Collegiate
An app for distance learning students of open universities to connect and collaborate with peers
Overview
Open universities are stuck between traditional universities and digital academies like Coursera, BlackBoard, etc. Without a long term vision to retain and keep students engaged coupled with legacy technogoly they want a digital solution that solves the problem they are facing as a business.
Roles & responsibilities
Led a team of 2 designers.
Activities involved user research, study of existing apps, wireframing, visual design and prototyping
Students' pain points
Communication
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It isn’t clear what the student should do once they have signed up to a course or module.
Preparation
Students are sent both physical and digital materials to support their course. It’s unclear to them when these will be sent.
Student support
It’s a long process for the students to get quick responses from the support team.
Keeping up-to-date
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Keeping up-to-date with their assignments, lectures etc can be difficult.
Insights from market research
Improper Segregation
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Too much content with no proper segregation into modules.
Lacks collaboration
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The product which had its content organized had no option of collaborating with peers.
Lacks relevant content
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Collaborating platform had no content of its own, had to source data from other application
Proposed solution
When a student registers online/offline for a particular course/stream with the university administration, the administration provides the student with the login credentials for the app. Simultaneously from the admin panel they(administration) link the student profile with the courses the student has opted for.
The solution presented here has been arrived upon keeping the following functionalities as the core requirements to engage the student.
1.Navigation
The content has been categorized into 5 items, which any student can relate to.
2. Notification & alerts
Notice Board is an integral part of campus/student life. Hence the prime spot on the header
Pending assignments and updates on course materials on home screen so that students stay up to date
3. Content categorization
It is an established fact that it is easy to recognize rather than recall. Color coding of different categories will help in easy recognition.
4. Collaboration
Collaborating on the same platform saves time and also allows remote students to actively participate in discussions.
5. Support through live chat
Any support related issues can be resolved through Live Chat with support team