VISUALIZING ASSESSMENT PERFORMANCE FOR EDUCATORS
SUMMARY: REDESIGNING THE STUDENT ASSESSMENT REPORT
Exact Path has a powerful adaptive diagnostic assessment for K-12 students. Simplified, it's like a test that adjusts difficulty based on answering questions correctly or incorrectly. After the test, a unique learning plan is created that contains interactive lessons and activities structured to improve that student's skill gaps. The outcomes of a the test should be accessible and easy-to-read by educators. However, the first iteration of the report had flaws
In an effort to create a simple and easy to read report, many details were cut out in the original version of the report. This led to educators making incorrect assumptions about student performance, learning paths, and the test itself. To tackle this issue, we formed a collaborative team with product managers, researchers, and developers to redesign the post-diagnostic student summary report with the help of educator feedback and a three-day design thinking workshop.
Main Problem:
Educators needed a better way to understand the outcomes of student diagnostic assessments so that they can develop strategies for student success.
UX Activities
Product Research, User Interviews, Usability Testing, UX Design, UI Design, Design Thinking Workshop
KEY PROBLEMS: REPORTS NEED MORE MEANINGFUL DETAIL AND BETTER LEGIBILITY
The test itself attempted to reveal an on, above, or below domain score (E.G., "This student is above his or her grade in Algebra"). From a UX perspective this makes perfect sense. It's easy to understand and is actually what teachers asked for time and time again. However, we weren't quite there yet in terms of having the accuracy we wanted in making those determinations. So we were actually painting the wrong picture for educators
PROCESS: DESIGN WORKSHOP > WIREFRAMES > PROTOTYPE > TESTING > PRODUCTION
Design Workshop
There were about 10 people invited to the workshop from varying deparments in the company such as: UX, research, curriculum, sales, and product management. Our agenda focused on market research and a discussion on pros and cons, a small-group sketching and brainstorming session, and then a large group session.
.
Workshop Examples
Prototype
After creating our initial set of wireframes, I created a click through prototype using Adobe XD. The prototype was broken up into two main areas, a student overview page that gave a picture of student growth based on scores on the diagnostic over time for each subject (math, lagnuage arts, and reading) and a more detailed view of the subject specific daignostic view (including domain level information).
Final Design
Our designs went live about 5 months after we began the design phase. Overall the results have been favorable, with teachers praising the new data visualization for student growth and assessment performance primarily. We have some requests for increasing color coding in some areas and we spent a long time adding in support materials via "learn more" links in the reports but 6 months out, we are still confident in our designs, and that the data is defensible and accurate.
