Prototype 1
Our team designed an interface for an “app” which would meet the needs identified in our study. The app, named the “Digital Teachers’ Lounge,” is designed to provide teaches dealing with COVID restrictions in their schools a means to provide input concerning their mental health, receive assistance with support resources and connect with other teachers for building a virtual school community.
The Digital Teachers’ Lounge has three distinct components:
Personal stress assessment - An anonymous survey which can be taken at any time which allows the teacher to signal their mental state to the administration of the school. The teacher also has the option to make this non-anonymous if they need or want someone in the administration to help them receive mental support. This was designed to meet the learning goal of collecting data and better understanding the state of stress within the school.
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Mental health resources for educators - a daily app-push which would send reminders to users on how to receive mental health resources, as well as tips for healthy living which can be used to improve quality of life and reduce stress during the pandemic.
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School-based chat - a chat and file sharing platform (e.g. Slack) which is programmed only for teachers within a school which allows users to log in and receive teacher-to-teacher support, mentor and collaboration as needed in a manner similar to how they worked with each other in person before the pandemic.
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Testing
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Goals:
1. Given social distancing requirements, would communication be improved between fellow teachers & school leaders by using this app?
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2. Would usage change the sense of community and access to mental wellness materials for teachers?
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3. Usability
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Testers: EDUC 790 classmates via Zoom
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Data Collection: Recorded Zoom call for observations, informal interviews and notes.
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Main Findings
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Worked Well
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Flowed well and liked the "self-care ideas.
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Thought it would help make the teachers feel like "their school administrators cared about the challenges they were facing."
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Worked Not so Well​
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​Clarify who is seeing the data on both the assessment and the SLACK channel. What's being done with it?
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"School Admin doesn't know how to deal with mental health issues."
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Don't think the SLACK channel is necessary given text options.
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Anonymity is really important.
REVISIONS
Added a more detailed introduction screen shot
explaining counselors would be
reviewing the anonymous stress
assessments. And that these
professionals would be pushing
out healthful living material.
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Also added that the vice-principle
would create and update the
SLACK channel based on any
teacher's requests.
Added an introduction to the professionals that are available through the Employee Assistance Program. These counselors would be monitoring the anonymous Daily Stress Assessment and provide healthy living materials.
This screen was replaced with this new screen shot. Removed mental health resources info which is covered in earlier slides.
Final Learner Testing Prototype
Testing
Research question:
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Would the “Digital Teachers’ Lounge” app interface improve stress assessment, mental health information management and peer communication for teachers?
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The sub-goals of our final learner testing were -
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Design an app which would help teachers communicate about stress
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Design an app which would improve teachers’ ability to navigate COVID conditions in schools
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Setting: Virtual
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Testers: Interviewed the original fourth-grade team of four teachers from Pender County Schools that were first introduced in our Needs Analysis.
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Tasks: Click through the PPT, reading each slide and attempt to navigate.
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Process: Provided presentation, allowed teachers to review without input, observed process.
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Data collection: Observations were made during teacher participation with the interface, interviews were conducted afterwards to discuss pros and cons of design with the teachers.
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Data analysis: Common themes which emerged from the observations and interviews were noted.
Main Findings
The main findings of this research were:
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Teachers found the app interface design to be very easy to navigate.
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Teachers liked the personal daily stress assessment, but did not want that to be associated with their mental health support.
“I do not want the principal to think I am mentally ill”.
“I like letting the administration know how stressed we are without getting a spotlight put on me”
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Teachers did not think that the SLACK channel was necessary, as they already communicate with other teachers via text frequently throughout the day.
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Interesting Discoveries
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We were pleased to receive feedback that the teachers felt that the app would be a good and easy way to assess stress that could be shared with their school administrators. However, they were all very clear, they did not did not like mixing stress with mental health issues. Yes, they were under stress but they did not want people to think that they needed mental health support.
Sadly, the teachers expressed fear of the stigma of mental illness in terms of their administration and families thinking they were “crazy” or unfit to be in the classroom. Instead, they wanted real support like better technology and more teachers for doing remote learning. These latter remedies would relieve a large portion of their stress!
It was also interesting to hear that the teachers had no interest in setting up a SLACK channel for communicating. They shared that "nothing could replace "real-life socializing" but if they needed to reach a teacher for advice or to "check-in with" quickly during the school day, texting was sufficient.
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Redesign Ideas
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Based on feedback from the teachers,
we implemented the following redesign ideas:
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Remove references to mental health and just focus on a stress assessment.
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Emphasize more wholistic health support, stress management ideas.
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Remove the communication tool as texting meets the teachers' needs.
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See examples below of how slides were redesigned.
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Final Learner Testing
Final Redesign Elements
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Remove references to mental health:This would make the teachers feel more comfortable and confident in doing the stress assessment.
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Emphasize more of the wholistic "self care" material that could be promoted on the app: Having access to self care information would motivate them to check the app.
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Remove SLACK: Since it was of no interest to the teachers, it allowed us to streamline the app for usability and effectiveness.
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Removed
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Mental health references
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SLACK
Focused on self care tips.
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