nuuvi is a web and desktop platform to foster communication between like minded students during remote learning. Students will sign in using their universities log in information and have the ability to connect with peers and other students all around the world based on common interests.
nuuvi was created by a group of five team members:
Kayla Haselein: Visual Lead
Addie Benson: UX Design
Erin Mills: Product Lead
Jeremie Rivera Doi: Prototyping
Luke Lobosky: UX Writing
The sudden changes
covid brought to us was a struggle for everyone, especially students. Having to pack up dorm rooms and say goodbye to in-person learning hit harder than anticipated. According to Douglas Harris, "Almost half (48%) of higher education students claim the pandemic has worsened their ability to remain focused and engaged."
Knowing this, we got to work.
We selected a target audience of people pursuing higher education; primarily ages 18 - 24. We also started conducting our primary research finding pain points:
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Too many distractions
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Lack of Mental Focus
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Lack of Motivation
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Lack of discussions with peers
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Lack of opportunities to deepen their learning
103 survey responses, 13 student interviews, 3 professor interviews, and 1 expert interview
86% currently attend virtual classes
50% find engaging very difficult
75% don't feel connected to their peers
68% negative impact on mental health
"I realized after going virtual that I took
on-ground classes for granted.”
"I think the one thing that is in our control is our attitude."
"In online learning, "My mental health suffered because
I was used to being surrounded by my friends."
"Through this change (COVID) it's more
apparent we need one another."
We then began to affinitize
all of our data. We started with 559 sticky notes, which we grouped three times. Using the last and smallest group of 20 green stickies, we were able to create our how might we statement.
How Might We
use technology to personalize the learning experience?
Introducing nuuvi
a platform purchased by universities to increase meaningful connections in the student college experience through social engagement. Key features include interests, grous, connections, messaging, "ask me about," and a customizable profile.
In order to successfully structure
the app, we conducted a card sorting activity with 5 participants. Some key insights gathered were
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the main pages identified: connections, profile, messaging, groups, and settings
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labeling differed from person to person (ex. community vs. connections)
The organization and flow of the user tasks were informed by the card sorting activity.
After deciding on the IA
we began creating the lo-fi wireframes and started user testing. We had 8 participants complete 5 tasks:
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Edit profile
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Create a group chat
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Search groups and join a new one
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Search for pre-existing connections
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Search for potential new connections
Through our user testing,
we gained useful insights in three main categories:
Navigation
Absence of clear global navigation
Organization
Ambiguous access of information
Labeling
Redundant & vague
So, we came up with solutions to make user's experiences better:
Navigation
Combine hamburger and global
Organization
Streamline content & sequencing
Labeling
Consistent labels & iconography
After making the changes
we conducted another round of user testing. We gave our users a hi-fi questionnaire and received a satisfaction score of 83/100. Our main insight was to re-work the sequencing of the pages.
After making all of the final changes, we were able to produce our final wireframes (left) and our final prototype walkthrough.
Final Walkthrough
Here is a look at what the app would be like when in use.
