As part of my “Design Sprint Foundations” course on Udacity, I designed a hi-fidelity prototype of an app with the premise that it would help retention of students after they got accepted into a master’s program.
My long-term goal reflection was:
In two years… Wiley Education Services will increase student retention during the app-to-start period by at least 50%.
My sprint questions were:
Can we…get people to download an app?
Can we… get people to open and engage with emails and texts?
Can we… get people to engage daily/weekly with an app or web experience?
Based off of the initial lo-fi sketches, I created the storyboards.
Based off of the storyboard, I created the hi-fidelity prototype. Please note: at this point I changed the name to “Launch.”
After user testing the experience, I gathered data and sorted into two categories, “likes” and “improvements to be made.”
Likes:
• Like notifications and would appreciate even more options for personalization.
• Definitely would make user feel less apprehensive about starting the program.
• Made them feel like the school cares about them, is tech-savvy and appreciated that they’ve created a tool to engage in a way that makes them most comfortable.
Improvements to be made:
• Want to be able to use it beyond start of program through graduation.
• Want updates specific to courses (eg changes in test times, course updates, etc.)
• Would like to see even more career-specific content, like related articles.
• Would like to use tool as primary means of contact with program manager.
Based on user-test results, this app would:
• Increase user engagement.
• Make students less apprehensive not only from app-to-start but throughout the program.
• Improve brand value.
Great content! Keep up the good work!