Overview

Challenge

BigSpring gave me a challenge to design ideas for their app used for by companies to help their employees with learning skills and onboarding.  Their request was for the app to allow the learner to see a sense of progress, share proof on social media in a tasteful manner, and create a catalog of documented skills they could keep in their profile and share with future employers.

 UNDERSTAND

Evaluation

With the above goals in mind for progress tracking and badging, I wanted to get a better view on how some users in the work force might feel about using a custom learning app and what they would have to say about seeing their progress and being able to share their achievements on social media with future employers. 

RESEARCH

Competitive Analysis

Credly has a great system for a company to provide badges with credibility, since they have a great reputation in the digital badging space. A digital badge is a solid representation of a learner’s capabilities, which provides a way to recognize and verify a skill.  They have a simple method for sharing badges to LinkedIn, through email, etc.

Khan Academy’s exercises and quizzes use a large amount of gamified features with instant feedback, hints, and multiple attempts. Having this much interaction enhances the learning experience while motivating the learner to improve their skills through practice. 

FutureLearn.com has a very simple clear method of showing your progress with simple progress bars and wording to help you follow the path to completion.

RESEARCH

User Interviews

The insights I got from the questions I asked five people (three who had worked at their jobs over five years, one only seven months and another only three weeks) are as follows: 

1. All are using general learning apps about every 4 to 6 weeks and one said never, they would use design tips occasionally on Instagram. 

2. None of them had an app or website that was customized to their company training. Everything was actual training or Zoom meetings when onboarding. They also said training had trickled down to only once a month.

3. If they had an app specifically designed for learning skills for their company, 4 said they would use it and 1 said they would only use it if the topics were completely relevant to their job. 

4. All of them did want to see their progress, because they did not want to fall behind or become stagnant. 

5. When asked how seeing their progress would make them feel, they all said “Good”, plus it would motivate them to keep going. 

6. When asked if they would like to share their (Badge) accomplishment on LinkedIn, they all said, “Yes”. 

7. None of them were interested in the progress being like a game or competing. The answers I got were all geared to wanting a clear picture of their progress. One of them told me, “I don’t like all the bells and whistles, I just want to see what I have accomplished.” 

Secondary Research

Book for reference on the subject of “progress” 

The Progress Principle 

Authors: Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer 

This quote from https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins 

“And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run. Whether they are trying to solve a major scientific mystery or simply produce a high-quality product or service, everyday progress—even a small win—can make all the difference in how they feel and perform.” 

ANALYSIS

Data Synthesis

To better understand our users, I put together a persona and empathy map to see the pain points, gain and important items the users wanted before starting the design. 

BRAINSTORMING

Ideation Process

The following MVPs is what needed to be included in the designs for showing progress and badging. 

• Show progress clearly.

• Suggest areas to review.

• Show a clear path to next lesson (goal).

• Receive a badge to share on social media like LinkedIn

• A catalog showing completed lessons including Name of Lessons, skills learnt and badge to share with future employers. 

DESIGN

Preliminary Wireframes

With the MVPs and sitemap, I made some quick sketches and then began to create fast low fidelity wireframes of the Task Flow.  I did some user testing, which helped in getting the progress bars and popups to show and guide the user along where expected.  I was also able to create a catalog showing certificates earned and a page showing all progress where unfinished courses are always on top so it is easy for the user to know what needs completing.