Final Report

Elena Cronick
Annie Sommer
Caroline White

12.10.15

Table of Contents

Background 2
Problem Statement 2
Summary of Previous Sprints 3
Product Overview 4
Methods 4
Results and Analysis 7
Final Sprint 3 Prototypes 7
Functional Specifications 13
Appendix 1 17
Appendix 2 18

Background
MIBinder is a web application that allows secondary (grades 6-12) teachers across
Michigan to share and remix lesson plans and connect with one another. While the
product was designed specifically for secondary teachers in Michigan, it could easily
be expanded to other states and grade levels.
MIBinder grew out of a different need we assumed was prevalent in teaching.
Caroline (who was initially an English major studying secondary education)
mentioned that teachers, particularly those at the beginning of their careers, might
feel limited by the Common Core State Standards, a curriculum that the State of
Michigan has adopted, and struggle to create lesson plans that teach advanced
real world skills (such as web design) that benefit students post-graduation.
However, during our preliminary research, we discovered that many of the teachers
we spoke to didnt feel limited by the Common Core, but continually mentioned the
importance and the difficulty of talking and collaborating with other teachers.
While sites such as ShareMyLesson and Teachers Pay Teachers provided methods
for teachers to share lessons with one another, there wasnt a product that also
emphasized connecting and collaborating with other teachers state-wide or on
modifying the content of existing lesson plans (remixing1 ) and sharing those
modifications, which is often a key component of lesson exchange. From these initial
observations and interviews, we decided to focus on creating a digital space where
teachers could share lesson plans and connect with their colleagues around
Michigan.

Problem Statement
Our conversations with teachers and preliminary research revealed that teachers in
Michigan did not have a single space for exchanging lesson plans and
connecting/collaborating with one another. We knew we wanted to create a
product that would help facilitate and streamline collaboration between teachers,
allowing them to share detailed lesson plans and find connections across the state.
MIBinder provides Michigan secondary education teachers with a space to share
and remix lesson plans as well as connect with other teachers around Michigan.
Ideally, the connections beginning on MIBinder will help foster mentorship between
1

Remixing involves allowing teachers to take another teachers lesson plan, alter it to suit his/her needs or add
another aspect of the plan, and reintroduce the plan to the site with credit to all previous authors of the lesson
plan.

teachers and improve learning for students by providing a space for teachers to
share their best ideas and lessons with one another.

Summary of Previous Sprints

During our first sprint, we needed to identify and explore a problem. As mentioned in
the background section, we began with the idea that teachers wanted a repository
of lesson plans that would help them teach additional skills along with curricular
standards. We assumed that this kind of lesson planning would be time-consuming
and challenging, and we went into our second sprint eager to find out if our
assumptions were correct.
However, as we began interviewing a mix of education students and teachers (8
total interviewees), we realized that many of our initial assumptions were wrong.
Lesson planning was not as time consuming or as difficult as we anticipated, with
most teachers only spending an hour or so on building their lessons. Additionally,
teachers werent as interested in expanding on the Common Core to teach
advanced skills as they were in connecting and exchanging ideas and lessons with
one another. Mentorship, particularly between younger and more experienced
teachers, is extremely valued and critical to teachers professional development,
but, because of busy schedules, it can be difficult for teachers to find the time to
talk to colleagues and exchange ideas. In some cases, teachers in specialized
subject areas (such as Spanish) might be the only teacher in the building, and they
dont have any colleagues nearby for ideas or subject-area support.
This information and discussion with our interviewees helped us refine our product
idea and guided our designs for our third sprint. Rather than focusing on creating a
repository of lessons for advanced skills, we decided that MIBinder would focus on
providing a space for teachers to share and remix lesson plans with one another as
well as reach out to other teachers.

Product Overview
MIBinder provides a space for Michigan 6-12 teachers to:
Share their lesson plans with other teachers
Save and Remix lessons created by other teachers to fit their own classroom
needs.
Connect
with other teachers across Michigan and build mentor relationships

Methods
We took the research and knowledge gained from Sprint 2 and used it to design our
first paper prototype.

