Designing a new, national health program
Leveraging insights from more than 25 task-based interviews, multiple surveys, and concurrent concept testing to shape a health program specifically tailored to the needs of health teachers.
Employer
McGraw Hill
Year
2024
Project background
A cross-functional team built a first-of-its-kind digital-first curriculum and health program. Shifting from a print-first model (textbook first, digital adapted after) to digital-led design.
The goal: bring a new product to market by deeply understanding users’ workflows, goals, needs, and pain points.
Phase 1 - Desk Research
We contracted a part-time employee to conduct desk research analyzing different curriculums across the nation. We created a rubric differentiating different subjects, grades, and topics.
This syllabi laid the groundwork for questions to launch in the survey. We identified areas of interest and contrasted the teams expectations against what was found in the syllabi review.
An example of a lesson plan found through the syllabi review
Broad-level questions from our survey to understand segments and approaches
Phase 2 - Survey
The second phase involved launching a survey with the aim of uncovering resource usage, understanding classroom types, exploring schedules & class sizes, and uncovering pain-points and goals.
Health is not considered a core subject, and students are not rigorously tested on the subject. The standards vary considerably across states. So a considerable amount of background informations was needed before moving forward, because there has not been a previous high ROI for health programs.
Additionally, the product team would be using this data to make the case to leadership. So quantitive information up front about market size and potential opportunity was key.
Phase 3 - Task Analysis
Working with the product team, we used the survey data to determine the target participants and the specific tasks we wanted to explore.
Once aligned, we conducted virtual task analysis sessions in which teachers walked us through their most recent lesson, screen-sharing all the digital resources they used (which turned out to form the backbone of their instructional approach).
All tasks were then mapped and synthesized into a cohesive overview.
Screen-Share of the title slide from a teacher made presentation on nutrition
Exploring prototypes with designers
Phase 4 - UX Alignment
This project coincided with a major redesign of the Learning Management System (LMS), which adopted a new front-end framework.
We (the health team & I) partnered with UX to house and test the health content in some of the prototypes of the new design. This allowed for validation of what was found from the interviews and concept testing of a new program.
Deliverables, Impact, and Insight
A comprehensive slide deck and presentation were delivered, highlighting key insights from the survey and walking through the real-world task of teaching a health lesson. Physical and virtual artifacts were included to illustrate the various steps and stages involved. These artifacts also highlighted specific opportunities for McGraw Hill to develop new resources or refine existing approaches. The research findings provided sufficient evidence for leadership to approve bringing the Health program to market.
The Health team developed a standards-aligned, activity-based program. This approach most closely matched the teachers’ instructional goals and required fewer investments in supplementary resource types, many of which quickly became outdated or failed to accommodate the variable schedules typical of health classes.
Additionally, the 25 task analysis interviews uncovered a widely used, teacher-created resource that served as the cornerstone of participants’ curricula. This resource was largely unknown to our product teams and was in direct oppostiion with one of our primary selling component.
