The opportunity
The bridge between private and public school resources has a greater impact than we may think on students chances of success, especially those in groups more likely to be marginalised or face exclusion from extra-curricular programmes.
Part of this problem is not rooted in a lack of desire from public schools to provide extracurriculars, but in a lack of information to allocate budget to these activities in an efficient manner to yield the best academic results. Francis, the leader of this initiative, and a teacher at a public school became concerned about this, so he decided to take action, and that´s when I got involved
‘How might we empower leadership teams in schools with information regarding the academic impact and financial requirements for extracurricular activities?’
👥 My role
UX Lead: I was advising the start-up founder, and helping him visualise the interface for this solution (via prototyping and pitch videos).
🔧Skills applied
Consulting|Lean methodology|Prototyping|Personas|Experience mapping|Rapid testing|Video editing
The process
lean approach
This initiative, like many other start-ups, benefits from using a Lean approach to design. Learning by prototyping, testing and iterating was key to develop the initial concept. The interface, the algorithm and the business model were/are simultaneously iterating.
understanding our users
Teachers, headmasters and those involved in the budget allocation are part of a board called the ‘leadership team’. Given the average age of that population is around 40, we were really aware we had to develop a very clear and accessible interface. In addition to that, Francis, the leader, knew several potential users who were perfect participants for testing the prototype.
main flow
The main user value of this solution is obtaining GSCE grade impact calculations based on a few inputs. Therefore the first flow that needed to be visualised was the steps to do exactly that. A set of screens to show how many steps a user would need to obtain information to make a good choice.
Andrew Smith
“Justifying my budget is very hard. How am I meant to quantify the ‘good’ of after-school clubs?”
The solution
The outcome of the project is an easy-to-use data and algorithmic driven software tool that enables teachers, headmasters and budget holders to spend money where it will have the most impact based on countless pieces of recent peer-reviewed research. Heracle can accurately predict with 98% accuracy a student’s GCSE results based on providing them additional extracurricular activities. These activities also help the student build their confidence, improves attendance rates and makes them less likely to get involved in antisocial behaviour and activities.
In addition to fleshing out the vision for the interface, I edited and helped script small videos for pitches and promos for the product, such as this one. When creating some new video material, the prototype had further chances of being reviewed and improved.
Final thoughts
It was refreshing being involved in a product from its beginning. In addition to that, the social impact of it made me want to go the extra mile.
In terms of user-centred design, I believe the next steps should include: rounding up the rest of the features of an MVP (PDF download, sharing within the same school IDs, license purchase…), piloting the product with few schools with - with both quantitative and qualitative feedback mechanisms, and permanently including a UX Consultant or Designer on their team. At the moment I am the UX Lead in charge of further work in the making.
The social value of this initiative should not be eclipsed by a poor interface, as it would also hamper their chances of obtaining further investments.