2023
Athena
Crafting fun on-the-go learning experiences for online students.
Digital Product Design
Athena
Learning is evolving to meet modern challenges, and online platforms must adapt to support users in their educational journeys. Everyday barriers and moments of friction often hinder learners from completing professional certificates. To address this, Athena reimagines on-the-go learning by tailoring content to the time learners have each day. By incorporating short videos and gamified experiences, Athena keeps learners engaged and motivated.
The result?
A seamless, enjoyable, and effective way to achieve educational goals.
Kick Off
Please note that due to information concerns and an NDA agreement, the critical details of the project and problem space can’t be disclosed, therefore the emphasis will be placed on the overall process work and deliverables. After an initial briefing with the client, we began to gather around a central question:
How might we remove the everyday challenges and moments of friction that stand in the way of online learners realizing their goals?
In order to establish the needed context for the problem space, we began exploring through a variety of research methods: discovering through the lens of ecology research, secondary research, and existing service journey maps and blueprints. We found secondary research in the form of competitive analysis within the online learn space to be extremely eye-opening. We analyzed popular platforms like Skillshare, MasterClass, and Khan Academy, as well as niche platforms like Axonify, designed for frontline employees. Our goal was to uncover key differentiators, target audiences, and user experiences.
To understand the journey from a learner's perspective, each member of the team signed up for accounts on our clients learning platform. We all went through the onboarding process and the first couple of classes of a course (using a free trial). Paired with information from our competitive analysis, we were able to compare these onboarding experiences to Athena's (our client’s platform) current experience.
Armed with secondary research, we conducted interviews with four users across different geographies, income levels, and ethnicities to build understanding through a diverse perspective. In this round of interviews, we had learners co-create a journey map to document the steps they took after signing up for a class. In Particular, we were looking to capture what emotions they felt as they were completing the course, what difficulties they faced along the way that would prohibit completing the course and how their motivations changed over time. Since these interviews were conducted virtually and were only about 30 minutes long, we created a simplified version of a journey map.
After our first round of interviews, we took our insights to inform a list of design principles and narrowed down the opportunities we felt we were capable of designing for considering our limited time on the project and what learners seemed to be the most passionate about.
Wireframing
Using our insights and research frameworks as a guide, we began brainstorming multiple concepts through a variety of prompts. After leading my team through several rounds of ideation, we narrowed our ideas to four main concepts. Wireframes were crafted for each concept to map out app screens, explore future flows, and structure key ideas effectively.
Through multiple rounds of user feedback and synthesis, we iterated our concepts, finally landing on a design that focused on addressing consumers' concerns through a hybrid of previous ideas. In order to begin fully prototyping our final ideas, we met with new users to gather usability testing feedback that would help us iterate our final concept.
End Product
After multiple rounds of prototype testing, we honed our final concept for Athena, focusing on the moments that mattered most to learners. With a thoroughly crafted design in place, I guided my team in creating a compelling presentation deck. We emphasized key touch points throughout the learner journey where our solution met both user needs and business objectives.
On-The-Go Learning
Athena holds a learners online course materials and progress in one place, making it easy to stay organized. The Athena mobile app allows learners to track their learning journey, pick up right where they left off, and access all of their courses.
Review & Learn
Users can choose to keep moving forward with new content or review previously learned material - all within a selected learning timeframe. Whether you’re looking to reinforce past lessons or dive into fresh topics, Athena adapts to your learning needs, making it easy to stay on track anytime, anywhere.
Snackable Content
With Athena’s snackable content feature, learning fits seamlessly into your schedule. Simply input your available time block, and Athena curates bite-sized lessons tailored to your moment of learning. Whether you have a few minutes or a longer session, the app delivers a personalized mix of video and reading materials based on your preferences, making it easy to learn at any given time, for any length of time.
Review Material
Interactive resources like flashcards, trivia, and matching games, help users reinforce their learning while enjoying a competitive edge. Climb the leaderboard as you challenge classmates, stay motivated, and turn study time into a rewarding experience.
Progress Monitoring
Users can efficiently manage their time, track achievements, and share progress with peers through a weekly glance review. Plus, they can sync their calendar with the app to seamlessly schedule learning time blocks, staying organized and on track with their goals.
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