Research Quest
Discovering usability problems with Natural History Museum of Utah's digital learning tool.
THE PROBLEM
Our Question
Stakeholders
Requirements
Research Quest is a digital learning technology that engages students in real-world investigations and allows them to explore various phenomena in the role of the researcher. Despite the product being free, engagement was lower than desired and users were dropping off after account creation.
How can we discover what usability problems teachers are having with Research Quest?
Natural History Museum of Utah
Discover the pain points and frustrations users face with the current product and provide stakeholders with recommendations to improve the Research Quest experience.
TIMELINE
4 weeks for user interviews, surveys, research and wireframes
KEY GOAL
Improve product usability and teacher engagement
MY ROLE
Lead Researcher
Lead UX Designer
THE PROBLEM
Our Question
Stakeholders
Requirements
The COVID-19 vaccine is the most effective way to end the pandemic, yet some communities have expressed hesitancy in receiving it.
How can we discover the main cause behind vaccine hesitancy and encourage more people to get vaccinated?
​
Salt Lake County Health Department
A solution to educate residents on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine and provide a seamless way to make an appointment through the state portal.
MY ROLE
In my role of lead researcher and UX designer, I was responsible for conducting interviews and surveys to discover usability problems and communicating solutions to stakeholders and the engineering team. Deliverables included a research report, interview analysis, wireframes, and visual design.
Responsibilities
Survey
Design
Quantitative
Data
Recruit & Schedule Interviews
Moderator
Guide
Conduct User Interviews
Compile Research
Observational
Testing
Research Report and Presentation to Stakeholders
Wireframes
Visual Design
USER
RESEARCH
I conducted individual interviews with 5 teachers on their usage of digital learning technologies in their classrooms and observed them navigating through a series of tasks on the Research Quest website.
Objective
Discover what pain points teachers are experiencing in trying to implement Research Quest into their curriculum and observe how they interact with the interface.
STUDENT USING RESEARCH QUEST
WHAT WE LEARNED
1
Teachers have
limited class time and need to be able to use the content in smaller chunks to fit their lesson plans.
Solution:
Re-organize content in smaller sections and change taxonomy.
2
Teachers need to easily preview the content from the student side portal and quickly provide access to their students.
Solution:
Add a student login button and provide student login instructions on Account page.
Teachers need to see curriculum alignment and value of the content before they hit a login wall.
3
Solution:
Move curriculum alignment info to Investigations page.
DESIGN PROCESS
I communicated the research findings to stakeholders with a research report listing recommendations and created annotated wireframes to improve cross-functional workflow with another designer and the engineering team.
Research Report
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Objectives​
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Methodology
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Executive Summary
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Detailed report of findings
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User flows
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Survey responses
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Recommendations
Wireframes
Results
We delivered 8 re-designed screens to stakeholders to solve the usability issues observed in our interviews and improve the experience of both teachers and students.​
Presentation
The research report, wireframes, and visual designs were presented to stakeholders and after several iterations were given approval to move into development.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
