Evaluating how high school students in the USA perceive the Knowunity learning application
Project Overview
Knowunity is an innovative digital learning platform that integrates social learning with user-generated, verified content covering a wide range of school subjects.
As the fastest-growing EdTech start-up in Europe, Knowunity is making a significant impact in the education industry. The platform is an excellent resource for high school students seeking academic support to enhance their learning experience.
This case study explores the overall usability of the application and its relevance to American high school students, and contains results from studies carried out before and during the application’s recent launch in the United States of America.
Client: Knowunity
Role: UX Researcher
Team members: Josie Xu, Shaelynn Hickey, Xinru Wen, Alexis Li, Tharani Prabu
Research methods: Screener questionnaire, moderated remote user testing, rainbow spreadsheet
Tools: Figma, Zoom, Google Workspace
Time frame: 6 weeks
Through moderated user testing, we assessed the usability of the Knowunity mobile application ahead of its launch in the United States.
We identified six major usability issues, and provided recommendations to solve those issues through visual mock-ups.
Here’s an overview of everything we did.
The first step was to have a kick-off meeting with the client and understand the task at hand.
Identifying objectives>
Identifying features to focus on
Identifying the target group
After our kick-off meeting, we laid down our objectives for the study.
Identifying objectives
Identifying features to focus on>
Identifying the target group
We also fixed the features or flows that would be tested.
Identifying objectives
Identifying features to focus on
Identifying the target group >
Additionally and most importantly, we decided our user target group for the study.
After the client meeting, we started preparing for the project.
Finalizing the research method >
Identifying user testing goals
Creating supporting material
We chose moderated user testing as the primary research method for this study.
Why moderated user testing?
Finalizing the research method
Identifying user testing goals >
Creating supporting material
Next, we decided our goals for testing and devised a preliminary plan to achieve them.
Goals for testing were to evaluate features that the client wanted tested.
How did we plan to do that?
Finalizing the research method
Identifying user testing goals
Creating supporting material >
Apart from the tasks, we created supporting material that would help collect additional data.
Once we’d finalized our process, we started to recruit research participants.
Screener questionnaire >
Tackling low participant turnout
Guerrilla recruitment
To recruit participants, we put together and sent out a screener questionnaire.
What were we screening for?
Graphic created for recruitment
Screener questionnaire
Tackling low participant turnout >
Guerrilla recruitment
Though we got a lot of interest, a disappointing turnout meant that we had no successful testing sessions.
Screener questionnaire
Tackling low participant turnout
Guerrilla recruitment >
With a desperate need for participants, we started looking for different ways to recruit them.
Team members held up signs near Union Square to recruit passers-by, and also reached out to family & friends which got us positive results.
Team members at Union Square, New York City, holding up posters to recruit participants
We carried out moderated user testing sessions with all six participants on Zoom, leading to the identification of specific usability issues with the app.
Conducting user testing sessions >
Compiling observational data
Identifying frequent issues
We conducted 6 moderated user testing sessions virtually over Zoom.
Conducting user testing sessions
Compiling observational data >
Identifying frequent issues
We then recorded all our observations and answers to the questionnaires in different spreadsheets.
We used a rainbow spreadsheet to identify frequently faced problems, with each problem heading one row and each participant heading one column.
The more colored cells in the row corresponding to a problem observed, the more severe the problem.
A part of the spreadsheet used to analyse the user testing data
Conducting user testing sessions
Compiling observational data
Identifying frequent issues >
Based on the spreadsheet above, we identified 6 more frequently faced issues to be resolved :
Confusion regarding the functions of the “Save,” “Like,” “PDF,” and “Download” icons and their corresponding labels.
Dislike of the coloring of the home page and difficulty differentiating parts of the home page.
Lack of an on-demand tutorial providing additional direction to users when they are unsure about how to use the features of the application.
Difficulty converting previously taken pictures of notes to PDF versions that can be uploaded to the application.
Inability to re-crop or re-take an image just before uploading.
Additional step required to access the comments function.
Finally, we designed solutions to fix the usability issues identified.
From the overall reviews of the testing sessions, the application was well received by most participants, with some participants expressing their desire to recommend it to others.
"Everybody should know about it [Knowunity]. I would recommend it to my friends."
- Quote from a user testing session
However, some participants experienced problems while using certain features, as mentioned above. The six major problems identified and the solutions recommended to resolve them are illustrated below.
Recommendation 1 >
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 3
Recommendation 4
Recommendation 5
Recommendation 6
50% of participants were confused regarding the functions of the “Save,” “Like,” “PDF,” and “Download” icons on Notes pages.
“I'm confused by the buttons on the bottom of the Note screen, it seems like they all do the same thing?"
- Quote from a user testing session
To solve this issue, we found a way to consolidate functions, clarify labels and reduce the number of options, reducing overall confusion.
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 2 >
Recommendation 3
Recommendation 4
Recommendation 5
Recommendation 6
33% of participants disliked the coloring of the home page and had difficulty differentiating parts of the home page.
“The homepage reminds me of boring, bland, schoolwork”
- Quote from a user testing session
To make the homepage more visually appealing for all users, we decided to introduce options to customize the look of the app.
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 3 >
Recommendation 4
Recommendation 5
Recommendation 6
60% of participants expressed that they would like a tutorial to help use certain features, apart from the one-time app onboarding tutorial.
“... maybe the 'capture' feature? I understood it, but I feel like if it was better, maybe explained when like you open the app for the first time and it explains how to capture something, like that would be a lot more helpful."
- Quote from a user testing session
Our recommendation to solve this was to provide an option for an on-demand tutorial.
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 3
Recommendation 4 >
Recommendation 5
Recommendation 6
One user felt that they would have liked an option to upload photos from their albums as notes.
“I don’t know how to convert a photo to pdf on mobile.”
- Quote from a user testing session
So we provided an option to add photos from the device album, along with flows to crop and review selections.
Recommendation 6
Recommendation 5 >
Recommendation 4
Recommendation 3
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 1
One user was unable to edit a picture without retaking it entirely, after missing the cropping step.
“How do I edit a document right before uploading it, if I already missed the cropping document page?”
- Quote from a user testing session
We added a drop-down menu to the edit icon, so that retaking the photo wouldn’t have to be the only option.
Recommendation 1
Recommendation 2
Recommendation 3
Recommendation 4
Users occasionally overlooked the commenting feature, since the text box allowing users to post the comment wasn’t immediately accessible.
Recommendation 6 >
Recommendation 5
- Quote from a user testing session
To fix this, we added the text box to post comments to the main screen, so that users wouldn’t have to open the comments section to access it.
“It doesn't look 'buttony'enough"
Conclusion and reflection
All the above findings and recommendations were presented to the client along with an overview of the various methodologies used in the course of the study. The client was happy with the positive responses to the application received from participants, and excited by the recommendations provided by the team. They also mentioned how they appreciated the structure of the presentation, and the insightfulness of the recommendations, particularly the recommendation regarding customization of the home page.
“I feel like I want to forward all of the things (findings and recommendations) directly to the product team because then my job would be done!”
Final client presentation via Zoom
Further research could involve evaluating the usability of the desktop version of the application, with a focus on integrating mobile and desktop version functions seamlessly. Since the application has just launched in the United States, additional research on which features are more valuable in the user’s perspective would need to be done to establish core requirements before transferring these insights into the design of the desktop version.