Understanding the depths of user cognition for learning and development
Overview
Skale is an educational app that uses role playing techniques to foster learning and development
Employees are currently required by their company to use the Skale app to role play sales scenarios in live video chat interface order to improve sales performance.
How can we improve their learning experience and keep them engaged with the app?
Project Details
Client:
Skale
Role:
The team consists of three UX designers with different design backgrounds. We have a graphic designer, an industrial engineer, and myself a product designer. I had three main roles in my team. First, to conduct usability testing of the current app to find opportunities for improvement. Second, to research pain points found in usability tests and heuristic analysis of current version. Third, to design iterations of wireframes and high fidelity prototype.
Duration:
3 week design sprint
Teammates:
Lucas Mai and Rico Peng
Design Methods:
Comparative research
Usability testing
Contextual inquiry
Secondary research
Stakeholder interviews
Design studio
Affinity mapping
Archetype analysis
Journey mapping
Rapid Prototyping
Tools:
Pen & Paper
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
The Opportunity
Users feel an overwhelming amount of confusion in the roleplaying core experience of the app. How can we reduce confusion and anxiety in order to boost confidence and learnability?
Research & Synthesis
Word cloud from usability testing
After affinity mapping our users comments, we found that confusion was centralized around three key insights.
Unclear expectations
Heavy cognitive load
Lack of control
Insight 1- Unclear Expectations- Users are not sure what to expect
“I’m not sure what ‘Let’s Skale’ does.”
Original Skale home screen
Why do we need to set expectations?
If users don’t have a clear understanding about what your product will do and what will happen, they won’t use it
Solution:
Front load instructions to give users clear information what to expect in the video chat
Insight 2- Heavy cognitive load- Users are confused about the instructions, because they have a hard time reading and talking at the same time
“There’s too much information to take in during the conversation.”
Original Skale roleplay interface
Why can’t people multitask?
The brain naturally focuses on one thing at a time. We are biologically incapable of processing attention- rich inputs at the same time
Large fractions of a second are consumed every time the brain switches tasks
Solution:
Limit the amount of information on the cards
Insight 3- Lack of control- The partners don’t have equal control during their interaction
“Since I couldn't swipe through cards, I didn’t get the chance to read them.”
Original Skale role play partner is controlling cue cards
Why do people need control?
People have a deep need for sense of control
When people feel they don’t have control, they experience tension and anxiety
Giving users control gives them understanding and confidence to how things work and flexibility to their interactions
Solution:
Give equal control to both teacher and student in the video chat
Process
Refocus learnability on the intended lesson rather than the app itself.
Our process revolved around reacting quickly to user key insights around confusion. We found that the majority of the users had the same pain points, and therefore, we were able to react quickly from feedback, reiterate our new prototype and retest until the user felt comfortable with the core-experience.
Design Decisions
Set up users expectations with instructions
We’ve front-loaded them to inform the users before they start the video interface so they don’t feel rushed and are confident about the material before they begin.
Introduction of steps during the role play
Originally, the role play consisted of a large number of cue cards that created the heavy cognitive load issue. The user would often skip the self-evaluation and feedback step, which is crucial for Skale’s client to record valuable data. We’ve streamlined this process into 4 repetitive steps for each session.
We also front loaded tips on the connection screen to help increase a successful session.
Simple language and Gamification
Using clear call to action with straightforward language
Implementation of clear call to action with straightforward language. Before the ‘Let’s Skale’ button confused users. We changed the language to ‘Let’s Practice’ to make the action obvious. Also, the addition of status bar and rank/ points buttons are intended to encourage the user. The status buttons take the user to the leaderboard to see how they compare to their colleagues create competition to encourage practice.
Introducing button state affordance
Gives both users visibility and control of process
Teacher Flow
Additional information available, without adding to cognitive load
Student Flow
All necessary information is provided in the instructions
Reflection
Why this solution works
It benefits the users
“I feel more confident knowing the instructions early, and that I can get helpful hints along the way."
“I’m not distracted by the amount of information anymore.”
It benefits Skale
Reduces training time
Practice sessions are more effective
Client can better analyze salesperson performance in the role play
Added ability to collect valuable qualitative and quantitative feedback
Future Considerations
Skale was interested in applying gamification for the initial strategy, but we felt that solving for the key confusion points were more important for the three-week design sprint. With our prototype in a good place, we would like to extend our next steps into gamification strategies to further engage the user.