Client:
a class of public middle school students
My Role:
German Teacher
UX Researcher
Timeline:
9 months
methods & skills:
Subject Matter Research
Skill Assessment
Focus Groups
Personas
Instructional Design
User Testing
tools:
Excel
Sketch
Word
deliverables:
Focus Group Results
Journey Map
Comparative Analysis
Skill Assessment Results
Overview:
Read to Achieve is a strategy I developed to improve my students’ reading comprehension abilities. By combining my human-centered design approach with instructional design, Read to Achieve had a 97% student success rate.
Challenge:
The majority of American children agree that being a good reader is important for their future, yet almost two-thirds of America’s students are not proficient in reading. I needed to find a way to enable my students to grow their reading comprehension abilities, while also encouraging them to find enjoyment in their reading and skill-building practice.
Process:
Having read subject matter research and administered a baseline skill assessment on my own, it was essential to conduct focus groups and hear from the students in their own words. This feedback gave me a greater understanding for their needs, goals, and pain points, while enabling me to build personas and journey map the experience from a student perspective.
PAIN POINTS:
reading material is not interesting to them
reading material is chosen for them
reading (especially aloud) causes insecurity/embarrassment
reading takes too long; they have other activities to do
reading material is always in print, not digital formats
KEY INSIGHTS:
want a greater degree of autonomy
open to reading material and skill-building practice that is chosen by them, interesting to them, and convenient for them to use and access anywhere, anytime.
Next, I created a two-part instructional design focusing on both reading techniques and skill-building technology. In order to find an educational platform that would engage, motivate, and my encourage students, I completed a comparative analysis of the available options.
With the instructional design in place, implementation took place over the course of an academic year. The reading techniques were incorporated into lessons weekly, while the skill-building technology was utilized almost daily.
Outcome:
The results speak for themselves: 97% of students not only met, but also exceeded their target growth goal. Additionally, follow-up focus groups revealed that the majority of students felt their reading and skill-building practice now elicited greater feelings of enjoyment and higher levels of engagement than previously.
Lesson:
Stay Human-Centered!
User Experience that doesn’t consider the PERSON is meaningless; human-centered design is essential. This project demonstrated that user literacy needs like improving comprehension and developing a love of reading were much more positively received and easily achieved when they were coupled with user wants like establishing autonomy and incorporating technology.
When the focus is on human needs, wants, motivations, and challenges, a strong foundation is laid for a meaningful, successful experience. This human-centered instructional design approach could help bridge the gap between American students and literacy once and for all.