Designing a network for Federation of Directors of Educational Institutions of Quebec (FQDE) was one of the most complex and interesting challenges of my career. I was hired as a UX consultant in charge of a small cross-functional team, which provided me with a unique opportunity to be involved in the process of creating the software from the beginning, following it through development, and providing support for ongoing improvements based on continuous user testing and iteration.
The Problem
Education professionals experienced multiple challenges:
Fragmented Communication
Reliance on emails and social media platforms for professional communication, resulting in missed information.
Inefficient Resource Sharing
Lack of a centralized resource library for accessing and sharing educational materials.
Limited
Collaboration
Difficulty in connecting with like-minded professionals and forming productive collaborations.
My Role
As the principal UX Designer, I led the entire design process, focusing on the following areas:
- User Research: Conducting user interviews and surveys to gain insights into educator’s needs, pain points, and goals.
- Design Strategy: Defining a strategic user-centered design vision that aligns with the goal of fostering collaborative learning within the education community.
- Interaction Design: Designing the information architecture, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes.
- Usability Testing: Validating design decisions and gathering iterative feedback through usability testing.
- Content Strategy: Planning the structure, organization, and presentation of content, specifically in the resource library.
User Research
Research Objectives
- Understand educators’ communication habits, pain points, and unmet needs.
- Identify barriers to resource sharing and collaboration across the federation.
- Evaluate current event management workflows and opportunities for improvement.
- Explore trust factors influencing resource adoption and professional networking.
Methods
Semi-Structured Interviews
12 in-depth interviews with educators, administrators, and association directors.
Contextual Inquiry
Shadowed 2 administrators during event planning and resource-sharing task
Surveys
Distributed to 200+ federation members, yielding 85 responses (43% response rate).
Artifact Analysis
Reviewed tools like shared Google Drives, event flyers, and chat groups.
Key Interview Questions & Insights
Communication Habits & Pain Points
“Walk me through how you typically communicate with peers outside your school/association. What frustrates you most?”
Pain Points:
- Over-reliance on email (8/12 participants): “Important event reminders get buried in my inbox, or end up in spam.”
- Fragmented channels (e.g., WhatsApp for casual chats, Slack and Teams for formal updates).
- Lack of centralized updates: “I missed a grant deadline because it was only posted on the federation’s website.”
Insight:
Users need a single platform for all federation-related communication.
User Personas & Scenarios
Based on the user research, we defined three user personas representing different types of education professionals (e.g., a teacher, a school administrator, an educational consultant). We also developed user scenarios to help prioritize features based on key use cases such as, sharing resources, networking at a conference, and setting up a group for specific discussion topics.
Design & Iteration
The application was designed using a user-centered approach, with key features including:
Usability Testing: A high-fidelity interactive prototype was created and tested with 6 users using task completion rates, observation notes, and post-task interviews. This testing phase led to changes in the navigation structure and changes in the grouping of key features to improve usability.
Outcomes & Next Steps
The user testing phase showed a high level of task success and positive user feedback. Educators who tested the prototype reported that they found the app intuitive, easy to navigate and well suited to their needs. The next steps are to further refine the prototype based on this feedback, focusing on further improvements to the information architecture of the resource library before releasing a final prototype to a wider audience.
Reflection & Lessons Learned
This project highlighted the need for dedicated platforms that empower collaboration in the education sector. By focusing on user needs and iterating based on feedback, the resulting design provided a user friendly and intuitive interface. Key takeaways include:
- the importance of understanding real-world user scenarios to inform design decisions.
- the need for an iterative design process to improve the usability and user experience of a product.
- the value in a well defined content strategy to enhance discoverability and organization of content.
This project has refined my ability to translate user needs into a practical and engaging user experience.
Tools Used:
(Figma, Adobe XD)