Increasing admin efficiency at managing tutors for PLUS.
ROLE & TEAM
I was the Lead Product Designer in a team of 4. The team consists of myself, another product designer, a PM, and a developer.
WHAT I DID
I led the design of the new admin dashboard and conducted 7 usability testing sessions. I worked closely with the PM and developer to support the product launch.
CLIENT
PLUS is a software designed by LearnLab at CMU to improve learning outcomes for K-12 students by combining the benefits of both human and computer tutoring.
PROJECT TYPE
Start-up project
The product I designed was shipped and launched in Jan 2023.
PROBLEM
The current admin dashboard does not allow admins to view tutors’ performance efficiently.
They are not able to view if tutors have completed certain lessons or which competency area the tutors should focus on. They were not able to assign tutor lessons. Admins are not able to identify tutors’ areas of strengths and weaknesses.
SOLUTION
Designing a new admin dashboard that allows admins to track the performance of each tutor conveniently.
#1 OVERVIEW PANEL
Learning about their tutors’ performance at one glance.
Admins can look at the overall performance of the tutors in terms of which area they need help on, their lesson completion and accuracy rate, and their average time spent on the lessons.
#2 DETAILED PERFORMANCE
Analyzing tutors’ performance by looking at the detailed graph and table.
Admins can look at the detailed performance of the tutors by looking at their performance on each lesson on the graph. They can also expand the competency area to find performance on each lesson on the table.
#3 EXPLANATORY LABEL
Explaining key terms to admin on hover.
Admins can hover their mouse on the tooltips to see the meaning of each key term.
#4 LESSON ASSIGNMENT
Assigning lessons to tutors who need improvement in that area.
Admins can assign specific tutor certain lessons to help them with that competency area.
#5 LESSON RESPONSE
Checking tutors’ response to each lesson.
Admins can check the response of individual tutors as well as groups of tutors by clicking on the lesson name.
UNCOVER USER NEEDS
Identifying the pain points of admins who use the current dashboard
current admin dashboard
After 5 interviews with current admin, we found three main issues of the current admin dashboard:
PROTOTYPE & USABILITY TESTING
Rapidly iterating and testing
5+
Design Iterations
7
Usability Testings
10+
Weekly PM and Developer Feedback Sessions
Iterating towards better information architecture
We started off our design with parallel prototyping. One version focused on data visualization and the other version focused on the organization of key information in a table format. After receiving user feedback from usability testing sessions, it became clear that they desired features from both designs. However, they would prefer to see the data visualization before the table. In response, we developed a new version that incorporated key elements from both designs, resulting in a product that met the needs and preferences of our users.
Before
After
Iterating towards better data visualization
One of the important changes that we made is the data visualization design due to the limited data set. We adjusted the spider chart because the PM informed us that the chart might convey unclear information due to the lack of data set for some lessons. The developer also expressed that the updated version of the graph is easier to develop.
Before
Continuous Spider Chart
After
Discrete Spider Chart
Iterating towards better usability
Before the iteration, admins could only choose the tutors to whom lessons were assigned. After implementing the new changes, admins can now view whether or not they have previously assigned lessons to specific tutors. Additionally, they can access information regarding when the lessons were last assigned in order to make informed decisions about whether or not to reassign them. Furthermore, admins are able to attach messages to the assignments to facilitate better communication.
Before
After
Considering multiple stakeholders and ensuring a seamless user flow
Apart from designing the admin-facing dashboard, I also took the initiative to design for the tutor-facing dashboard interface and the email page when their admin assigns them a lesson.
TUTOR DASHBOARD INTERFACE
Tutors can view the status for each lesson and filter the lessons by ‘Assigned’, ‘Completed’, ‘In Progress’., or ‘Not Started’.
EMAIL NOTIFICATION PAGE FOR TUTORS
Tutors will receive a notification when a lesson is assigned to them . I designed the notification page for different devices.
Overall System Usability Scale (SUS) Score: 91.25 - Grade A
IMPACT
“The new design appears to be pretty intuitive - so much improvement from the current dashboard!”
-- anonymous PLUS Admin
“I like the direction this admin site is moving in and I see a lot of practical applications that will save manager time.”
-- anonymous PLUS Admin
This project has taught me how to work with PM and developers in a fast-paced start-up team.
MAKE TAKEAWAY
As a start-up, PLUS operates on a tight timeline at every stage of the business. This required us to design and test our products quickly, while still ensuring quality and meeting user needs. In this fast-paced environment, I developed a skill for efficiently incorporating feedback and iterating designs in a timely manner, without compromising on the end product.
Furthermore, working closely with a developer on the project allowed me to gain valuable experience in making critical decisions on prioritizing certain features over others. This involved carefully considering the user's needs and balancing them with technical limitations and timeline constraints. By collaborating closely with the developer, I learned to support the launch process by coordinating the final product, ensuring its readiness for deployment, and managing any issues that arose during the launch. These experiences have taught me the importance of being agile, adaptable, and responsive when working in a fast-paced start-up environment.
