Design Sprint to Establish an AI Framework for K-12 Teachers

Design Sprint to Establish an AI Framework for K-12 Teachers

Design Sprint to Establish an AI Framework for K-12 Teachers

0 to 1 - Early Exploration

0 to 1 - Early Exploration

Product Design Lead

Product Design Lead

Gen AI

Gen AI

A classroom table with a laptop and phone displaying the redesigned assignment workflow

Overview

I was the lead designer for a 10-day design sprint investigating how to implement AI into the K-12 teacher experience.

The team set out to explore meaningful ways to integrate generative AI into the K-12 teacher experience.

Full case study available upon request

ROLE

Lead User Experience Designer

RESPONSIBILITIES

Synthesize ideas

Prototype creation

TEAM

14 people from UX Design, UX Research, Product Management, Instructional Design, Software Engineering, Product Research, and AI Subject Matter Experts

Key Results

Prototype became a strategic artifact

The concepts were used by other teams to guide AI feature planning

Key Results

Prototype became a strategic artifact

The concepts were used by other teams to guide AI feature planning

Approach

Day 1: Define the Problem

To explore how AI could support teachers, the team synthesized challenges and performed a "How Might We" exercise and chose to focus on personalization across learning styles and performance levels.

Final "How Might We" Statement

How might we help teachers efficiently personalize instruction for diverse learners by adapting both content level and learning style?

Final "How Might We" Statement

How might we help teachers efficiently personalize instruction for diverse learners by adapting both content level and learning style?

Final "How Might We" Statement

How might we help teachers efficiently personalize instruction for diverse learners by adapting both content level and learning style?

Long-Term Goal

In 2 years, our solution will act like a full-time teaching assistant by personalizing learning plans, grading assessments, and providing insights, so teachers can focus on students who need the most support.

Long-Term Goal

In 2 years, our solution will act like a full-time teaching assistant by personalizing learning plans, grading assessments, and providing insights, so teachers can focus on students who need the most support.

Long-Term Goal

In 2 years, our solution will act like a full-time teaching assistant by personalizing learning plans, grading assessments, and providing insights, so teachers can focus on students who need the most support.

Day 2: Generate Ideas

Each team member created sketches to explore how AI could support teachers in differentiating instruction.

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block

Chatbot with suggested prompts

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class

Content workbench

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class

Chatbot as dedicated menu

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block

Suggested modifications for activity

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class

IEP modifications for each student

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class

Personalized learning plans

Voting resulted in 3 promising concepts: a prompt library, a virtual teaching assistant, and a personalized content generator.

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebook category on the left and on the right is a section with assignment details and an option to add another assignment detail block

Prompt Library

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class

Teaching Assistant

A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class
A paper sketch of the new design that has gradebok category on the left and on the right is the assignment details with a divider to show the interaction when a teacher selects in individual students and sees a list of all students in the class

Personalized Content

Day 3: Prototype

I translated the top ideas into a low-fidelity prototype, weaving them into a cohesive user flow.

Start: When teachers first open the assistant, timely updates based on recent student actions are surfaced as well as suggested prompts to help teachers of varying tech confidence.

A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts

Plan: The AI Assistant can act like a teaching assistant to quickly pull textbook content to create a lesson plan based on classroom needs.

A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts

Respond: Improving upon sketches from the design sprint, I included both a high-level overview of multiple students' performance as well as an individual student view.

A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts

Days 4-7: Test

Moderated testing by UX Researchers was generally positive, especially with tools that could save time.

“

This is a teacher's world in a platform

High School Teacher

“

This is a teacher's world in a platform

High School Teacher

“

This is a teacher's world in a platform

High School Teacher

Days 8-10: Refine the Design

Start: Based on teacher feedback, I refined the prototype to surface actionable insights directly on the homepage, while still providing the flexibility to modify.

A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts

Plan: Lesson planning becomes more dynamic with student performance insights, while still allowing teachers to adapt plans as needed.

A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts

Respond: To highlight the breadth of possibilities of the assistant, individual student pages highlight both strengths and struggles to guide next steps.

A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown to assign to every student, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts
A screenshot of the final design in its intiail state that has gradebook categories on the left, and on the right has a dropdown that is selected to individual students showing a list of all students, a start date and time, a due date and time, and number of attempts

Extended Impact

The concept influenced subsequent AI exploration roadmaps across multiple teams.

“

I would not have been able to do this without Steph's work

Principal UX Designer

“

I would not have been able to do this without Steph's work

Principal UX Designer

“

I would not have been able to do this without Steph's work

Principal UX Designer

Results

Prototype became strategic artifact

The concepts were used by other teams to guide AI feature planning

Prototype became strategic artifact

The concepts were used by other teams to guide AI feature planning

The design sprint clarified what mattered most and set up future iterations for success.

What I Learned

  • Before this design sprint, I had only made updates to chatbots, it was fun to design an entire workflow.

  • To earn trust, teachers want to know why a recommendation is made and how it's personalized.

What I Would Have Done Differently

  • Narrow the concept scope earlier. Having three "winners" made it more challenging to tell a cohesive story.

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