SOLE UX DESIGNER
6 months
PERSONAL INITIATIVE
Students struggle when systems fail
Our college's switch from COLLPOLL to Juno Campus created an interesting paradox: while administrators celebrated the new system's backend capabilities, students were quietly struggling with basic academic tasks.
With no feedback loops, no clear progress tracking, and no timely guidance, basic academic tasks felt disconnected.
Students weren’t just missing deadlines; they were lagging behind in their academic life.
uncovering the real story: Research
I initially assumed this was a simple UI polish job—maybe some color updates and better icons would solve the problem. I was completely wrong. I started with circulating a google form on 3 different Whatsapp groups used by students from different departments.
Google form (43 student responses)
I was trying to view notes of a particular subject during the class when ma'am instructed us to do so. None of us in the class could find where they were, then ma'am tried to find them herself and failed.
-Form Response
College facilities feedback forum, features like Google classrooms for notes and study material.
-Form Response
The UI should be more user friendly, assigned assignments should be clearly visible like collpoll
-Form Response
Voice Call Interviews (15 students)
After collecting sufficient responses from the form, I conducted voice call interviews with 15 students to gather deeper insights.
user research
no feedback loops
Used affinity mapping to identify themes. The student experience was defined by missing feedback loops. There was no way to know if they were doing well, what they had missed, or how their actions connected to outcomes. The system created anxiety, disengagement, and emotional fatigue.
Understanding the student groups
The academic achiever & the disengaged guy trying to keep up.
journey map
key ideas
The mapping exercise identified opportunities to design a feedback system that: acknowledged their efforts, guided next steps & made them more confident of their academic life.
how might we
Design a student management experience with a feedback loop that increases student motivation and academic confidence?
peer-to-peer feedback loops
I brought initial concepts to campus and conducted impromptu feedback sessions. The most valuable insight came from watching students' immediate reactions.
Initial designs included leaderboards and peer comparison. Feedback sessions revealed this was counterproductive.
Initial Dashboard Concept Showcasing Rank In Class
I'm already stressed about grades. I don't need another way to compare myself. to my classmates.
-Dhananjay (Student)
I'm already feeling bad about missing assignments. Seeing negative numbers makes me want to give up entirely.
-Jatin (Student)
the pivot
more clarity, less anxiety
Leader boards turned stress into disengagement. Students didn’t need another scoreboard; they needed reassurance.
Capped minimum coin scores at zero, focusing only on forward momentum rather than penalty accumulation.
designing the feedback loop
trigger
Properly display the most important things upfront.
prepare + action + evaluation
Many students entered assignments unprepared - got low scores - skipped future assignments.
To solve this, I introduced a notes section that delivered relevant coursework for the assignment. The coursework could be linked from the teacher's side.
A small penalty (-25% of reward) awarded for missed deadlines & the total minimum score was capped to 0, preventing overt negative feedback.
The goal was to ensure students formed a habit for assignments. Only reward wasn't enough; it was important to help them understand their mistakes so that they be more prepared in the future.
Synthesis
Students can visualize weekly growth (coins, attendance, accuracy, streaks). Instead of isolated tasks, they see their entire academic journey.
organize
One of the biggest frustrations students reported was not being able to find notes or resources at the moment they needed them.
User Testing
*Actual image from the final user testing session.
testing strategy
The study involved 20 college students from various semesters and departments, all of whom were frequent users of the current campus portal. Participants were asked to complete four key tasks: submitting an assignment, accessing uploaded course materials, tracking attendance for a specific subject, and checking today's timetable.
100% task success rate
87 system usability scale
4.7 average satisfaction rating
my learnings
My first real user interviews taught me the value of silence; and the power of simply letting users speak. I realized that genuine insights often emerge not from the questions you ask, but from the space you give for honest stories to surface.