search results through filters like subject, learning style, grades, and popularity. Teachers can favorite resources and create collections for better organization and discoverability. Furthermore, it gives insights into what similar-class profile teachers recommend and what engages students.
Wrap up
This study evaluated a product portfolio, revealing areas for improvement like lack of user-interface cohesion and insufficient adaptability. Teachers expressed a need for better integration with existing systems, comprehensive student views, and professional development support. Research among K-5 teachers was conducted to tailor the product more effectively to their needs. The findings led to the development of six tool concepts, including a dynamic dashboard for efficient task management, and features promoting collaboration and customization.
These tools aim to reduce teachers' administrative work, enhance personalization in teaching, and provide up-to-date resources, ultimately improving the teaching experience and focusing more on students' learning and success.
Launchpad
Differentiation Support
My Teaching Team
Content Curator
Genie
Classroom Companion