Cornell Capstone 2023
How does research identify methods for enhancing the reading experience?
We started our discover research by conducting a literature review by analyzing 10 articles regarding learning feedback to further my understanding of the problem.
Validation: Many studies and articles have highlighted the challenges college students face when it comes to their reading experiences, such as skimming through texts and extracting crucial information. This issue is particularly significant for incoming college students who are confronted with an overwhelming amount of readings.
Our analysis indicates that feedback loops can play a vital role in enhancing learning and performance, regardless of the specific context. Adaptive interfaces that dynamically adjust based on subtle feedback can prove more effective than static interfaces in fostering learning and improving performance. Moreover, feedback loops can have a positive impact on both students and teachers, offering valuable support throughout the learning process. By providing task-specific feedback, they create a state of flow, leading to heightened engagement and improved learning outcomes. Furthermore, the automatic generation of feedback can be equally beneficial as manual feedback, enhancing student performance in various activities.
Citation
Where NoteWardy stood among other dashboard reader tools?
Our team started to research existing solutions out there to help us better understand the current process of connecting note-taking with reading experience.
We discovered that there are two primary note-taking tools for students when it comes to digital note-taking.
Where NoteWardy stood among other dashboard reader tools?
I asked each participant to describe their current learning experience, what pain points they had, and what information they wanted to see in our products to improve their experience.
All this boils down to...
After the user interviews, we concluded major insights into three goal-oriented personas. They tend to struggle with the time, key concepts and evidence.
From our above primary and secondary research, we incorporated market needs into our ed-tech solution, offering a feature-rich PDF reader for organizing notes.
We want to help students read faster in skim reading......
Our focus lies in improving skim reading, primarily targeting new college students or those in social science programs with extensive reading materials with the need for efficient skim reading.
Alignment with stakeholders
To facilitate our generation phase, we further reframed our design requirements into key actionable statements that create multiple solutions paces, but narrow to set focus too.
We created a set of wireframe prototypes to prepare for a usability study. We used very minimal colors in the wireframes to avoid our users giving us feedback on the visual design or UI over their user flows.
We conducted multiple rounds of tests, collecting user feedback and iterating for better solutions, here are a few of our key insights for improving the user experience.
During the testing process, our team had a lot of disagreements on what the color system should represent. Ultimately from our user tests, we realized using colors to signify "importance" was extremely confusing to the users, what the users really wanted the highlights to represent was what category the highlighted notes fall under
We chose Lato as the main text for its clean, interesting, and technological feel. Semibold heading styles and regular body styles were used for clear visual contrast and readability.
In terms of colors, we selected a deep primary color to distinguish it from four functional colors on the dashboard. The color system meets WCAG 2.0 AA level accessibility standards.
After testing, the launch of the application is proceeding as planned. We have successfully improved skim reading efficiency by 25%, and we have achieved a high NPS to ensure a high level of user satisfaction.
Navigating complex issues with subjective elements
We have faced challenges with big topics that require difficult decisions, and have had to figure out how to solve complicated problems that involve personal preferences and experiences.
Working with clients with lots of back and forwards
One of the most significant differences I gained from the capstone compared to school projects is how stakeholders often bring in various opinions, and as designers, we need to justify our designs using various strategies, such as a product roadmap or metrics to provide evidence.
🌟 Thank you 😊
