Graduation Assistant
Objective
This app design aims to assist UIUC students in planning their academic journey. Currently, students must navigate multiple pages and websites to plan and register for classes, making it challenging to get a comprehensive overview of their academic progress.
User Needs
-
A clear academic plan for graduation
-
An app that covers similar categories of Self Service and Degree Audit so students don’t have to go to multiple sites and pages
-
A clear navigation on degree requirements, general education, etc.
-
Customization functions
How might we ...
How might we mimic existing registration platforms and combine them into one platform so we can help students create a tailored academic plan for graduation?
Ideation
1. Percentage for each category of class requirements
-
Major(s)
-
Minor(s)
-
Gen Eds
-
Electives
2. Build a class schedule with different categories of requirements
-
boxes for each category
-
select from available options
-
search button at the bottom
3. Create a communication tool with an advisor
-
button for making an appointment on the semester planning page
These are some of the early ideas that we want to include in our APP
Low-fidelity Prototype
Based on our ideas, we created some low fidelity sketch prototype:
This was our first sketch:
We included some categories that we want to include in our APP, for example, graduation date, GPA, class requirement, etc.
We also wanted to create a progress bar based on course completion, so students have a more visual understanding on their academic progress
This a clearer version of how we want the course registration page to look like:
Here we want to create a drag and drop function for students to be able to easily register class on the APP
Based on above sketches, we made a completed design look sketch:
Then, we used an iPhone model mockup so we can see more visually how it will look on a phone:
We organized a page for past classs overview based on semester and academic year so students easily see their academic history
Once you tap on one of the semesters, it will direct you to this page. This page shows a more detailed infos about the selected semester
The third page is inspired from the academic history on self-service, which allows students to see their past classes and grades without having to log into their self-service account on a computer
High-fidelity Prototype
Color Pallet
Logo
Academic Planning
Academic Profile
Explore and access your current major and minor details with ease.
Academic Management
Effortlessly customize your academic path – declare, choose, or modify majors/minors, concentrations, etc with ease.
Class Management
Wishlist
Allows student to add classes to a wishlist or save classes as their favorites for future reference and planning.
Class Requirement
A page where you can see all the required classes the student needs to take based on categories, for example, major/minor requirement and electives.
Home Page
Personalization
A personalized home page that shows a student's current academic progress.
Progress Bar
A clear overview of the student's current progress in all classes counted towards graduation, as well as sub-categories like major/minor requirements.
Advising
Advisor Contact Info
A page where you can see the contact information of all advisors from your department, including their role and email, etc.
Online Chatting
A feature enabling direct chat with an advisor in the app ensures a fast and convenient experience for students when they need help.
Usability Testing
After we completed the high-fidelity prototype on Figma, each person in our team interviewed two students from UIUC. In total, we interviewed six people. We explained our design process, showed them the prototype, and let them play around with the prototype. Our group also came up with some interview questions together, and we all took notes during the interview. We summarized some important takeaways and possible future improvements:
Below are the interview questions and my notes from the interviewees:
Future Development Directions
Short-term
-
Features to explore other major requirements (simulation) before actually changing major/minor
-
Navigation bar for easier browsing
-
Add the info icon for every term on every page for incoming students
-
Add help section for tutorial videos to navigate the app
-
Make the home screen UI more user-friendly ie: colorful and engaging instead of stressful
-
Enable notification so students can be reminded of their academic goals
Long-term
-
Close cooperation academic advising department
-
Incorporation as a part of the Illini App
-
Allow students to officially register for class via the Graduation Assistant App