Case Study
SaaS Platform - Digital Publishing Library for Learning
My role as a UI/UX Designer at a Speech-Language Pathology company was to design and procure digital games for therapy via their online library software as a service (SaaS) platform.
In 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the company quickly shifted focus towards the digital space in order to accommodate clinicians utilizing teletherapy as their primary teaching tool. The organization provided the digital tools for them to continue applying the same concepts of the physical products in the digital realm.
Important: This case study reflects my contributions to a project conducted under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Specific details, data, and proprietary information have been omitted or generalized to uphold confidentiality agreements. The focus is on my process, methodologies, and impact while respecting the privacy of the client and the project stakeholders.
The Problem
The project (generic name: Teacher Portal) became an add-on to the Digital Library (DL). The DL provides access to products such as cards, workbooks and reinforcers individually. For example if a clinician would want to focus on a specific target or sound they could only use the cards from one deck at a time. The ability to mix and match cards from different decks was not built in. The same concept applied to workbooks.
Since all the card decks and workbooks are accessible via the library platform, the vast majority of customer’s requested the ability to mix and match these. This mixing and matching is the ability to take different cards from different decks as well as different workbook pages and group them in saved activities.
Scope and Constraints
By creating and saving activities clinicians have a simpler way to return to their lessons without having to search the library each time.
Saving activities and student information is a lengthy process that requires security and technology that was beyond the scope of the project.
One of the constraints presented was evaluating the technology that was currently in use and the planning of resources. The DL was in a legacy environment that was not mobile responsive.
Many meetings were held with management, web developers as well as speech language pathologists. In order to keep the scope of the project within the capacities of the team, management decided to not store personal student information, create reports nor assign homework.
Through brainstorm sessions the scope of the Teacher Portal became the exclusive ability to create custom activities with only books and cards and the ability to save them. These would then be shared real-time via teletherapy.
Roles and Responsibilities
My main role and responsibility for this project was to create the architecture of the Single Page Application (SPA) React platform.
In collaboration with a team of three in-house web developers, myself (UI/UX) and one speech-language pathologist, functional requirements were created. I was responsible for distilling these requirements into features and reflect these in wireframes as well as prototypes.
Some sections of the Teacher Portal were contracted out in order to meet deadlines. These outsourced parts were then integrated by in-house developers.
I was also responsible for all of the interface components and overall look of the portal.
