.png)
Shishu Bharati
Springboard Online UX Course - Capstone Project
Overview
The Shishu Bharati app is a capstone project for a 100-hour Springboard online UX course, which guided me through a full design process, from initial idea to usability testing with a hi-fi prototype. Shishu Bharati: School of Languages and Culture of India is a volunteer-based Sunday school that has been running in the New England area for over 30 years. As a former student, and now a teacher, I have seen the gaps in communication and organization, and created an app design to help parents and teachers in this community.
​
​
Problem
The school uses dated methods of communicating mass information between the school administration, teachers and parents. There is a lot of reliance on hard copies of documents. Checking student grades and the school calendar is a hassle on mobile devices.
​
Goal
Design an app for parents and teachers of Shishu Bharati to easily keep track of communication and administrative work in a more efficient and organized way. The app should cover features, such as school-wide communication, class rosters/attendance, grades, contact information, and the school calendar.
​
Role
Lead designer, UX designer, user researcher -
Since this is a personal project, I played many of the roles of design. I conducted user research, ideated, brainstormed, sketched, wireframed, created a style guide, prototyped, ran usability testing sessions, and consider next steps.
​
Methods
Survey, user interview, competitive analysis, heuristic analysis, persona, empathy map, user story, sitemap, card sort, user flow, wireframing, style guide, prototyping
Tools
Google forms, Sketches, Canva, Balsamiq, Marvel App, Microsoft Office
​
Things to Consider
While there are so many features that a learning management app can provide, due to time limitations, I chose to limit this design to include the basics, such as grading, attendance, parent-teacher communication.
​
​
Process
User Research
Two surveys were distributed; one for parents and one for teachers. There were 26 participants for the parent survey and 7 participants for the teacher survey. All the teachers who participated in the survey use paper and pen to keep attendance, however a variety of methods are used among the teachers to store student information. Methods include gmail, excel, on the school computer, Google Drive, and on the paper roster. A variety of methods are used among the parents to store their child’s teachers’ information such as phone contacts list, email, notes apps, on paper, or not at all.
​
Parent:
Have used an
academic app
before
Teacher:
Have used an
academic app
before
Teacher:
Would download
a Shishu Bharati
app
Parent:
Would download
a Shishu Bharati
app
No Yes
31% 69%
No Yes
43% 57%
No Yes
23% 77%
No Yes
14% 86%
Competitive Analysis / Heuristic Analysis
I explored common learning management tools, such as Google Classroom, Blackboard and Moodle. I chose to analyze the platforms through 3 Nielsen Norman Group's 10 heuristic principles that were most relevant to goals of the project.
​
Personas and Empathy Maps
​
User Stories
I created user stories based on three aspects I wanted for the minimum viable product: teachers should be able to post homework/grades for parents to see, teachers and parents should be able to easily communicate with each other, and teachers and parents should be able to access the school calendar.
​
Card Sorts
An open card sort was performed by 2 teachers and 2 parents of the Shishu Bharati. The tasks included on the cards were different depending on the parent view or teacher view of the app. Through this process, participants created about 3-5 categories that were later used as inspiration for the tabs in the app.
​
Sitemaps
Parent Sitemap
​
Teacher Sitemap
​
User Flows
​
.png)
.png)
.png)
Sketches and Wireframes
Initially, it was difficult to create consistency between the parent view and teacher view, as both offer very different features. Additionally, the sign up process proved to have more steps than I expected, so I sketched out multiple layouts and flows, and landed on splitting up the process into 2 screens.
​
Style Guide
​
Color Palette: This color scheme is inspired by the Flag of India and the colors of the Shishu Bharati logo, while still maintaining a modern aesthetic. The overlapping elements (text to background) have color combinations with enough contrast to ensure accessibility.
​
Typography: Open Sans is a simple and clean font that is widely used. The 5 different forms of the font that are used in the app all have a purpose, with the bold for more important elements and the finer text for mostly clarifications.
Prototype
Parent View
​
Teacher View
Usability Testing
The prototypes were tested by 2 parents and 2 teachers, completing 4 tasks each. 3 of the tasks had a 100% completion rate, but one of the participants needed some guidance for the task where a new teacher user has to input a student grade. The hinderance was due to limitations of the prototype. Some additional feedback was that some buttons did not look like tappable actions, and the calendar was confusing since it was not in a typical calendar format.
​
​
Results, Reflection and Next Steps
Along with the goals I already mentioned, my other hopes for this app would be to:
-
help the school come off as more sophisticated
-
save teachers time and effort, especially since they are volunteers with other full-time jobs
-
increase communication for a greater sense of community
The initial next steps would be to iterate based on the usability testing results. Some long-term next steps could include:
​
-
Add permissions/ portal for 7th and 8th grade students (the upperclassman who are old enough to handle their own work)
-
Add library information / access to library database
-
Connect alumni
-
Create a carpooling management system
-
Add portal for student volunteers
-
Add past student projects database
-
Allow communications between the 3 branches of the school (Lexington, MA; Nashua, NH; Walpole, MA)
-
Make it possible to easily switch between parent and teacher views incase a user is both a parent and teacher (quite common case)
-
Make it possible for a teacher to manage more than one class (teachers can teach up to 2 classes)
​
Reflection in 2022
Looking back at this project after having a few more years of experience now, there is a lot I would change. The 2 main aspects I'd revisit would be the visual design and layout. I would choose colors with higher contrast, and be more selective about when I use color. I would also be more consistent about the size, color and placement of repeating buttons such as the edit and plus icons.
