Outschool 2021

Learner Profiles

In Q3 2021, I designed learner profiles on Outschool. Currently, learner profiles have been released to all learners.

Project Summary

In Q3 2021, we wanted to create some form of learner profile on Outschool to help learners get to know their classmates on Outschool. I was the main designer working on this project in Q3 2021, from design explorations to design refinement, high-fidelity design, prototype, and final design handoff. I worked with multiple cross-functional partners that included 1 product design lead, 1 product manager, 1 UX researcher, and 5 engineers.

The Problem we are solving & why

High-volume learners on Outschool are typically homeschooled. We know that learners on Outschool are curious about their classmates and are excited to know about their interests.

Before this feature was released, learners can only see other learners attending the class from their parents' classroom view. Even then, it is limited to only seeing the names and avatars of their peers. Having learners introduce themselves via a profile page will allow them to build connections with their classmates beyond a name and avatar.

Business Goals

From a business perspective, allowing learners to build connections with other learners will increase their affinity towards Outschool. We have also recently released a browsing mode in the learner space. If learners discover new interests through other learners, they can now find the classes associated with them, which leads to new bookings. To measure the success of this project, we will look at:

• awareness: over 4,000 learners weekly unique profile viewers aged 7+

• Successful usage: 10% of the learners aged 7+ and actively enrolled in classes will have created a learner profile within the first 2 months

• Business outcome: weekly learners engaged outside of zoom increased by >2000

Design Principles

The Process

User Journey

We know that learners typically spent 5 to 10 mins before class in the classroom. Our key strategy is to encourage learners to discover profiles when they’re about to take their next class and continue using this feature after class.

In order to figure out how to design learner profiles, we brainstormed three design concepts for learner profiles that would help learners build connections with each other.

Trivia questions

We know that learners get along with others that have similar interests/hobbies. Having learners express themselves by answering trivia questions gives them the opportunity to connect with each other.

Project memories

Learners are curious about classes that other learners took. Project memory helps learners fill their profile out by sharing their Outschool class project with others

My classes & teachers

Learners like to share their favorite classes on Outschool. Allowing learners to share their classes and teacher may help learners connect with each other via their learning activities and teacher they know

Key Learnings

In July 2021, we invited 12 learners aged 8 - 12 to give feedback on our concepts and to share their experiences with other Learners in their classes on Outschool.

💡Learners expected profiles to be pretty simple

Learners made frequent references to social apps like Discord & messaging apps– on those platforms, profiles are pretty simple, mostly a space to hold CTAs for connecting, friending, messaging, etc.

💡 Learners liked to see classes that other learners took

Even when we didn't show "classes" on a profile, some learners mentioned this would be nice to see - listing them on profiles may encourage learners to follow similar learners to new classes.

💡 Learners were interested in changing their avatars

Currently, learners can only change their avatar through their parent’s accounts. During the testing, learners were interested in changing their avatar in their profiles, even though there was no pencil icon next to their avatar in our prototype to suggest learners could do this.

Final Solution

By the end of 2021, we shipped the feature to all learners. Now, learners can share something about themselves and their favorite classes on their profiles. Teachers and learners in classrooms and groups are able to view other learners’ profiles.

Awareness

In-product, we used several simple ways to really help learners find the profile page and view others.

Start with simple content

From research, we learned that learners expect profiles to be simple and actionable. First name, age, location, and avatar selection would be enough for learners to reasonably identify/recognize other learners.

Taking classes with friends

Even when we didn’t show “classes” on an initial prototype, some learners (and their parents) mentioned this would be nice to have. From a business standpoint, including classes in learner profile would increase class re-enrollment.

Avatar

We also realized that learners are interested in changing their avatars inside their profiles. Currently, learners can only change their avatar through their parent’s accounts. Even when we didn’t show avatar selection in the initial prototype, learners suggested this feature to us.