CREATIVELY FOCUSED:
A RESOURCE PORTAL AND FRIENDLY CHATBOT
CHALLENGE
Our client, Creatively Focused, an organization that provides coaching and consultation services to special educators, wanted to expand their current website into a one-stop-shop of research-informed resources and support that would drive engagement to the site while reducing the communication overload that Creatively Focused coaches currently face.
solution
We created an interactive prototype for a user-friendly portal that organized and expanded Creatively Focused’s existing resources in a user-friendly portal, along with a friendly chatbot that leveraged Creatively Focused’s friendly voice to guide users toward those resources.
methods
Directed Storytelling
Cognitive Walkthrough
Usability Testing
Tools
Figma
Flow XO
Sketch
Deliverables
Special education support
Creatively Focused is a women-owned startup serving 30 districts across Minnesota to strengthen special education in schools. As an organization dedicated to reducing burnout and increasing efficiency and effectiveness in special education, Creatively Focused provides consultation services and professional development by matching educators with highly trained coaches and providing research-informed tools and methods. Due to their extremely successful model, this startup showed tremendous growth, mainly through word of mouth and are now ready to expand to serve more of Minnesota's schools. We set forth to design a one-stop-shop of research-informed resources and support that will drive engagement to the site while reducing the communication overload that Creatively Focused coaches currently face.
Turning to the experts
While developing the prototype for Creatively Focused’s new portal and chatbot, we conducted seven interviews and usability tests with five coaches and educators. In interviews with Creatively Focused coaches, their passion for space was evident and inspiring. They laid out the current struggles that they see their teachers facing, and what might be done to address these issues. They emphasized again that their currently offered resources are relatively inaccessible and require a lot of back and forth assistance, which can’t always be provided rapidly. Without help from a coach, many teachers spend hours lost on the internet, sorting through resources that may or may not meet Minnesota-specific special education guidelines.
layers of support
5 out of 5 participants agreed that adding additional supportive features like tutorials to the existing resources would be a huge asset. They stated that this would help teachers more independently navigate the paperwork and respond to classroom behavior challenges. These features would also give coaches more time to focus on personal and professional development with their clients.
prototyping the portal
We crafted an interactive prototype that leveraged Creatively Focused’s style and voice, while centering the primary users--special education teachers who need resources and guidance in a pinch. To support these teachers’ experience on the site, we focused on making important elements easily findable, providing clarity about the next steps a user can take, and emphasizing the supportive relationships with coaches. One important way that we streamlined the search process and added a layer of emotional support was through the creation of a chatbot, which is integrated on all pages of the site.
helping them find their questions
From the beginning, one of our client’s key goals was to figure out how to use the interface to help users move from broader concerns to specific resources.
While chatbots do not offer the conversational depth or flexibility of livechats with humans, they are able to assist with common questions and searches at any time of day and pass off edge cases to humans via email. And unlike search engines, which return as many options as possible from specific inquiries, chatbots work in the opposite direction: helping users narrow down their searches.
The chatbot we designed leverages Creatively Focused’s friendly, helpful voice to guide users toward resources that respond to their personal and professional needs.The chatbot interaction also provides rich data about what users are searching for in order to help Creatively Focused’s team continually update their resources and services in response to user requests.