Paper prototype: Home screen.

Paper prototype: profile page.

We then tested this prototype with three different people: two teachers (one full
time and a graduate student teaching college courses) and one student with former
teaching experience. Our testing script [Appendix 1] centered around the four core
functions of MIBinder: the ability to find and save a lesson plan for later use, the
ability to add your own lesson plan to the site, the ability to find and connect with a
colleague and the ability to message a colleague. We asked users to complete each
of these tasks and concluded with questions related to their overall experience with
the website.

Once we had conducted all of our testing, we discussed the results of each test. We
compiled our notes into a spreadsheet, and used this initial feedback to adjust our
designs and create a medium fidelity prototype.

Prototype 2: Home screen.

Prototype 2: Add a Lesson

This second prototype was tested with 4 people: two education students, one
full-time teacher, and one graduate student teacher. The initial 4 participants
provided us with enough clear feedback to modify our designs and create our third
and final iteration. We tested the same tasks of the first test, but we introduced new
pages into the prototype that made the interactions more complex. We also added
our own follow up questions depending on the testers responses to our prototypes.

After we completed testing, we again complied our notes into a spreadsheet. This
allowed us to see all of the results in a single place and identify common areas of
error or confusion.

Results & Analysis

In general, we found that the individuals in our second iteration of testing easily
navigated MIBinder and rarely struggled to complete any of the tasks we assigned
them. There was a very high task success rate that proved the basic interactions
were easy to pick up and quick to execute. The major zones of the site, (the profile,
connections, lesson repository, search, internal messaging) were easily interpreted
by most participants. A majority of participants had a pleasant reaction to content
and connection recommendations on the homepage. All participants agreed to sign
up for the website when prompted. One participant praised MIBinders clear, simple
organization. Another participant asked if the product would be available next year.

Each participant provided feedback and suggestions that helped us modify our
prototype, although the modifications didnt always appear physically. Some
participants, while they were able to successfully guess what one would be able to
do after selecting remix, were confused by the term, while others expressed some
discomfort with anyone being able to access their lesson material without first being
a connection. Three of our participants pointed out missing features, such as a
materials form field in the add lesson page. We addressed these concerns in the
final prototype.

Final Sprint 3 Prototypes

Using the feedback from testing, we created another iteration of our designs, this
time including our brand identity and a high-fidelity interface design. We were lucky
enough to have a team member work on the logo and style guide in another class.
In the final prototypes, we incorporated suggestions directly from our test
participants as well as refined existing interactions. We added a keyword lesson and
colleague search to the homepage and a save draft function to the add lesson
page. We continued the skeuomorphic binder theme to the My Binder lesson
repository page with a tabbed interface that looks like a folder. We plan to include a
lightbox tutorial for new users as well as privacy settings.

We wanted the mood to be fun, professional, and clean. We utilized an unexpected,

vibrant color palette and the Michigan mitten throughout the site to encourage a
welcoming feeling.

Our next steps would be to put the interface into HTML and test basic, clickable
pages while simultaneously refining the CSS code and design. These designs and
our functional specifications are included below.

Third prototype, Home Screen

Third prototype, My Binder

10

Third prototype: Add a Lesson

11

Third prototype: Profile

12

Functional Specifications
Platform
A responsive website, compatible on all browsers including Internet Explorer 7.
Development language
HTML5, CSS, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, JQuery.
We are currently expecting to build using the Zurb Foundation interface framework,
as it is the most readily accessible, responsive, and complete

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UI Framework available.
Workflows
This illustrates some of the popular pathways teachers will travel while finding and
adding lessons on the website. Included within these two primary actions are
optional abilities to make connections and begin collaborations with other teachers.
1. The system will allow teachers to find, save, and/or remix lesson plans:

2. The system will allow teachers to add new or remixed lesson plans.

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3. The system will allow teachers to connect with each other

