Usability Testing with Students for Edtech Product
Usability Testing with Students for Edtech Product
Usability Testing with Students for Edtech Product
Role: Senior UX Researcher
Company: TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers)
Stakeholders: Product Leadership, UX Design, Product Management, Software Engineering, Product Marketing
Core Responsibilities: Participant Recruitment, User Interview Moderation & Synthesis, Task Analysis
Methodology: Usability Testing
Tools: Zoom, Miro, Dovetail, Google Slides
Project Overview
Easel by TPT is TPT’s flagship digital learning tool that teachers can use to assign or present digital assignments to students.
Problem
While building the app, product teams had collected feedback and tested UIs with teachers, however they infrequently collected feedback directly from students. I advocated for usability testing with students to uncover what was and wasn't yet working for the ultimate end users of Easel by TPT: students in grades 3-8.
Research Objectives
Evaluate students’ abilities to complete specific tasks on Easel by TPT
Identify friction points and areas to improve
Methodology
Remote usability testing
Remote Usability Testing
TPT didn’t often recruit students for UX research as the company’s main audiences are teachers that buy on the site and teachers that sell on the site. As a result, I worked with a third party recruitment firm to recruit students in grades 3-8.
As recruitment was ongoing, I paired with a UX designer to create age-appropriate Easel assignments for students to complete that ensured that they’d test out key experiences and features in the app. Once the assignments were ready, I developed an age-appropriate usability testing script to ensure that the students knew why they were participating in the research, what they were going to do throughout the usability test (also made sure that they knew it wasn’t a test, test!), and ultimately felt comfortable in the testing environment.
Then, I conducted 11 remote, 30-minute moderated 1:1 usability tests with students.
Role: Senior UX Researcher
Company: TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers)
Stakeholders: Product Leadership, UX Design, Product Management, Software Engineering, Product Marketing
Core Responsibilities: Participant Recruitment, User Interview Moderation & Synthesis, Task Analysis
Methodology: Usability Testing
Tools: Zoom, Miro, Dovetail, Google Slides
Project Overview
Easel by TPT is TPT’s flagship digital learning tool that teachers can use to assign or present digital assignments to students.
Problem
While building the app, product teams had collected feedback and tested UIs with teachers, however they infrequently collected feedback directly from students. I advocated for usability testing with students to uncover what was and wasn't yet working for the ultimate end users of Easel by TPT: students in grades 3-8.
Research Objectives
Evaluate students’ abilities to complete specific tasks on Easel by TPT
Identify friction points and areas to improve
Methodology
Remote usability testing
Remote Usability Testing
TPT didn’t often recruit students for UX research as the company’s main audiences are teachers that buy on the site and teachers that sell on the site. As a result, I worked with a third party recruitment firm to recruit students in grades 3-8.
As recruitment was ongoing, I paired with a UX designer to create age-appropriate Easel assignments for students to complete that ensured that they’d test out key experiences and features in the app. Once the assignments were ready, I developed an age-appropriate usability testing script to ensure that the students knew why they were participating in the research, what they were going to do throughout the usability test (also made sure that they knew it wasn’t a test, test!), and ultimately felt comfortable in the testing environment.
Then, I conducted 11 remote, 30-minute moderated 1:1 usability tests with students.
Role: Senior UX Researcher
Company: TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers)
Stakeholders: Product Leadership, UX Design, Product Management, Software Engineering, Product Marketing
Core Responsibilities: Participant Recruitment, User Interview Moderation & Synthesis, Task Analysis
Methodology: Usability Testing
Tools: Zoom, Miro, Dovetail, Google Slides
Project Overview
Easel by TPT is TPT’s flagship digital learning tool that teachers can use to assign or present digital assignments to students.
Problem
While building the app, product teams had collected feedback and tested UIs with teachers, however they infrequently collected feedback directly from students. I advocated for usability testing with students to uncover what was and wasn't yet working for the ultimate end users of Easel by TPT: students in grades 3-8.
Research Objectives
Evaluate students’ abilities to complete specific tasks on Easel by TPT
Identify friction points and areas to improve
Methodology
Remote usability testing
Remote Usability Testing
TPT didn’t often recruit students for UX research as the company’s main audiences are teachers that buy on the site and teachers that sell on the site. As a result, I worked with a third party recruitment firm to recruit students in grades 3-8.
