Research Methods: personas, in-depth stakeholder and teacher 1:1 interviews, contextual inquiry (field visit), ethnographic research & usability testing
Tools Used: Respondent.io
CS First
Overview
CS First was created by Google to expose students grades 4 through 8 to computer science by teaching them coding in a hands-on, learning-by-doing way.
The ultimate purpose of CS First is to bring CS access to low-performing schools and communities. Though their team had been very successful in implementing CS First into the day-to-day curriculum of many teachers, over the years, competition within the field had grown and the product wasn’t resonating as much as it did in the beginning. They felt they needed a revised communication strategy, all in time for the back-to-school season. My team primarily focused on the research element, while the communications strategy team was to implement the new found data to better market the product to teachers and students.
Approach
First, consider the context. By this I mean that we have to understand how long as the feature or product been out there? When it was released, what did the competitive landscape look like? Has that changed? Could people be using competitor products now? If so, why? This will help to gain context and see the bigger picture.
Second, look at the data. What are people doing in the days and weeks before they start disengaging. Is it a sudden decrease or is it gradual? What do these users have in common? Is there a segment of people who are all disengaging? Did you make other product changes around the point when people started to disengage? I wanted to also look at the customer support logs and records. Are people writing in to customer service with feedback that could shed light on this? The same goes for social media.
Third, talk to users. If we notice people are starting to disengage, it is vital to reach out to them. it’s important to talk to them because that’s when we will get to the WHY of the disengagement. Data can only tell you what, but people can tell you the why.
Research Goal
Our goal was to conduct audience research and profiles to truly answer the question of, “who are the teachers using CS First and how can we improve to better fit their needs?”
Process
We conducted interviews with CS First employees and stakeholders to better understand the product, its impact within the computer science community, what was going well and what areas needed improvement. After, we analyzed and drew insight from the major themes, as well as gaps, that stood out to us.
However, the important part was to get to know the teachers. We conducted phone interviews and site visits to observe the teachers and students using the product. During the phone interviews, we discussed how the teachers feel CS First has impacted their students’ learning, the personal experience using the product, how user-friendly it was and if there was anything they would want to see improved. During our field visits, through observation and usability testing, we were able to see how the teachers and students interacted and incorporated the material into the classroom.
Lastly, we wanted to hear from the students. We put up a board and asked students to write down how they perceive computer science and their overall thoughts on CS First. No wrong answers here.
Insight
One major pain points we came across was that teachers didn’t feel connected to the product. Ultimately, many of the teachers teaching CS First didn’t have the background, therefore, they didn’t feel comfortable teaching their students. That disconnect with the product was monumental - a major block for users. The data collected was ultimately used to rebrand the product to ensure that the teachers feel connected and at ease every time they were going to teach their students. The team created free courses for teachers so they learned as they taught, spotlighted teachers to empower one another through their teaching and marketed the product to show that CS First fully aligned with K-12 standards.
Most of the insights derived from this research is confidential. Please contact zand.helya@gmail.com if you are interested in learning more about the process.