Designing a Platform For and With Educators
Designing a Platform For and With Educators
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In earlier posts, we described our process for developing new SkillBlox features. Leveraging a design research approach to gather user insights about teaching and learning, our aim has been to create practical tools and advance research that supports skill-aligned instruction through open education resources (OER).
Iterative Feature Development
Iterative Feature Development
Through focus group conversations, questionnaires, and participant engagement in EdTech Maker Spaces, we learned from educators what features would most improve their user experience using SkillBlox for TSTM-aligned instruction. We analyzed data employing a qualitative coding process to inform feature development aimed to increase use of and satisfaction with SkillBlox. Through our analysis, we learned four key things:
Teachers said they needed multiple, complementary search features in SkillBlox
Teachers knew what instructional content they wanted and wanted to be able to find it quickly
Teachers wanted information about the makers of existing SkillBlox to help them determine its potential
Teachers liked to share instructional content with other teachers
Working with our developer, we aligned and prioritized our feature development according to these four findings.
We held three focus groups with six participants throughout 2023 which informed development cycles for related sets of features. We call this group the “Practitioner Advisors”. As we developed features in 2024, we asked the Practitioner Advisors to complete a series of tasks using them and to report back on their experiences. We logged the feedback, prioritized recommended updates, and incorporated many of the changes into the next iteration of the features.
We then introduced the new features to an expanded group of teachers participating in a Usability/Feasibility (U/F) study that began in June 2024. With data gleaned through the focus group discussions with the Practitioner Advisors and interviews with U/F study teachers and learners, we were able to uncover challenges and opportunities for improvement to the developed features.
1. Improved Search Features
1. Improved Search Features
Early on, Participant Advisors made two distinct points about finding relevant materials on SkillBlox: 1) teachers needed multiple ways to search for instructional content, and 2) experienced teachers often have a clear sense of what kinds of materials they want to use - whether they be individual activities in the SkillBlox library or Blox created by other teachers - and they want to be able to find them quickly. In response to these findings, we improved the search features and then asked Participant Advisors to test two new features: tagging Blox and Explore SkillBlox.
Tagging Blox
Tagging Blox
In May 2024, Participant Advisors used new tagging features to provide information about the Blox they created. This is an essential task for others to search for Blox. To accomplish this, they 1) added an activity to a Blox, 2) tagged the activities within the Blox to indicate characteristics like activity format, and 3) added tags to the Blox they created with new tagging features to indicate how they intended the Blox to be used. Blox tags include characteristics such as academic and language skill(s) practiced, intended learner levels, and TSTM skill(s) of focus. By tagging a Blox and making it public, users provide key information for others to find it in Explore SkillBlox and know how to use it.
A screenshot of a “Blox”, or a collection of activities, with definitions for both Blox and activities.
The tagging shelf (shown on the left) allows teachers to add key details about the Blox they create. These same tags are then used to help teachers filter content when searching for Blox created by other users in Explore SkillBlox (shown on the right).
Explore SkillBlox
Explore SkillBlox
Explore SkillBlox is an open library of existing, publicly-shared Blox that other SkillBlox users can find, save, and share. In this focus group, Participant Advisors 1) made at least one of their SkillBlox public-facing, and 2) used new Explore SkillBlox features to search for and examine Blox created by other users. These conversations made visible how to best onboard teachers to this feature, which we later leveraged to create training to support U/F participants complete the same activities. In combination, tagging and Explore SkillBlox were designed to make it easier to find TSTM-aligned materials.
2. Using Data to Inform Selection
2. Using Data to Inform Selection
Participant Advisors also expressed a desire to use materials that students had identified as useful. We learned that instructors wanted to see information about students’ use and perceptions of an activity to decide whether or not to select it for their own Blox. To understand what students found most useful, we developed a student evaluation tool, available for end-users with student accounts. To test this feature, we asked learners to save a SkillBlox to their account, open it, complete at least one activity, mark it complete, and give the activity a rating. Students self-reported the amount of time it took them to complete an activity, the ease of the activity, the effectiveness of the activity, and if it helped them learn. At the time of this writing, pilot study teachers can view activities in the SkillBlox Library and see: how many times an activity has been used in other Blox, the number of times the activity has been launched, the number of student completions, and the number of student saves.
3. Creating an OER Community
3. Creating an OER Community
Finally, teachers who have used SkillBlox as Participant Advisors, in the U/F study, and in EdTech Strategy Sessions have expressed a desire to share materials with other educators and to see information about other SkillBlox makers. As a result, we developed public profiles, which allows any SkillBlox user to share information about the learner levels they teach, a personal bio, and the Blox they have created. Additionally, pilot study users are able to follow other users with public profiles, potentially helping them find instructional content created by makers whose work they appreciate.
Future Development of the Platform
Future Development of the Platform
Development research is an iterative process that facilitates continuous testing and feature set updates. Our data from the work described above pointed to the need to prioritize a subsequent round of feature enhancement, which are in process:
Updates to the tagging tool. We learned we needed to ease the tagging process for teachers to provide details about their Blox. We have moved and explicitly labeled the tagging tool to make it more visible and increase use by instructors
Updates to log in process. We heard we needed to ease the login process and build in features that make it easier for students to create and access an account. We are reconfiguring the homepage and creating single sign on options to simplify how users can create accounts and log in.
Updates to make student progress visible. We are building a learner dashboard that can be shared with instructors as teachers expressed a need to monitor student completion of assigned Blox.
As of this writing, led by our partners at the American Institutes of Research, we have begun a Quasi-Experimental Design (QED) study to understand how the current iteration of SkillBlox supports implementation and integration of TSTM-aligned instruction.
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