Case Study / September 2021 - December 2021

Designing a video conferencing platform for remote education

Platform:

Prototype

Industry:

Education

Location:

Remote

Showing how this may look on a iMac computer

Summary

A video conferencing platform which focuses on education for students who are studying remotely. This platform strives to bridge the gap between in-person and common video conferencing tools by removing barriers which may disengage students from participating. Tools embedded in the platform will support students with tasks they would likely have to perform during class, or to gather information about the class.

Showing a student with a worried expression working on their assignment, with a chart to their right displaying over time the level of engagement in classes (engagement increase at start than steadily decreasing over time).

Why is remote learning hard for students?

Lacks social connections with classmates
Difficult to work with classmates
Hard to maintain focus
Decreasing engagement over time

Redesigned Platform

A redesign of the current platform with focus on making priority tools for students more accessible. At the same time empowering students with more control over their own metamorphic table space for them to work and talk with their classmates.

Key Factors for Success

Reorganization

Understanding the goals of students inside virtual classes can help to identify the structure and layout which will be best suited.

Workspace in Class

Being remote has changed the physical and digital space for students. Now students do not have their peers surrounding them.

More Control

Students have even less control over their digital environment. Video conferencing is set up with hosts who control the room.

Customize Screens

Students expressed a desire to have their own layouts. They wanted to be able to set up their screens for their workflow.

Creating a Prototype

Card sorting which lead to priority and understanding locations on screen. Top left admin rea, top right exit space, left middle side bar, center area main focus, right middle current side activity, bottom left and right are low impact, and center bottom is prime interaction area

Card sorting student priorities

Card sorting helped to identify which information should be grouped together. Then rating those tasks to frequency used, along with a comparison to other video conferencing applications helped to define the screen space.

Dedicated table space

Students have table space in-person, but lack that online. Creating a virtual table for students to control rather than the host empowers students just like in-person. Sharing to just their table or class is now an option.

The table provides a dedicated space just for those sitting with you virtually

Buttons for starting and stopping audio, video and volume for both sections, class and table.

Listen, talk or video

Taking sharing a step further, students can now decide if they are showing their webcam to just their table or to the class. Giving students more freedom to be expressive and comfortable in an online setting.

Customize window space

Setting up your environment to your preferences is important. Helping students to achieve their optimal layout removes a standard setup in favour of a more situational setup.

Drag different areas of the application to make changes to the layout

Boosting Interactions

Different sections of the application light up when speaking

Voice Activated Lighting

Want to be sure if your mic is catching any sound, with VAL you can turn on and set up your screen to light up rather than just the icon.

Built in agenda to application allowing students to see tasks, plan for the class, and relevant files

Agenda Access

Keeping students inside the application can help for a more immersive class experience. When students leave, it can cause distractions.

instantly use the whiteboard inside the meeting to share ideas quickly with classmates

Table Whiteboard

Built right into the application, a whiteboard for the table to help share ideas and concepts of what is happening in class.

close up of how the messaging is seperated for class and direct messaging

Class and DM chats

Direct messaging versus class communication needs to be quite clear. There should be no confusion who you are talking to.

Interaction Wheel

Making interactions more prominent and accessible helps to boost the usage of these. Its a quick way to answer questions in the class.

Improved Emoji Sharing

Having those icons overlay on your video is larger and more clear. This helps to get your emotion, question or answer to your peers quicker.

The Student Loop

1

Students feel disconnected since starting to be remote, missing classmates, the in-person interactions which happen in class and the lack of social engagement.