Gear is an assessment platform currently in use at the University of Hong Kong. It is designed to help teachers assess and monitor student learning while offering ongoing support. The platform allows teachers to conduct quizzes, exams, surveys, and performance tracking. It offers students essential support on their academic journey, motivating them to achieve their set goals.
The University of Hong Kong
Education Web Platform - Front End
UI/UX Designer
4 months
(Nov 2022 – Mar 2022)
We conducted user surveys to gain deeper insights into the student experience on the GEAR platform. The goal was to understand their perspectives, identify pain points, and uncover expectations related to the platform's usability and functionality. To achieve this, we reached out to a diverse group of 10 university students who regularly use the platform.
Some participants found it challenging to locate specific features and information within the platform. More, students encounter difficulties in prioritizing tasks on the dashboard as it only shows the last updated date.
Most participants showed little interest in revisiting their previous assessment results. Even among those who did review their performance, they felt confused about the visual representation of data, leading to reduced motivation.
Many students admitted to forgetting the goals they had set for specific assessments or courses. This suggests an opportunity to introduce features that provide goal reminders and motivational cues to help them achieve their objectives.
It was observed that some students preferred using devices like tablets for platform interactions.
For an initial overview of the process, we created a journey map to ensure that everyone on the team had a shared understanding.
The platform should make browsing and navigation easy for students to complete the assessments, while also the data representation is clear and motivational to foster greater academic achievement.
The web platform should offer engaging content that captivates the attention of young learners, making learning a fun and motivating experience. The user interfaces should be intuitive, with clear navigation, ensuring that children and teachers can use the platform independently.
Based on our research and findings, we have identified the key features of the new front-end design.
Clearly show the pending items and make them easily accessible
Provide a clear data representation, making it easy for students to understand their performance, aiding students in tracking their progress effectively
Design the platform with responsiveness, allowing students to use it on various devices and screen sizes
Offer students to set academic goals and remind them of the academic goals they've set, helping them stay motivated and on track
Offer mastery tests based on students’ assessment results, allowing them to improve in specific subjects or topics
We developed low-fidelity prototypes using paper and design tools for the Gear platform, crafting versions for both desktop and mobile interfaces, focusing on how users navigate through an assessment. Afterwards, we engaged five users in testing these prototypes to provide diverse perspectives and user feedback.
Users find it a bit annoying to click through each answer individually for explanations and spend time searching for specific questions. To enhance the experience, we're proposing to enhance the answer explanation feature by adding an "expand all" option. This way, users can access all explanations with just one click. We're also considering adding a bookmark feature to save specific questions, making it easier for users to study and refer back to specific content.
Users indicated a lack of awareness regarding whether they had set or achieved goals for courses or quizzes. Currently, it only shows the goal setting under the items. This potentially impacts their motivation and awareness to perform better. To solve it, we're thinking of adding a dedicated section on the course page and the quiz result page. This section will showcase course goal details and progress, while also providing user messages to encourage goal-setting and congratulate them when they achieve their goals, boosting their motivation and engagement.
On the course items page, users complained about the absence of a sorting function and table header, making it difficult to view items by categories. To improve the experience, it would be helpful to add a sorting function and a table header for better organization.
I further created high-fidelity prototypes for both desktop and mobile platforms. To ensure a consistent and user-friendly interface, I utilized the existing material design library. Below are some of the desktop prototypes.
One of the primary objectives of this project was to streamline the assessment user flow. To improve user awareness and provide clear status updates on their items, pending items on the dashboard are prominently displayed along with their respective due dates.
Dashboard
Course Group
On the course page, we aimed to motivate users by highlighting the set goal, current goal, and achieved goals. This approach ensures that users have a clear understanding of their progress and encourages them to strive for their goals. Additionally, we implemented a more accessible table list to help users organize and review their items.
Course
Quiz Info
Questions
Quiz Preview
To further support users in their journey, we incorporated reminder messages. These reminders notify users when they haven't set a goal, haven't met their test goal, or have achieved a new mastery level.
Result
History
To improve the review performance feature, we made it more accessible. Users now have the option to expand all the answers for a thorough review and can easily show or hide specific options on the performance graph.
Answer Review
Past Performance
As a result of these design improvements, the overall user experience was greatly enhanced, providing a seamless and intuitive interface that empowers users to track their progress, stay motivated, and achieve their goals with ease. However, since this project is still ongoing, I am still dedicated to continuous enhancement and refinement.
The journey of redesigning the assessment platform for university students on the GEAR platform was both challenging and rewarding. Our team successfully launched the revamped front end, achieving our goal of optimizing navigation and offering personalized learning, thereby promoting a more personalized and motivating learning experience.
It was a great opportunity to work with a dedicated team on another project. Understanding the diverse perspectives and expertise within the team was enlightening.
Here are some key insights I gained from this project:
Tools used:
