Zoom Engagement Features
Making Zoom a more visual and engaging virtual learning space for younger students.
Project Overview
Role: UX Designer / UX Researcher
Duration: 1-week design sprint (2022)
Deliverables: competitive analysis, user survey & interviews, personas, user flows, sketching, wireframes, iconography, style guide, hi-fidelity mockups, clickable prototype
Tools: Google Forms, Figma, Slack, Zoom, Maze
This project was completed for a Design Hackathon where I had the opportunity to work with a team of 3 other UX professionals. We were tasked with designing a new feature that could be implemented into Zoom that would target and help a specific profession. My team and I chose teachers due to the increase in virtual learning over the past 2 years.
The goal was to help teaching professionals increase both the focus and engagement of their students within their virtual classes. With distractions both on-screen and within individual surroundings, it can be difficult for younger students to remain focused enough to learn and retain important knowledge and information that is needed for them to develop and grow through their young academic careers. At the same time, it is also difficult for teachers to find ways that consistently pull in and hold the attention of younger students.
Our hope was to find a way to assist teachers on Zoom help their students be more successful by finding ways in which they could increase their students’ engagement in virtual classrooms.
Audience
This project was focused on assisting teachers who taught a younger student body (elementary/middle school).
Problem
Virtual teaching became the norm for many during the year 2020 with the use of Zoom at the forefront. During this time, the distance created by computers caused a lack of personal connection and interaction, which led to a less engaging environment, especially for younger students. My team and I were tasked with finding a way to better recreate that classroom feel in a virtual setting by increasing the engagement between teachers and students.
To begin, “How Might We” statements were created…
Create more of a real classroom feel within the student’s home.
Keep younger students more engaged in a virtual classroom.
Allow teachers to more easily interact with their students.
Solution
Create a Student Reward system that rewards students for positive engagement (both for interactions and school work).
Implement an interactive board that allows the teacher and students to interact, and work, in real-time, while also providing an easier way for the teacher to share work and exercises for interactive, in-class learning.
Stage 01: Research & Discovery
Competitive Analysis
The competitive analysis provided insight into some of Zoom’s larger competitors and was able to provide us with a starting point to begin understanding where we wanted to place our focus that would better allow teachers to raise engagement.
Google Meet
Strengths
Integrates with Google Classroom
Reduces background noise/blur background
Custom virtual background
Integrates with other Google Apps/G Suite
Includes features like Present, Whiteboarding, Breakout rooms, and polls to increase engagement
Can install extensions to use other features
Real-time captioning, scheduling, and screen sharing
Weaknesses
Many of the features (like reactions and annotate) are used with extensions that must be installed separately and are not found directly on the UI
Can be difficult for students to find features or they would need parent assistance to use certain features
Microsoft Teams
Strengths
Accessibility and inclusion features like immersive reader, message translation, and live captions
Easy to find buttons
Can customize virtual background
Reactions are easy to use
Tons of collaboration tools - whiteboard, share files (all-in-one hub)
Real-time collaboration with MS Office tools
Integrates with hundreds of business apps
Background blurring and AI-powered noise suppression to reduce distractions
Weaknesses
Steeper learning curve as there are more features and functions and it is catered towards businesses or large, collaborative projects - would be more difficult for younger students to learn to use
User interface is more professional so may not be appealing to younger students
Limited reactions/emojis
Webex
Strengths
Incredibly interactive with an intuitive user interface
Advanced noise removal and speech enhancement
Whiteboard also has sticky notes feature
Integrates with several apps like Sketchboard (online whiteboard), Smartsheet, Smartnotation, etc.
Features are easily accessible with easy to see buttons. Menu and settings are also easy to access
Gesture recognition
1:1 and group messaging
Weaknesses
Limited virtual backgrounds
Looks professional, but may not appeal to younger students
User Survey, Interviews, & Findings
Next we created a user survey (mostly worked on by myself and another team member) that provided us with real perspectives to better understand the pain points of teachers. Using these findings we were able to pinpoint some main issues that we felt were areas we could improve upon within the time we had. I also performed two user interviews with participants of the survey to gain an even deeper knowledge of their opinions and how we may be able to help them.