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Other specifications:
General:
The system will be secure (only a informational landing page will be visible to
unregistered users; see
http://elireview.com/
for an example).
The system will require users to have a school email to sign up.
The system will be internally gated with user-supplied settings, including privacy.
The system will include a lightbox tutorial for new users.
The system will have a faceted search by lesson, colleague, tags and region.
The system will incorporate a third party content recommendation engine such as
Outbrain
The system will utilize a Google Drive API that allows the export of a file from a
user's google drive into MIBinder.
The system will be responsive.
The system will be accessible.
The system will utilize the Font Awesome or material icon library
Binder & Lessons:
The system will allow users to import text documents into a form.
The system will allow users to store a cloud repository of lessons.
This repository will allow users to organize their lessons into tabs or folders.
This system will pre populate previous authors into an authors box when remixing
a lesson.

Profile:
The system will allow users to add social media links to their profile.
The system will allow users to group message each other.
The system will allow users to message each other.
The system will allow users to upload pictures of themselves
Design:
We were able to outsource a style guide to another student project one of our team
members was involved in. They created a logo and provided us with a font and color
scheme.

#IDA49E

#83FFB2

#AC4AF

#C847ID

#F15D00

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Bitter (Headings)
Raleway (Body)
We wanted to incorporate the paper-based Material design standards, because we felt
early on we wanted the site to be warm, inviting, and to represent physical tools. The
paperlike look of Material design fits well into an academic setting. We used a starter
interface .psd template to get started on the final prototype that incorporated these
elements.

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Appendix 1
Questions to ask teachers:
Take me through the process of creating a lesson plan (like if you needed to make
a lesson plan about (possibly something from the common core)
Take me through the process of collaborating with other teachers
What frustrates you about collaboration?
Whats challenging about lesson planning?
What do you enjoy about collaboration/lesson planning?
What tools do you use?
(if they are experienced) How do you pass on your knowledge to other teachers?

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Appendix 2
Hello, thank you so much for helping us out. (We introduce ourselves)
First we just need you to tell us a little bit about yourself. All of this information will remain
confidential.
Give them this form:
What is your name?
What do you teach, and in what grades?
Where do you teach?
On a scale of 1-10, how comfortable are you with technology?
What tools do you use while lesson planning?
*Write down the tools they use, and then ask them about these others if they didnt list
them:
Google Drive, Docs, Slides, etc
Microsoft office suite
Social Media
Email
Telephone
Pen and Paper
Binder
Other (please specify) ______________________________________
Today we are going to be testing a very basic form of a website we are creating. The
website allows teachers to share lesson plans, collaborate and connect with each other.
Were going to start with few questions about the home page. Remember that there is no
wrong answer.
(First we will give them the home page, not signed in)
What are your first impressions of this page? Where might you explore first?
Initial Questions:
What do you think will be under the tab My Binder?
What do you think will be under My Connections?
What do you expect to see under My Profile?

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Now we are going to move on to a few tasks. Please know that we arent testing you, but
how well this website works, and you can stop at any time.
Commands/Requests:
Your first task is to explore lesson plans other teachers have uploaded and find a lesson
that you might be interested in using, either now or in the future.
*After they find one:
Now could you show me how you would take that lesson plan and edit/add to it.
Your second task is to add your own lesson plan to share with other teachers. What would
be your first step?
Your third task is to find a colleague in your subject area and become a connection with
him/her.
Your fourth task is to send a message to another teacher.
End questions:
What do you think of the name MIBinder?
What was the most difficult task?
Would you feel comfortable using this to connect with other teachers?
Have you ever been to a lesson-plan site for teachers, and if so was there anything
about it that you strongly liked or disliked that you think we should include or
avoid?
Do you have any additional suggestions/comments to improve the design, or any
other aspect, of this website?

Closing: Thank you so much for helping us out today! You have giving us some really
great feedback that will help us as we design this site. Please dont hesitate to contact us
later if you have any questions or concerns.
Citations
Interface template:
DimitarTsankov

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