ATLAS Stage 3: Design 'vision'
Both the research and the journey mapping exercises pointed towards issues around complexity and users being over-whelmed by the existing ATLAS user experience. This was especially prevalent in new and inexperienced/casual users. The journey users are expected to take from new user to 'perpetual intermediate' was too much for many and resulted in lots of users turning away from the software. So the challenge was to improve that experience, make users more confident in the basics of using ATLAS and help them transition from new user to intermediate user as quickly as possible.
There were also significant differences in the presentation of ATLAS in comparison to the learning platform 'Pebble+' which fully incorporates the new PebblePad design system. This was another key challenge. Improve the presentation of ATLAS to integrate it more into Pebble+ leveraging the new PebblePad design system.
Finally, it was vital that any designs were grounded in realistic requirements and incorporated existing system architecture to ensure continuity with pre-existing functionality and work practices. To meet this challenge it was important to work collaboratively. I assembled a cross-functional team of architect, product manager, developer and customer success manager to ensure that the design workshops I ran for sketching wireframes and devising solutions were grounded, productive and well informed.
The goal for this work was quite simple. Improve the experience for new and inexperienced users to the extent that they are not put off by complexity and are invested in gaining knowledge of how to use the software and get value from it as soon as possible. Greater integration between the learning platform 'Pebble+' and ATLAS was also a driver and the use of the PebblePad design system to provide consistency in the UI was key to this. Utilising patterns and layouts seen elsewhere in the PebblePad system was important if we were to make this initiative feel fully integrated.
The project would start with a series of design workshops that were attended by a cross-functional team. The goal of these workshops was to explore and sketch out a number of solutions for the improvement of the user experience. The workshops were also used to define and establish key, high-level requirements for the project. These would sit at the heart of all the proposed solutions and would align the work with the PebblePad design principles:
All solutions MUST BE:
- Simple to start
- Intuitive
- Scalable
- Helpful
- Consistent
- Concise
- Efficient
- Feel integrated
- Accessible
During the first workshop two opportunities for improvement were identified straight away:
Sharing a resource to a 'workspace'
Firstly, the workflow for sharing a 'resource' (documents, templates etc) to a 'workspace' (where students complete their work) was considered overly complex and disjointed. The current flow meant that users were switching between two components of the PebblePad system, ATLAS and Pebble+. The aim was to significantly reduce the number of clicks required to complete this core task AND enable it to be completed without the need for constant switching between the two components.
Workspace creator
Secondly, one of the first, key tasks for any user of PebblePad and ATLAS, is to create a workspace. This is the base structure of work to be done in PebblePad. Its were the basic building blocks of a course/project etc are defined. Who can use it, who can manage it, who can assess it. It also defines assignments and how resources are allocated. In the current journey, this process is buried in an interface that presents as being overly complicated and is very intimidating for those new and inexperienced users. Simplifying this journey, presenting it with a much simpler, less complex interface had the potential to deliver a lot of value both to the business and our users.
Lots of ideas were generated in the design workshops, aimed at the primary personas for this project 'Angela the Academic' and 'Sammy the Student' (see Pebble+ student feedback & schedule). All the ideas were devised to target new and inexperienced users and were intended to integrate ATLAS functionality seamlessly into the wider, emerging PebblePad ecosystem. Simpler workflows were designed to strip out unnecessary complexity with the aim to get more users into using ATLAS either for the first time or more regularly. Solutions were designed to increase the use of core ATLAS functionality and increase the number of intermediate users in the system. Ideas were also generated that improved existing journeys and significantly reduced the number of clicks required to complete key tasks such as sharing a resource to a workspace. Where ever possible, progressive disclosure was used to simplify the user interface.
All the ideas generated in the design workshops were validated by the cross-functional team and I then progressed all the sketched wireframes into a click-thru prototype that incorporated the PebblePad design system. This prototype was then tested both internally with key stakeholders in the senior leadership team, the customer success team (inc. Australia and the US) and the business development team (inc. Australia and the US). Internal feedback was very positive, with 100% of internal stakeholders expressing excitement over the potential presented by the initiative.
The prototype was then put through a user testing plan that I devised and ran. Academic users in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and continental Europe were exposed to the prototype and results were excellent, The prototype was very well received, with 100% of test participants reporting ease of use with intuitive workflows and also a high approval rating for the integrated UI.
As a result, all the solutions explored in the prototype were put forward for SuRICE scoring and incorporated into the product roadmap. Those solutions that scored high for business and user value were prioritised into Q1 and Q2 development plans for 2024.
Stage 1: Workspace creator wizard and Sharing a resource to a workspace improvements (both aimed at target personas: new and non-advanced users: Academics, admins and Learning Designers)
Stage2: Feedback widget and Student Schedule (both aimed at taking students out of ATLAS)
