The Problem:

CSOAF lacked a centralized platform, specifically SaaS dashboards, to effectively monitor and track student progress, performance, and engagement. This created challenges in ensuring an effective learning experience and put student retention and satisfaction rates at risk.

Solution Statement:

Develop tailored SaaS dashboards to provide real-time data on student progress and engagement. These dashboards will empower instructors to personalize support and adjust content, enhancing the overall learning experience, increasing student retention, and improving course quality.

How Might We develop user-friendly SaaS dashboards that seamlessly integrate online and in-person courses, fostering enhanced student learning and engagement at CSOAF?

My Contributions & Process:

Research & Discovery:

• Conducted in-depth competitor analysis (solo), examining platforms like Khan Academy to identify best practices in user dashboards and engagement features. These insights revealed a clear opportunity to centralize student data and introduce engaging features within CSOAF's digital platforms.

• Key findings highlighted the effectiveness of dedicated dashboards for students, teachers, and parents, and the power of gamified elements to boost student engagement (e.g., student participation tracking, homework grades, team competitions).

  
  

(SWOT Analysis and Key Findings)

• Contributed to broader user research efforts, including user interviews and user flow mapping, to gather additional insights from diverse stakeholders (students, parents, teachers) highlighting pain points in the existing manual enrollment process and unmet needs for simplified course access.

  
  

  UX Design - Website:

• Led the initial design phase (low-fidelity wireframes) for the website redesign, focusing on ensuring visual consistency across all pages to improve user navigation and brand cohesion.

• Designed key pages including the Donate page, Programs page, Announcement page, and Get Involved page, optimizing user flows to facilitate donor contributions and course exploration.

• Set up the shopping cart and worked closely with developers to ensure a smooth checkout flow for digital enrollments and donations.

  • Design Rationale: Making online donations and program enrollment truly easy was vital for CSOAF's growth. I focused on the Donate page, shopping cart, and a smooth checkout flow, directly tackling their manual registration workload. This ensured simple, convenient access for patrons and students, highlighting my ability to optimize user pathways for both user convenience and organizational objectives.

  • Note: My contributions on CSOAF website focused on the initial design phase and functional flows; final visual design was handled by the broader team.

  

  
  UX Design - Mobile App:

• Designed key features for the mobile application, directly applying insights from competitor analysis. This included creating the student homepage (profile view) and core course-related features within the student view, enabling students to effectively monitor their grades and attendance.

  • Design Rationale: The student homepage was designed to prominently display grades and attendance, mirroring successful platforms like Khan Academy, to increase student engagement and provide a clear overview of their progress. This approach aimed to make students more active participants in their learning journey.

    

• Leveraged research insights (from competitor analysis) to inform the implementation of gamified features, such as student team competitions and a points-based prize system (enabling rewards like art supplies), which significantly enhanced student engagement in classes.

  

  (gamified features and points prized system)

  

  
  
  

  

  (features on courses in student view)

• Created optimized and separate enrollment forms for students, teachers, and parents, reducing complexity and improving data collection accuracy to streamline the registration process.

  • Design Rationale: Optimized enrollment forms were created to reduce completion time and errors, driven by insights into the distinct information needs and pain points of students, teachers, and parents.

(ex: steps for student enrollment forms)

Promotional Content:

• Contributed to post-launch advertisement initiatives by creating short promotional videos and designing App Store creatives, strategically highlighting the platform's inclusive features.

  • (why)It focused on driving user acquisition by visually communicating the app's core value proposition and setting accurate user expectations.

    

Impact & Outcomes

Our work on the website and app significantly transformed CSOAF's operations and user experience, delivering clear, measurable results:

• Achieved a projected 70% reduction in manual registration workload by enabling digital enrollment and course access for over 1,000 students and teachers

  • Previously, staff relied on phone calls, making data collection difficult and leading to a lack of a centralized platform to track student data or provide individual user dashboards. This reduction in manual effort freed up significant staff time, allowing CSOAF to reallocate resources towards creating more art classes and programs, supporting the school's expansion after the app and website launch.

• User satisfaction soared by 30%, and task completion time for key flows like course sign-up and profile access dropped by 45%. Measured through Maze user surveys during usability testing, these improvements directly addressed teacher struggles with performance analysis and providing personalized student support. They also alleviated student disengagement stemming from an unsatisfying learning experience. The result was a smoother, more intuitive experience that enhanced satisfaction and reduced user frustration, particularly by making class enrollment much easier and more effective for students.

• The project timeline was accelerated by 20%, achieved through our agile approach of weekly design iterations and close collaboration with engineers and analysts. Crucially, we ensured WCAG 2.1 accessibility compliance, making the platform truly inclusive and usable for all students and teachers, including those with disabilities, directly aligning with CSOAF's mission.