Bridging the gap between traditional teachers and technology
The new annotation tracking feature demonstrated strong user appeal, with all 5 testing participants confirming they would increase their engagement with the digital library.
As the bridge between the educational team and Level Learning, I noticed that teachers had access to the company’s digital library but weren’t using it.
After initial conversations, I discovered the core issue: teachers didn’t see how the digital library connected to their real classroom needs.
Increasing teacher engagement with the library was also a key company goal, so I set out to better understand this disconnect and identify opportunities for improvement.
The business goal is to increase digital library engagement,
what's preventing them from using it?
😕
Mandarin teachers have difficulties tracking student progress with books from the digital library
Mandarin teachers teach academic subjects entirely in Mandarin, to help students gain fluency in both the language and the subject matter.
🙈
don’t see the value in digital library
📖
physical books are better
🙅♂️
less open to incorporating technology
Research revealed the core barrier:
Teachers lacked visibility into their students' thinking processes
🚩
Mandarin teachers can only see the end results of student work, but it doesn't provide deeper insights
🧑💻
English teachers as experts emphasized the importance of annotation in literacy instruction
The quizzes students do at the end of each book from the digital library can't solve teachers' primary need to understand student thinking
Synthesizing the research led to a key hypothesis:
⚖️
Annotation helps literacy, but without collecting it, teachers can't track student progress → the library still goes unused
Data
Annotation is essential for effective literacy instruction.
⬇️
Current State
Teachers have no way to collect or review student annotations, making it difficult to track progress.
⬇️
Hypothesis
If annotation collection is enabled, teachers will be more likely to adopt the digital library—because it's more critical than the tool itself."
*All quotes translated from Mandarin to English. Original interviews conducted in Mandarin.
K. Liu, 5th grade Mandarin teacher
Being able to annotate is good, but I won't be able to see what they highlight…it would only be helpful if I am able to see what they annotate.”
S. Dalton, 3rd grade Mandarin teacher
The annotations needs to be checked by teachers, otherwise it just becomes a drawing tool, then it wouldn't be as helpful.”
The design process centered on two critical constraints:
teachers' varying technology proficiency and students' diverse language levels.
🎙️ ⌨️
Inclusive annotation input: text and voice
Having text and voice options helps teachers collect and understand student thinking, no matter the format.
Typed annotation
Voice annotation
👩🏻🔧
Reducing user friction
Seamless integration with existing teacher workflows
New feature with current UI and flow.
Exploring other options:
Redesigned table with newly added pages to decrease user mental load for access to assignments.
Testing validated the approach:
All five participants confirmed an increased likelihood of adopting the digital library.
📊
Annotation tracking helps teachers better understand student learning progress
🛠️
Testing also revealed areas for improvement
Despite successful task completion, participants expressed confusion about specific instructions and interface copy. These insights are being incorporated into upcoming design revisions.
*All quotes translated from Mandarin to English. Original interviews conducted in Mandarin.
A. Yao, Kindergarten Mandarin teacher
I like the option of voice and written memo. This will help my lower students who can't write in Chinese yet."
S. Zhang, 2nd grade Mandarin teacher
Having the annotation feature can help me understand what the students are thinking, and is easy for me to use it to show learning progress."
The solution
By adding a way to collect student annotations, teachers are more likely to use the digital library with students
This feature enables them to monitor student understanding of texts and track progress by collecting annotations over time.
jch3 design
cj.chang06@gmail.com