Innovaxia
A teacher training app on
Dyslexia
ROLE
Research and UX/UI
Timeline
June 2024 - July 2024
PROJECT TYPE
End-to-end mobile app
App Design
Online course app
Teacher training app on Dyslexia
UX Case Study
What I Accomplished
Designed an end-to-end mobile app — part professional development platform, part interactive learning tool, all focused on empowering teachers to support students with dyslexia.
Explored how educators' knowledge and teaching strategies impact their ability to effectively assist students with dyslexia.
Challenges
The primary challenge was the complexity of the problem space. Dyslexia affects students in diverse ways, and teachers need specific, practical training. Existing resources often fall short in engagement and comprehensiveness. To create a truly effective app, I had to narrow my focus and develop a unique, impactful solution that stands out from existing offerings.
Background
Supporting students with dyslexia is one of the most significant challenges in education today. It's an issue I'm deeply committed to, and I wanted to create a tool to help teachers make a real difference in the lives of these students. For this project, I aimed to delve into the problem space around dyslexia in education and develop an app that empowers educators with the knowledge and strategies they need.
After conducting some initial research, my original concept of a simple resource hub proved inadequate. I discovered that teachers need more than just resources—they require structured, comprehensive training that is both accessible and practical. With this understanding, I immersed myself in the world of dyslexia, educators' needs, and effective teaching strategies, ultimately developing an app that offers tiered, interactive training to transform how teachers support students with dyslexia.
Interview Findings
4
said the biggest challenge in supporting students with dyslexia was consistency in applying strategies.
5
said they lacked the training and resources to make more significant changes in their teaching approach.
3
said community & colleagues were the biggest help in sticking to effective teaching methods.
Similar to secondary research, teachers during the interview discussed challenges with sticking to long-term teaching strategies. Primarily, developing consistency was the biggest challenge. Keeping long-term educational goals in perspective sounded much harder than short-term goals. Regarding supporting students with dyslexia, all teachers wanted to improve their methods, but shared the sentiment that making more considerable changes was difficult due to routine disruption and lack of adequate resources. Having colleagues supporting them through long-term commitments made this struggle a lot easier.
Results
I interviewed 5 participants. All of them came from diverse teaching backgrounds and ranged from 23 to 40 years old. They all had university-level education and taught in various schools, so I knew my research results would be most applicable to well-educated teachers in similar educational settings.
User Interviews
Understanding Teacher Perceptions
Reading about the challenges faced by teachers in supporting students with dyslexia was revealing. I had never understood why so many educators expressed concern about dyslexia, yet did not implement effective strategies in their classrooms. I wanted to dive deeper to understand how teachers felt about addressing complex learning needs and the obstacles they faced in doing so. So, I planned out some user interviews.
Key Takeaways
70%
Of teachers express concern about supporting students with dyslexia
40%
Of them aren't willing to make the personal and professional changes needed to effectively address it
The problem lies in perception and preparedness. Many teachers struggle to take on the complexities of dyslexia without adequate training or resources. Dyslexia is often misunderstood, making it challenging to implement effective strategies and interventions, even though the need for support is widely recognized.
Secondary Research
To build a foundational understanding of the challenges in dyslexia education, as well as teachers' attitudes and existing solutions, I delved into secondary research about dyslexia and the educational approaches to support students with this condition.
Acknowledging Assumptions
I wanted to be sure to disclose any biases I may have had going into this project because I am the only researcher working on it. In order to do this, I considered and presented my presumptions on the problem domain. I was aware going in that more research could refute my assumptions.
01 Dyslexia is primarily natural and not human driven.
02 Most people I talk are concerned about it.
03 My network (first-world) feels responsible for it.
04 My network is already actively combatting the lack of education on dyslexia.
05 Most people I talk would be interested in an app.
Defining Research goals
01 Research
Mapping it out
The app was beginning to take shape. I had identified the key features to include and was forming a clear vision of how the app would look and operate. To refine the structure and architecture further, I developed an app map and user flow.
Defining The MVP
At this point, I was ready to start defining the features my app would include. I had gotten to know my target user, and had identified the key problems she faced in her role as a school therapist. With this information in hand, I set out to define my MVP (minimum viable product) for the teacher training app.
01 Identify & Understand Need
Why Am I Creating This App?
I'm creating the app to address a problem that I've identified during the research phase of this project. First world inhabitants are growing increasingly concerned about climate change, but lack the motivation to make the personal changes (habits like diet, transportation, etc…) necessary to have a substantial positive impact on climate change. My app aims to overcome this challenge.
How Will I Measure Success?
Number of teachers adopting new training techniques and tools at 'x' rate
Improvement in student outcomes and engagement
Feedback and satisfaction from teachers using the app
User engagement metrics (likes, shares, comments, etc.) on app content and community features
02 Finding Opportunities
Using 'Pains' To Develop 'Gains'
By looking at primary user pains, I thought about how the app would turn them into 'gains' by allowing the user to take a specific action. For example:
Pain:
Action:
Gain:
Teachers need effective tools and strategies to support students with diverse learning needs, including those with disabilities.