As recruitment was ongoing, I paired with a UX designer to create age-appropriate Easel assignments for students to complete that ensured that they’d test out key experiences and features in the app. Once the assignments were ready, I developed an age-appropriate usability testing script to ensure that the students knew why they were participating in the research, what they were going to do throughout the usability test (also made sure that they knew it wasn’t a test, test!), and ultimately felt comfortable in the testing environment.
Then, I conducted 11 remote, 30-minute moderated 1:1 usability tests with students.
I analyzed task success rates and qualitative insights and put together a final report that included recommendations to improve the student experience with the product.
I analyzed task success rates and qualitative insights and put together a final report that included recommendations to improve the student experience with the product.
I analyzed task success rates and qualitative insights and put together a final report that included recommendations to improve the student experience with the product.
Task success analysis
Task success analysis
Task success analysis
After sharing out the final report, I led a workshop with relevant stakeholders that included reviewing key findings, watching clips from interviews, affinity diagramming, individual ideation, aligning on product solutions for key pain points, and roadmap prioritization.
After sharing out the final report, I led a workshop with relevant stakeholders that included reviewing key findings, watching clips from interviews, affinity diagramming, individual ideation, aligning on product solutions for key pain points, and roadmap prioritization.
After sharing out the final report, I led a workshop with relevant stakeholders that included reviewing key findings, watching clips from interviews, affinity diagramming, individual ideation, aligning on product solutions for key pain points, and roadmap prioritization.
Crucial Insights & Product Impact
Signing into Easel by TPT was challenging, especially for younger students: As a result, the team prioritized building a “no login required” experience to help students (and teachers) more easily get started using the tool.
The tool bar wasn’t immediately discoverable for students: The product team designed solutions like increasing the placement and size of the tools in the toolbar that they planned to test later in the year.
For additional findings and learnings please contact mfredericks.research@gmail.com.
My Learnings
Sometimes family members like to jump in and help their students during usability testing! I had to adjust my script to set expectations with everyone on the call and reinforce that we want to learn what worked and didn’t work for students, not family members. This is something I’ll be sure to incorporate into scripts for future research with young people.
It was important for stakeholders to see — with their own eyes — where and when students struggled while using Easel. I made sure to include clips from interviews in both my research report and workshop to give stakeholders the opportunity to observe students using Easel. I’ve made sure to incorporate research clips in subsequent projects to help stakeholders build empathy and bring user experiences’ to life.
Crucial Insights & Product Impact
Signing into Easel by TPT was challenging, especially for younger students: As a result, the team prioritized building a “no login required” experience to help students (and teachers) more easily get started using the tool.
The tool bar wasn’t immediately discoverable for students: The product team designed solutions like increasing the placement and size of the tools in the toolbar that they planned to test later in the year.
For additional findings and learnings please contact mfredericks.research@gmail.com.
My Learnings
Sometimes family members like to jump in and help their students during usability testing! I had to adjust my script to set expectations with everyone on the call and reinforce that we want to learn what worked and didn’t work for students, not family members. This is something I’ll be sure to incorporate into scripts for future research with young people.
It was important for stakeholders to see — with their own eyes — where and when students struggled while using Easel. I made sure to include clips from interviews in both my research report and workshop to give stakeholders the opportunity to observe students using Easel. I’ve made sure to incorporate research clips in subsequent projects to help stakeholders build empathy and bring user experiences’ to life.
Crucial Insights & Product Impact
Signing into Easel by TPT was challenging, especially for younger students: As a result, the team prioritized building a “no login required” experience to help students (and teachers) more easily get started using the tool.
The tool bar wasn’t immediately discoverable for students: The product team designed solutions like increasing the placement and size of the tools in the toolbar that they planned to test later in the year.
For additional findings and learnings please contact mfredericks.research@gmail.com.
My Learnings
Sometimes family members like to jump in and help their students during usability testing! I had to adjust my script to set expectations with everyone on the call and reinforce that we want to learn what worked and didn’t work for students, not family members. This is something I’ll be sure to incorporate into scripts for future research with young people.
It was important for stakeholders to see — with their own eyes — where and when students struggled while using Easel. I made sure to include clips from interviews in both my research report and workshop to give stakeholders the opportunity to observe students using Easel. I’ve made sure to incorporate research clips in subsequent projects to help stakeholders build empathy and bring user experiences’ to life.