Survey Findings
Maintaining student engagement was a major concern of teachers.
Due to the distance of virtual learning, there was difficulty recognizing if students were fully understanding the material being taught.
It proved difficult to provide the necessary attention to individual students, especially based on their varying levels of ability.
Zoom's current features did not provide enough involvement for students, and were found to be difficult at times (ie. hand raise feature was easily missed by teachers).
Zoom lacks the visuals to keep younger students engaged.
Interview Findings
Notable difficulty in knowing which students are struggling and being able to provide individualized attention.
A need for more "kid-friendly", interactive activities that can be done virtually.
Difficult to replicate real classroom feel through personal connections.
Difficult to replicate hands-on classroom assignments as well as to gauge student understanding and reactions.
User Personas
Our user personas were based on our survey results and interview findings, respectively, and were created and designed by another member of the team. Our first persona was used as the main persona as it aligned a bit more with average teacher age across the country and was crafted based on a wider range of respondents. Both personas allowed us to remain empathetic and user-focused as we began to dive deeper into our designs.
Stage 02: Information Architecture
User Flows
Our user flows were designed, individually, for both features we had planned to implement, providing a walkthrough of how the user would interact with the UI and arrive at the appropriate screens within Zoom.
Student Rewards System
Interactive Board
Initial Sketches
Using the information gained through research, and the user flows as a guide, my team and I began brainstorming ideas for the layout of the necessary screens for both a student reward system and an interactive board. We utilized the "Crazy 8" method, working collaboratively to bring designs to the table, and went with the designs we collectively felt strongest about. Below are some of the sketches we crafted.
Wireframes
Using the designs within our sketches, wireframes were created which included several main screens incorporating the new features and user flows.
Navigating to Interactive Board
Students Reward System
Interactive Board
Usability Testing
Due to time constraints, not as much time was spent on receiving user feedback as we would have hoped, but we were still able to gain valuable insight into the usability and clarity of the designs as well as feedback on the layout, both through testing on Maze as well as in-person testing.
Maze Testing Tasks
Change the view to the Interactive Board.
Choose to share your screen to show students the Math assignment.
Turn on the Student Reward System.
Reward the entire class for working hard.
Maze Findings
Iterations
Before
After
Stage 03: Visual Design
Branding & Identity
For both the iconography and style guide we chose to remain in line with Zoom's current branding and identity as the changes we were implementing were in addition to the current product.
Iconography
Style Guide
Stage 04: Prototyping
High-fidelity Prototype
Below are several images portraying the main screens within the designs for both the Student Rewards System and Interactive Board features. All designs and wireframes were created using Figma.
Navigating to Interactive Board
Interactive Board screensharing
Interactive Board
Student Reward System
Rewarding Students
Final Prototype
A final, clickable prototype was created within Figma after receiving user feedback and making necessary changes to the design. Below is a link to the final design for the project.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Due to the limited time for this project, there are still many more iterations and additions that could be added to, and in addition to, these features in the future. There were quite a few ideas and points touched on within our research that can still be implemented within Zoom to increase that engagement for younger students and bring a more classroom feel to virtual learning environments.
Two immediate improvements would be made if continuing with this product:
Limited virtual backgrounds
Looks professional, but may not appeal to younger students
Personal Findings
This project was an important step for me in my UX career and development as a UX designer. It was my first real experience working in a team setting with other UX designers, collaborating on ideas and determining roles for a project within a set design sprint. I was able to take in different perspectives other than my own and really understand where other professionals were coming from. It added real world experience and interactions and allowed me to expand my UX design toolset. I could not have asked for a better team to work with, who were all professional, understanding, supportive, and willing to help each other grow personally and professionally. Overall, this was one of the best, and most impactful experiences I’ve had in my UX career.
