The challenge
In response to student feedback on difficulties navigating and managing the numerous platforms required to access university services, RMIT Online embarked on a project to centralise them into a single, user-friendly app.
Key goals
• Launch a functioning app to pilot with the first cohort of Bachelor of Business students
• Reduce Student Support enquires
• Improved sentiment on tool/service access in student surveys
• Increased study time (reduced admin)
Key goals
• Launch a functioning app to pilot with the first cohort of Bachelor of Business students
• Reduce Student Support enquires
• Improved sentiment on tool/service access in student surveys
• Increased study time (reduced admin)
My role
As the UX Practice Lead, I was responsible for guiding the design and development of the app from initial ideation to the successful beta launch in late 2022. Alongside facilitating workshops and providing designs throughout, I also ran a design sprint after the release to help define the vision and feature roadmap for future iterations.
Outcome
The beta student portal app launched across online stores in late 2022 to universal praise.
The success of the beta release has paved the way for several more feature-rich iterations.
The success of the beta release has paved the way for several more feature-rich iterations.
Above: Login screen, App Store Icon and mobile portal homepage
1 Planning and facilitation
Despite the project being run as a pilot with low investment and risk, it was still important to align on our goals and uncover challenges.
I designed and facilitated several workshops with stakeholders and discipline leads, bringing them along the journey as the project progressed.
Attendees were encouraged to actively participate in activities from note taking and voting to digital sketching. This allowed all business units to share their voice, helping to;
• Connect department leads who may often worked in siloes
• Uncover potential risks and considerations early
• Align on a shared vision
• Connect department leads who may often worked in siloes
• Uncover potential risks and considerations early
• Align on a shared vision
Above: Example workshop exercises included aligning on what success looked like and creating a target state journey map and voting on the most important area of focus for the sprint.
2 discovery research
Our discovery journey was broad and revisited throughout the project to inform the design as the direction became more clearly defined.
Methods and activities included;
• Surveys and sentiment analysis into potential SX concepts
• Market scan of best-in-class portal platforms
• Competitor and parallel industry analysis
• Student interviews
• SME interviews (student success, program and platform specialists)
Early concept research into the portal was undertaken with an external agency who received an extremely positive reaction. from students and further insights to take into design.
Methods and activities included;
• Surveys and sentiment analysis into potential SX concepts
• Market scan of best-in-class portal platforms
• Competitor and parallel industry analysis
• Student interviews
• SME interviews (student success, program and platform specialists)
Early concept research into the portal was undertaken with an external agency who received an extremely positive reaction. from students and further insights to take into design.
Parallel industries and indirect competitors
By looking more broadly at adjacent industries rather than just direct competitors, we uncovered inspiring new features to take into concept testing.
By looking more broadly at adjacent industries rather than just direct competitors, we uncovered inspiring new features to take into concept testing.
Above: Example discovery report pages.
3 Feature concepts and testing
We began to draft potential portal interface features, working in rapid spikes with learning designers and engineers.
These were then taken to students for qualitative input. 4x co-design sessions were run with UG students and internal SMEs using a simple prioritisation exercise.
Above: Example populated research canvas (left) and early collaborative solution sketches (right).
4 Designing the beta
To fast-track our beta release we leveraged the current university platform. This allowed us to meet compliance needs and go to market and learn fast, however this came with functionality restrictions.
Our feature list was further prioritised with to meet the needs of undergrad. students first, alongside covering the most common issues reported by student success that the platform could facilitate,
I then facilitated a week-long design sprint focussed on designing and populating the application to pilot with our our pilot cohort. This was a mammoth undertaking and required a unique adaptation to the typical sprint process/custom exercises.
I split the multi-discipline sprint contributors across 3x areas of focus;
1. Content design
2. UI/IA and visual design
3. POC development
1. Content design
2. UI/IA and visual design
3. POC development
Flows and prototypes Were initially developed before the sprint and adapted during, and after as platform constraints and other considerations became apparent. 3x brand colours were used as visual cues to group features.
Above: Example workshop activity outcomes and early design concepts
Above: User flow for target state launch of the pilot
Above: Interactive prototype built in Figma for target state launch of the pilot
5 Beta testing
At the end of the week we had a functioning application with 80% of the features working ready for testing. Including;
1. Essentials: Such as important dates and quick links to course enrolments, library and software.
2. Canvas (learning environment): Messages, course quick links, grades, assignments, and progress tracking.
3. Support service links
2. Canvas (learning environment): Messages, course quick links, grades, assignments, and progress tracking.
3. Support service links
A complete working Figma prototype had also been created to emulate some of the more complex functionality that required additional integration time, such as course announcements and assignment overviews.
At the end of the week we uncovered areas for improvement which were refined prior to the beta release. This included consolidating tiles to reduce overwhelm, adding the ability to customise the order overwhelm.
Above: The beta launch feature set (left) and The portal dashboard design pre & post paid user testing/ uncovering platform constraints (right).
Impact and learnings
After refinement, UAT and compliance checks, the portal was launched on time to pilot with the first online cohort.
Analytics showed positive signs of engagement, with over 75% returning to the portal over the first two weeks period.
Above: Portal analytics and stakeholder quotes
What happened next
The pilot was a success with positive sentiment from the cohort and student success teams. However due to platform analytics, data integration and functionality restrictions, we held off rolling out the app to other cohorts initially.
The pilot was a success with positive sentiment from the cohort and student success teams. However due to platform analytics, data integration and functionality restrictions, we held off rolling out the app to other cohorts initially.
• Focus groups and an end of term survey were used to gain richer quantitative and qualitative insights for future iterations
• In the meantime we continued to source more suitable vendor to match our long-term ambitions including more personalised profiles
• A further case study details my contribution to the new portal
• In the meantime we continued to source more suitable vendor to match our long-term ambitions including more personalised profiles
• A further case study details my contribution to the new portal
Above: Final designs across desktop and mobile
