The Perfect Tool for Online Education

Edward Du
Srinivasu Gorantla
Toni Ireland
Intern/Mentor
May 6, 2019
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Abstract

This paper discusses the future of online education and a possible product idea, along

with statistics gathered to gauge the opinions of teachers and students on various topics. Online

education is easy to access and cheap, unlike traditional teaching methods. It also allows teachers

to develop closer relationships with their students. The product being introduced is a

customizable user interface tool for teachers to use in communication with students. This allows

the teacher to have his/her cake and eat it too: the convenience of online communication with the

ability to customize the UI. A survey was conducted with questions on the current and future

state of online communication. This survey showed that most teachers/students consider the

current online communication system (Canvas) subpar (median of 6 out of 10) and would like

the ability to customize their UI (71.4%).

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Introduction

Picture this: a high school student in the dead of night, his back craning and his eyes red

with lack of sleep. He’s been procrastinating ever since the assignment was announced, and now

that it’s the last day that the essay is due, he has been furiously typing away at it. As he is

finishing his conclusion, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, he’s rushing to Canvas to turn his

essay in. He looks at the clock and notices the time: 11:59. Just in time, he thinks to himself. He

opens up the assignment, clicks the Submit button, and attaches his essay. Just when he finishes

attaching it, he sees that infamous spinning circle. The clock strikes 12:00, and that circle is still

spinning. This exact situation has played out in many a stressed out teenager’s home. From

Alaska to Florida, online education engines have been a thorn in the side of school districts from

the time that they were created. The biggest issue with the many online education systems is its

confusing and un-intuitive user interface (UI). The developers don’t seem to understand basis UI

designing techniques, creating interfaces that are hard to figure out at best. To be fair, it is hard

to create a one size fits all interface, compatible with all the faculty and staff in a school district.

The best way to satisfy all those involved is to allow the schools to custom make their own

interface. With the creation of a new educational engine with the ability to customize the

interface, educators will be better able to communicate to students in their own unique way. This

paper will highlight the advantages of online education for both students and teachers, explain

the growing need for online education and why it will be the future of education, briefly discuss

the layout and functions of the product that is being designed, and detail the processes that will

be used to design the product.

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Review of Literature

Designing an online education engine may seem unnecessary, as traditional

communication techniques seem to be sufficient, yet the benefits that online education brings far

outweigh any of the hassles that may arise from developing one. For one, online education

allows students to better connect with teachers in much more intimate and personal ways. Given

the increase in class sizes across the country, it has become harder and harder for teachers and

students to have meaningful relationships. Online education will be able to solve this problem.

Dr. Erin Connor, a professor at the University of New England Online, has said that online

education has allowed her to develop a close teacher-student relationship with all of her students.

The ability to connect with each of her students, not just for a 50 minute class but throughout the

entire day, gives Dr. Erin Connor the ability to get to know her students and to build a rapport

with each and every one of them. This close relationship will also help students in future

networking opportunities and will benefit both the student and the teacher tremendously. Online

education is also much more engaging than traditional options. Unlike traditional schools, where

classes are usually forced upon a student to take, online schools allow the student to customize

the courses that he/she is willing to take. Online education also allows the more efficient use of

multimedia learning, such as video and online quizzes, to reinforce topics discussed in class.

This results in a much more passionate learning experience, one not led by force or coercion but

by personal desire. The results of more engaged learning are clear. A Florida based virtual school

reported overall grades and SAT scores to be at least 10% higher than their traditional

counterparts. Many of the teachers at the school claim that the students show a keen interest in

their learning and in fact take initiative to further their studies beyond what was taught in class.
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But perhaps the greatest reason for the support of online education is its inexpensive nature

compared to traditional schools. Because there is no need to maintain a location and purchase

school supplies, the cost of online education is unrivaled by any other option. This freeing up of

expenses allows students of poorer backgrounds to access many new educational opportunities,

giving them a possible path towards higher education. The benefits of this development can

already be seen. From 2012 to 2015, there was a jump in online education students under the age

of 25 from 13% to 25%. The main reason cited for this sharp increase was the decrease in cost.

These new students, who before may not have had the opportunity to attend a traditional school,

were now able to pursue their dreams due to the rise in online education.

It is clear from the writing on the wall that online education will be the future of learning.

For one, online education is much more accessible to students than traditional schools. Requiring

only a device and an internet connection, anyone anywhere in the world is able to plug in and

join an online class. This means that many low income kids and those from developing countries

will have greater access to education, thus improving the lives of many of these individuals. It

has been proven time and time again that level of education is a major predictor of success, so

allowing easier access to education will be a benefit for society as a whole. When asked what

their main reasons were for participating in online education, most students claimed accessibility

and convenience as major deciding factors (25 Stats). Online education also parallels a shift

towards collaboration in the job market. There has been a significant increase in government

partnerships with private companies on certain projects (Duncan). This trend is only growing in

size as the advent of technology makes face to face communication obsolete. Since these two

organizations may be based far away from each other, it is vitally important that they are able to
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effectively communicate online. At my previous internship over the summer, I was able to sit in

during multiple video conference meetings with the government contractors located in Florida.

