Build A Better…
Lo-Fi Wireframes, 2021
Quarantine affected my last three semesters of college as every class became online-only. As a result, my peers and I became hyper aware of the failings of Zoom as a tool for students and teachers. For this assignment, I was asked to interview a partner about their experience with the program and what they seek when using it. With this knowledge, I then sketched out lo-fi frames as to potential fixes that can be applied to improve the user experience as a whole.
The Interview
Below are the interview notes I took with my partner about his experience with Zoom
How does your subject learn best (regardless of format)?
- Lectures can be hit or miss. If it’s a hit, he learns a lot. Otherwise, it’s a bad experience for him
- He much prefers hands-on learning as it allows him to practice what he has learned
- He also likes group discussions
What are their remote learning challenges (we all have them!)?
- Not being in the same space as people
- It feels hard to engage since we’re all in different spaces
- Zoom burnout sucks, thus it becomes hard to pay attention after a while
- This also means we have more frequent breaks, which can disrupt the flow of things
How do those challenges change from class to class?
- Depends on the class. Drawing has been okay since materials are there and it’s easy to do the task. Sound recording, not so much. Misses the studio space and equipment.
When do they feel most successful in a learning context?
- He feels successful when he can apply what he has learned. Shows that he understood the concept that was being taught—which is why he likes hands-on activities
What other sorts of activities structure their days (jobs, clubs, sports, volunteering, chores, etc).
- He’s part of a club. He does chores around the house. He teaches programming to kids
- He had to commute a lot pre-pandemic, so with his new time, he’s able to spend it on work
What does your subject love most/least about school (it might not have anything to do with classes)?
- He loves learning about cool things. He also like project based learning
- He wishes he had more time to do things though
What other factors impact their remote learning experience?
- Depends on if the desk is open. He has two spots in where he studies: living room and bedroom.
- Living room is bigger, but is in a public space - Desktop has a smaller desk, but is more private
- He prefers learning in the living room but teaching in his bedroom
What is their emotional journey on a micro and macro level (in each zoom class v the pandemic overall?
- MICRO: He starts off with high energy. Then it descends over time into bored. If there’s a break, his mood increases.
- MACRO: He was excited by the notion of having no classes for a few week. And then reality sunk in that this quarantine was much longer and it saddened him. His emotions became more neutral over time. It would still go back and forth between positive and negative, but nothing to the extreme extent of the first few months of lockdown. Then he started getting some positive vibes back once the vaccine started rolling out.
Is there an online experience in another domain (IE, not school) that they love? What do they love about it?
- He likes gaming with friends. It feels like a virtual hang out in the most casual of sense. Discord is an easy way to connect with friends and has many features suited with being a minimal chat that doesn’t distract from the games.
Are there other details of your subject's life that are relevant to the experience of remote learning?
- He’s a teacher, so he has experienced both sides of the Zoom learning experience. He would love to see the students while sharing his screen. Share screen in general gets in the way.
Solutions
