fazal thanveer - BYJU'S Written test

Overview

In this pivotal design project, I lead a pilot initiative to introduce a distinctive functionality within the Byju's classes product. Taking on a strategic role, I navigated through the intricacies of a multifaceted project, carefully balancing the digital and physical user experiences while addressing logistical challenges. A crucial aspect involved delving into the ongoing debate surrounding data collection—weighing its potential to enhance technology against the imperative of delivering an optimized user experience. This venture demanded a holistic approach, seamlessly integrating various elements to shape a comprehensive solution.

My Role

UX Lead: I spearheaded the UX strategy for this groundbreaking project, leading a team of five designers. I defined the user experience vision, guided research efforts, and oversaw the creation of user flows, wireframes, and prototypes.

Scope Management: Collaborated closely with stakeholders to establish the project's scope, timelines, and deliverables. My ability to balance technical constraints with user needs was crucial for ensuring a successful outcome.

UI Advisor: Provided guidance on the visual design to ensure alignment with Byju's design language and overall brand experience.

Team Mentor: Mentored junior designers, fostering their design skills and decision-making abilities throughout the project lifecycle.

Advocate for User-Centered Design: Played a crucial role in steering design decisions towards the most seamless and intuitive user experience, prioritizing student needs at every stage.

Requirement

Develop a robust system within the Byju's live classes product that enables the seamless administration of written tests online, mirroring the format of traditional quarterly exams in schools. The design should not only facilitate the smooth execution of these assessments but also include features for in-depth result analysis. The system must provide comprehensive support for evaluating and interpreting test outcomes, ensuring a valuable tool for both educators and learners in the continuous improvement of the learning experience.

Background

Byju's aimed to leverage Assess-ed for faster exam evaluation through question-wise analysis. However, this required using constrained answer sheets, creating a logistical hurdle for our vast student base. Manually defining answer areas was another option. To prioritize a smooth student experience, we debated whether students should mark answers or if the system could automatically identify them. Ultimately, we opted for a seamless student experience, with the tutoring team agreeing that forgoing question-wise evaluation was a worthwhile compromise. In this decision, I actively advocated for the user-friendly approach.

Design strategy

Familiar experience: Mimic the structure and flow of traditional pen-and-paper exams to minimize cognitive load and ease the transition for students.

Intuitive onboarding: Provide clear, step-by-step instructions on accessing the exam, understanding the process, and navigating the question paper. Prioritize visual cues and concise language.

Effortless navigation & submission: Design intuitive controls for moving between questions, uploading answer sheets (as images or scanned documents), and rearranging or revising submissions.

Post-exam transparency: Provide easy access to solution keys, feedback on individual answers, and relevant performance analytics to aid in learning and self-assessment.

Pilot testing & iteration: Before full launch, conduct a pilot test with a representative sample. Gather feedback and identify areas for improvement.

Solution: Key features & design rationale

The Subjective Test module prioritizes seamless interactions and a workflow informed by both student needs and technical constraints.

Exam access & timing

Minimizing anxiety: The scheduled start time with prominent notifications aligns with student expectations, while the 15-minute grace period offers flexibility without sacrificing timely submission.

User-friendly question navigation

Adaptable workflow: Students can navigate questions through both scrolling and question-number selection, mirroring workflow preferences observed during our research.

Seamless answer submission

Iterative refinement: Usability testing highlighted the need for increased visibility of the "Upload" function, leading to the sticky banner implementation. The sizable "Select Files" button further demonstrates our focus on ease of use for young students. Error Prevention In-app image editing helps students adhere to file size constraints. Clear visual instructions support those with limited tech proficiency.

Intuitive Post-Upload Experience

Student Empowerment: The ability to reorder pages and the mandatory preview step ensure a sense of control. Confirmation nudges prevent accidental actions.

Post-Exam: Transparency & Learning

Supporting Learning: Access to the answer key, corrected answer sheets, and marks facilitates self-assessment. Image and PDF upload options address varied student tech resources.

Usability-Driven Design

Test-Informed Improvements: The initial test instructions were redesigned with clear diagrams based on usability feedback, emphasizing our commitment to user-centered solutions.

Design Philosophy

The interface aligns with the revised Byju's app style guidelines, ensuring consistency, touch-focused interactions, and accessibility for school students.

Outcome & Impact

Pioneering Solution: Designed and launched Byju's inaugural scalable platform for subjective exams, paving the way for a new, more comprehensive form of digital assessment within their ecosystem.

Proven Student Engagement: Achieved an impressive 70% engagement rate among 150,000 users. This demonstrates the platform's user-friendliness and its success in replicating the structure and rigor of traditional exams in a digital environment.

User journey through key screens

Following are some of the key screens and interactions a student encounters from accessing their exam to analyzing their results.

The exam is scheduled for all students together on a specified time slot. Students can join the exam from the upcoming cards, as well as directly from notification

Key instructions are shown prior to starting the test

The questions can be navigated by scrolling or by clicking question number in the pagination

Screen to upload answers

Images can be cropped and rotated in the upload window itself

Pages could be re-ordered in this view after the upload

A mandatory preview acts as a revision also for the students, where they can re-order the and edit as well.

A confirmation nudge is pushed when submits

Card status is submitted in the homepage and student can edit responses till the time period ends

A confirmation nudge is pushed when student tries to exit the exam

A grace period of 15 minutes is given to all students who haven't submitted

After the grace period, the paper is auto submitted

After end of grace period, the card is moved to the completed tab and answer key is made available

The student can view the answer key and his answers as well and compare

Once the evaluation is done, corrected sheets ans question wise marks are made available

PDF upload is also enabled as answer keeping in mind the different scanning apps students might be using

The app design language is as per the revised Byju's app style guidelines

Interface is designed keeping in mind touch interactions and accessibilities of touch

Some more app screens

Pilot Testing & Refinements

Initial pilot testing with select grades revealed key areas for improvement. We enhanced the user experience by:

Prioritizing Upload Visibility: Implemented a sticky banner with the upload button to ensure it remains easily accessible.

Optimizing File Selection: Increased the clickable area for the "Select Files" button to improve ease of use.

Emphasizing Instructions: Redesigned the flow with clear diagrams to ensure students thoroughly read the initial test instructions.

The student has to go through all the 4 instructions to start the test.

The diagrams are designed for easy understanding even for the lower grade students.

The CTA to start the test is given in the fourth and last instruction.

The CTA to upload answer sheets and to view the instructions again are made available in the Questions view on scroll as well.

Instructions in mobile view

BYJU'S Written test | Byju's

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