Each team had to communicate its actions and goals and build off of each other. As more and

more companies team up to work on projects, an early shift in online communication will help

prepare students for the work field beyond. The sense of online collaboration that students

develop, not to mention being accustomed to working in an online environment, will only grow

in importance as online collaboration between companies becomes the norm. This trend towards

online education is already happening, and the pace is growing faster. As of 2018, close to 30%

of all Americans have participated in some sort of online education (35 Facts). Soon the

percentage will reach upwards of 60%, with online education overpassing traditional methods as

the dominant form of learning. This growth is not just limited to a certain portion of the

population and is occurring for all ranges of ethnicities, ages, and genders. There is now no

doubt that the future of education lies at home and through the internet. The best thing to do is to

embrace this trend and ease the pathway towards it.

The product I am designing will do exactly that; it is a stepping stone towards the

inevitable transformation toward online education. My product is a customizable online

communication system geared toward teachers and schools. The focus is on customization, more

specifically a customizable user interface. The goal of my product is to make an easy-to-design

online educational tool, one that rivals Canvas in its wide range of functions but also parallels

Weebly in its ease of use and customization. To start out, my product will be designed using a

web page as its user interface. There are in fact twelve types of user interfaces as highlighted by

Professor Tidwell. These include: forms, text editors, graphic editors, spreadsheets, browsers,
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calendars, media players, information graphics, immersive games, web pages, social pages, and

e-commerce sites. Although each user interface has its own advantages and disadvantages, a web

page is the only one that allows content to be stored and displayed in a web browser, which can

then be seen by anyone with an internet connection and the URL address. Since communication

is the key for my product, a web page is perfect in this aspect. In order to make customization of

the web page simple and intuitive, certain elements will be organized into blocks. These blocks

can then be manually moved and placed in their appropriate locations, much like puzzle pieces

fitted together to create the perfect web page. The background of the web page will be

customizable in two main ways: color theme and style. The color of the background will be able

to be changed based on the RGB color code chart, effectively containing all of the possible

colors. There will be an assortment of styles for the web page, ranging from business-like to

casual, creating a set template for the teacher to use when customizing his/her web page. The

types of elements in a block include but are not limited to: checkboxes, dropdown lists, buttons,

text fields, date and time indicators, search field, tags, sliders, icons, image slideshows,

notifications, message functions, turn in functions, and tables. These elements will be placed in

boxes that can be dragged out and placed anywhere at anytime. Each element will also have

parameters for modification depending on the specific element in questions. For example,

creating a table will allow the teacher to change the color, size, background, line thickness, font,

and font size. Creating a button, however, will allow the teacher to change the color, shape, size,

text color, text font, and text size. These detailed customizations, as well as the more general

changes that can be made to the web page, will help the teacher craft a web page that is fitting to

their taste. Since this web page will be used for online communication with students, functions
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such as turning in assignments, grading assignments, displaying grades, sharing multimedia

learning tools, uploading documents, and messaging the students will all be included as boxes

that can be dragged out by the teacher.

In developing my product, I will be using three key concepts to guide me. The first is the

programming language HTML. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Much like many

other programming languages that exist today, HTML allows the programmer to write code that

will then be translated and fed to a device that will perform the task given. However, because

HTML was created hand in hand with the internet, the programming language differs in that it

allows the programmer to write directly to the web browser that is reading it (Duncan). HTML

also specializes in user interface design, thus making it the perfect language for the creation of

my product. The second guiding concept in the development of my product is scrum

methodology. Scrum methodology, as developed by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, is a

development technique created with the idea of transparency and cooperation in mind. Instead of

long periods of constant development with only the final product being shown to the client for

approval or disapproval, scrum methodology separates the development period into 1 month

segments, called sprints. Each sprint is preceded with a list of goals that should be accomplished

by the end of the month. At the end of the sprint, the performance is evaluated and the progress

is reported and displayed to the client. The next month’s goals will then be modified to better fit

the client’s demands. In order to simulate a real work experience, I am trying to develop my

product by modeling this methodology. Each month, I assign myself tasks that need to be

accomplished for that sprint. At the end of the month, I evaluate my progress and note whether

or not I was able to complete all the goals I assigned myself. Since I am not working for a client,
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I review the product myself and make any corrections to my path if need be. The cycle repeats

over and over until I have a fully fledged and finished product. The third important concept in

my development is dynamic programming. According to Dr. Bertsekas, dynamic programming is

a technique of problem solving in which complex problems are broken down into smaller issues.