Provide access to a variety of innovative teaching methods, resources, and tools tailored for inclusive education.
Improved student engagement and learning outcomes, with teachers feeling more confident and equipped to support all students.
03 Choosing Features
Using 'Gains' To Develop Features
After listing out all the 'gains' my app would enable users to acquire, I thought about the features the app would need to make those gains possible.
Gain 01: Educate users about the impact their habits have on the planet
Gain 02: Building teacher confidence and competence
Features Needed
Inclusive Teaching Resource Library
Best Practices for Inclusive Education Guide
Tutorials on Inclusive Strategies
Features Needed
Professional Development Courses on Inclusive Education
Achievement Badges for Mastering Inclusive Practices
Peer Support and Mentorship Programs
04 Prioritising
Features brainstormed, I created a priority matrix to determine which of them would be included in my MVP.
Meet Iqra
Iqra, an associate professor at a well-reputed university, does what she can without going to extreme lengths to change her lifestyle. She uses creative teaching methods and tries to incorporate new tools and resources. However, Iqra has more immediate concerns, like what she’s going to do over the weekend. She might plan a lesson or meet with a few of her colleagues. Despite this, Iqra expresses real concern for the education system, and knows more needs to be done to enhance the learning environment.
Breaking Down the Problem
Having done my research, I wanted to break down all the existing challenges teachers were facing. To achieve this, I created problem statements, relating each one to a specific teacher need. I took it a step further and related each teacher need to a corresponding ‘How Might We?’ statement to postulate potential ways to address each need with my app. To measure the success of outcomes, I also noted KPIs.
02 Define
After mapping out my app and determining the features it would include, I moved on to creating wireframes.
I began with low-fidelity wireframes, focusing on the structure and placement of elements. My aim was to design a modern, sleek interface that would appeal to users, even though the app would require significant behavioral changes.
I also planned to use these low-fidelity wireframes for user testing, ensuring that participants could concentrate on the app's functionality and feature placement rather than its branding.
03 Design
Clean, crisp and simple
Resulting Revisions
Scenario and Results
A student teacher of a nearby school has started using an app called ‘Innovaxia’ and won’t stop raving about it. You download the app to see what all the fuss is about.
To ensure my app met the needs of my target users, I created a prototype in Figma and set out to test it with 5 participants. All of them were educators, as this is the user group I designed the app for. With the prototype completed, I established several test goals to evaluate during the testing phase.
Goal 1: Test overall feature functionality and ease of use.
Goal 2: Measure users' ability to explore and utilize various teaching strategies.
Goal 3: Measure users' ability to track and assess their progress in implementing new teaching methods.
Goal 4: See how well users navigate the community section and use it to connect with other educators.
Goal 5: Assess whether or not users are motivated to use the app regularly.
04 Testing
Building the Brand
With the low-fidelity wireframes completed, I transitioned to developing the app's visual identity and integrating branding elements. My aim was to create an inviting and professional atmosphere that reflects a commitment to education, while also appealing to teachers with a polished and modern design. To start, I crafted a mood board.
05 UI and Branding
06 Final UI
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Learning 02: Community Can Motivate
Introducing new teaching strategies, especially when dealing with students with diverse needs, can be difficult. Despite knowing the importance, many teachers find it challenging to implement inclusive teaching practices in their classrooms. The solution? A strong sense of community. By providing teachers with a supportive network and platform where they can share their experiences, ask questions, and gain immediate benefits like resource sharing, the app can help motivate them to improve their methods. Through this project, I learned that building a community of educators who support each other is one of the most powerful ways to encourage lasting change and improvement in classrooms.
Learning 01: Users Are Complex
In recent years, the topic of dyslexia and inclusive education has become a common discussion among educators and specialists. I often wondered why more teachers didn’t adopt the specific tools and strategies that could enhance learning for students with dyslexia. Throughout this project, I learned that users, in this case, teachers, are far more complex than I initially thought. Human behavior, habits, and resistance to change all play significant roles in how willing teachers are to adopt new approaches. Without thorough research, I wouldn’t have been able to understand the gap between educators' awareness of dyslexia and their action (or inaction) in addressing it effectively.
Next Steps
The development of my Teacher Training App on Dyslexia has been a deeply personal project. I strongly believe that improving education for students with dyslexia is a crucial step toward creating a more inclusive and supportive learning environment. It’s our collective responsibility to provide teachers with the tools and knowledge they need to empower all learners, including those who face literacy challenges.
I designed this app with the goal of helping educators improve their teaching strategies and support students with dyslexia more effectively. The next step for the app is to place it in the hands of the teachers, administrators, and professionals for whom it was created. By using the KPIs I defined during the MVP stage, we can measure the app's success and make necessary improvements. This includes tracking downloads from the app store, user engagement, teacher retention, and the utilization of community features (forum discussions, resource sharing, peer support, etc.).
My hope for this Teacher Training App on Dyslexia is that it becomes an indispensable tool for educators worldwide, enabling them to create a more inclusive classroom environment. To achieve that, the key will be listening to user feedback and continuously incorporating their insights to refine the app and make it an even better resource for teachers working to support students with dyslexia.
07 Next Steps