Bridging the Gap between Traditional Teachers and Technology
The problem explored in this capstone project came from a conversation with a representative from the edtech company Level Learning during my time as a resource teacher working at a Mandarin immersion program. Serving as the middle person between our teachers and the company, I wanted to see how our teachers could benefit more from their product.
For this project, I researched, designed, and tested a solution that received great feedback from testing participants. The solution was designed for teachers to collect, track, and view student annotations to address the low user engagement with the existing digital library. Based on user research insights, most Mandarin teachers didn't see the value in using the digital library. By adding this feature, teachers are now more likely to use the digital library with their students.
the challenge
Low teacher engagement with the existing digital library
The business aimed to increase usage but lacked insight into what was preventing users from utilizing the future.
Teacher engagement with the existing digital library was significantly lower than expected. While the feature was fully functional and accessible, the reasons behind the low engagement were unclear.
Analyzing the current state
The current state of digital library
Quizzes only give the end results without providing teachers deeper insights
Teachers need to understand how students think and process information while reading:
The current library includes a quiz feature that students can complete after finishing a book
Teachers can assign these books as assignments
What is missing?
Something that allows teachers to see student thought process when reading
Based on research insights from expert interviews, annotations are markings that students make while reading to demonstrate their thinking. Student annotation is an important way for teachers to understand how students process information and assess their comprehension of the texts.
the discovery
Understanding teacher interactions with digital library
User Group vs Expert Group
Recognizing that Mandarin literacy is still an emerging field, I expanded the research scope by interviewing three English teachers as literacy experts, in addition to the five Mandarin teachers I interviewed as the main target user group.
Current User Group…
Mandarin teachers who teach academic subjects, such as literacy and science, entirely in Mandarin, to help students gain fluency in both the language and the subject matter.
…don't see value in the digital library
Mandarin teachers are less open to incoporating technology in their instruction, especially when it involves independent student use of digital tools.
They prefer physical books because they find it more practical for monitoring learning and collecting student work.
A major concern is the difficulty in tracking student progress with digital books, because it is difficult to see how students engage with the texts and how students are reading.
Expert Group…
English teachers who are experts in literacy instruction, offering insights that may be missed by Mandarin teachers.
…emphasized the importance of annotation in literacy instruction
Teachers teach literacy skills with books, and in demonstrating these skills, they write their thoughts in the margins, underline key phrases, and make notes directly on the text to show how they interpret and analyze what they read. These markings, known as annotations, help students understand the process of critical reading and provide a model they can use when reading on their own.
Hypothesis
The collecting of student annotations is more important than the annotation tool.
Annotation is valuable for literacy, but without a way for teachers to collect and review it, tracking student progress and effective use of the digital library is not possible.
The hypothesis is formed based on user insights gathered from interviews with user and expert groups
From interviewing the expert group, I learned that annotation is important in literacy instruction.
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However,
without a way for teachers to collect and review annotations, they can’t track student progress.
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Which,
makes annotation collection more important than the tool itself, and without it, teachers are unlikely to use the digital library.
The findings from user research also support the hypothesis
*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.”
“
The annotations needs to be checked by teachers, otherwise it just becomes a drawing tool, then it wouldn't be as helpful.”
S. Dalton
3rd grade Mandarin teacher
Design Consideration
Accessibility across language levels
Supporting Diverse Language Abilities Through Flexible Annotation Options
Since Mandarin uses a different writing system than English, students might annotate texts in different ways. Because speaking often develops before writing, they should have the option to make voice or typed annotations, depending on their language level. This helps teachers collect and understand student thinking, no matter the format.
Reducing user friction
Designing for teacher adoption means minimizing friction and integrating seamlessly into existing workflows.
Many teachers are hesitant to adopt new technologyTeachers are often less open to using new technology, mainly due to their already demanding workloads. To ensure adoption, it's crucial to maintain their current workflow as much as possible.
Exploring different workflow options
Version 1: Integrating the new feature with current UI and flow.
Version 2: Redesigned table with newly added pages to decrease user mental load for access to assignments.
Testing & Feedback
Solution is a Success!
100% of the participants think the annotation collect will help them understand the students learning progress better
*Quotes translated from Mandarin to English. original interviews conducted in Mandarin.
S. Zhang
3rd grade Mandarin teacher
“
I like the option of voice and written memo. This will help my lower students who can't write in Chinese yet."
"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." - A. Yao
“
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."
A. Yao
Kindergarten
Mandarin teacher
Usability has also met the success criteria
100% of the participants believe that annotation collection will help them better understand students' learning progress, and feedback was also collected to make improvements.
Success Criteria
All participants can…
all participants completed each task with less than 1 misclicks
some confusing around the copy some tasks, but feedback is collected for iteration
Testing Results
all participants completed each task with less than 1 misclicks
some confusing around the copy some tasks, but feedback is collected for iteration
The Design
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.
Reflection
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Project Next Steps:
Monitor teacher library usage
If this was a real-life project, the next step is to monitor teacher library usage and identify further issues if the usage rate does not improve.
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Something I'd Do Differently:
Focus more on the teachers' current experience with digital library:
In the interviews for this project, I asked teachers how they use the product and discovered reluctance in using the digital library, which aligns with the broader issue of low library usage. If I were to do this again, I would focus more on their current experience with the digital library rather than the product as a whole in their classrooms.
jch3 design
cj.chang06@gmail.com