These smaller issues will then be easier to solve and much less daunting than one massive

problem. This philosophy can be applied to the problem of creating a web page. By breaking

down a web page into its smaller parts, one can more easily create an overall page. Developing a

web page is difficult enough, but developing a product to make web pages is another level of

complex. It is vital not just to have the final web page working properly but also to have all the

tools for creating that web page functioning and smooth. Luckily, through the philosophy of

dynamic programming, this can be achieved in a much easier fashion. Problems such as creating

a web page can be broken down into creating blocks of elements, which can then be broken

down into creating customizable attributes for each block. This technique will make designing

my product orderly and smooth, with small obvious issues that I can solve to chip away at the

greater problem. A great example of this philosophy is in the difference between adaptive vs

responsive design. Adaptive and responsive design allows websites to respond to different

display environments (Soegaard). Adaptive design detects resolution and size of display, then

sets the website to that size. Responsive design, on the other hand, changes the display due to the

type of medium it is being displayed upon. These three key concepts will guide me in creating

the perfect product.

In order for both educators and students to better communicate with each other, a new

online education engine should be created with an emphasis on customizability. This will allow
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all those who will be accessing the engine on a daily basis to mold and shape the perfect

interface for each individual, allowing for a smoother and less confusing experience. This

product, if completed, could be sold to school districts around the country and used all over the

world. If not completed, it can serve as an example for future developers to expand upon in their

quest to create the perfect online education platform.

Research Methods and Data Collection

A survey was conducted to assess the opinions of teachers and students on the current

state of online education communication tool of Canvas and customizable user interface design.

A total of seven questions were asked to seven respondents, with each respondent’s profession

recorded to better organize the data. These seven questions are:

1. How much do you know about customizable user interfaces?

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the application Canvas overall?

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how important do you think visuals are for a website?

4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how important do you think images are for a website?

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how important do you think tabs are for a website?

6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how important do you think searchbars are for a website?

7. Given the opportunity, would you prefer to have the ability to customize your own

website?

The first question is designed to gauge the respondent’s programming and computer science

level. The second question is designed to calculate the proportion of teachers and students that

rank in their opinions of the application Canvas (an online communication tool). The next four
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questions all are designed to gauge the overall opinion of user interfaces and graphics in general

and how important teachers and students perceive them. Specifically, images relate to up front

UI, tabs relate to usability, and search engines relate to navigability. By looking at the statistics

for each question, one can calculate the overall opinion of UI and the specific importance

rankings of types of UI. Question seven is designed to calculate the views on customizable UI

and its level of importance to teachers and students. Each survey was performed in the media

center of Centennial High School to reduce setting bias after school (around 3-4:00 pm). A piece

of paper with each question was handed out, and the respondent was given enough time to fill

out their answers. On top of the questions listed above, an additional question was added that

asked whether the respondent was a teacher or a student. This was added to allow for later

blocking of statistics for more accurate data analysis. A relatively balanced amount of teachers

and students were chosen to reduce any lurking variables.

Results and Data Analysis

The data that has been collected allows for the input of teachers and students into the

points that have been made in this paper. After all, there is no point designing a product that the

intended customer pool will not approve of. A complete table of the raw data collected from all

surveys is shown below:

Question Question Question Question Question

Raw Data 1 2 3 3a 3b Question 3c Question 4
Mostly
understa
Person 1 nd 3 9 10 8 5 Yes
Not at
Person 2 All 6 10 8 5 10 No
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Very
Person 3 Little 5 8 10 10 9 Yes
Person 4 Average 5 9 10 9 9 Yes
Person 5 Average 7 10 9 9 8 Yes
Person 6 Average 6 10 10 8 7 Yes
Not at
Person 7 All 8 10 10 9 9 No

An interesting data point to note is from Question 2 (Fig. 1). The initial prediction for the result

of Question 2 was very low, less than 5. However, the actual mean of results came out to be

5.714 with a median of 6. Although this is still low, it is not as low as predicted. However, if a

confidence interval were to be performed, it may turn out that the null hypothesis of <5 turns out

to be true. This indicates that Canvas is not seen too negatively as previously thought, although it

is still viewed pretty poorly. Looking at the data for Question 3 (Fig. 2), it is quite clear that

visuals are considered extremely important by all the respondents. With a mean 9.429, visuals

are a must have on websites. This indicates that when designing a customizable user interface,

visuals must be a key factor, if the not the most important factor. Looking at Figure 3, it is clear

that the ability to customize a personal website is preferred by the vast majority of respondents.

71.4% of respondents indicated as such. Based on these results, designing a product that allows

customization will not be a waste of time as most teachers and students will be in favor of using

such an application. However, the initial prediction of more than 80% preference was not hit,

indicating that the ability to customize websites may not be as coveted as previously predicted.

Discussion and Conclusion

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The findings in the paper indicate a need for a customizable online communication tool

for teachers. This need is due to two main reasons: the rapid adoption of online education, and

the obvious lack of suitable online communication between teachers and students. The data show

a clear preference for such an application. Therefore, it is appropriate to develop such as product

for teachers to use. It is a market that can be tapped into in the near future. Unfortunately,

designing and marketing such a product would require an intense amount of time and manpower,

two things that are not readily available to a high school student. Therefore, it may be prudent to

continue the development of the product throughout college and beyond. This product could end

up being sold around the country. If nothing else, the data that has been gathered in this paper

could make for a great dissertation on the future of education in America and around the world.
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Appendices
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