About
Lens turns Zoom into an online teaching powerhouse that helps educators keep learners engaged, gauge the performance of their live classes, and increase retention rates.
Problem
The main challenge was that educators using Zoom as a teaching platform were struggling to gauge the learning effectiveness of their sessions, especially with young students. They lacked the tools to measure participant engagement, attentiveness, and understanding during online sessions.
The challenge was to build something valuable that seamlessly integrated with Zoom, addressing these issues while ensuring it wasn't just a superficial add-on.
Approach
We spoke to our clients from large institutes, medium sized educators and also the single course independent creators. These became our user personas.
User persona 1 - Large Institutes
The Institute Administrator oversees multiple departments at a large university, aiming to use Lens for comprehensive insights to enhance online class effectiveness, improve student engagement, and make informed decisions about curriculum adjustments.
User persona 2 - Medium-sized Tutor
The Medium-sized Tutor, specializing in STEM subjects, manages a moderate number of students and desires tools from Lens to create interactive and engaging virtual classes while monitoring individual and collective progress.
User persona 3 - Small Tutor
The Small Tutor, offering one-on-one sessions, values simplicity and user-friendliness. They are interested in features that enhance the one-on-one student experience and analytics to personalize lesson planning based on individual student needs.
I created wireframes and sought feedback from potential users to refine the design. The final product included real-time participant talk time, attentiveness tracking, in-session quizzes with a leaderboard, and post-session analytics.
Lens was a widget positioned in the top-left corner. Clicking on it opened a modal displaying active participants. Each participant was monitored for attentiveness, attendance, and talk time.
Challenges faced
Integration with Zoom: Integrating seamlessly with a platform as widely used as Zoom posed technical complexities. Ensuring compatibility, reliability, and a smooth user experience demanded rigorous testing and development efforts.
Accurate Metrics Generation: Developing code to accurately track participant attentiveness and talk time was challenging. Achieving precision in metrics without causing performance issues required continuous refinement and testing.
Engagement Gamification: Designing gamification features, such as leaderboards and quizzes, required a delicate balance. The challenge was to encourage participation without compromising the seriousness of the learning environment or fostering unhealthy competition.
User Experience: Striking the right balance between providing insightful data and avoiding information overload was crucial. Design decisions needed to prioritize usability and user experience to ensure that educators could easily interpret and utilize the data.
User Adoption: Convincing educators to adopt new tools was challenging. Effective communication and marketing strategies were required to demonstrate the value of Lens in addressing their specific pain points and improving the overall teaching experience.
Privacy Concerns: As the product involves tracking participant activities, privacy concerns may arise. Ensuring compliance with privacy regulations and addressing any apprehensions among users was essential.
1 - Default view
This is the default view educator see's when they start the meeting. This gives an overview of student engagement in the class
This is the default view educator see's when they start the meeting. This gives an overview of student engagement in the class
2 - Leaderboard
If the educator starts gives a poll, quiz etc the points are automatically assigned to the students. This adds gamification to learning experience making the session making more engaging
If the educator starts gives a poll, quiz etc the points are automatically assigned to the students. This adds gamification to learning experience making the session making more engaging
3 - Polls
If the educator needs to quiz or share a poll, they can instantly launch with pre-made poll options or can setup new poll
If the educator needs to quiz or share a poll, they can instantly launch with pre-made poll options or can setup new poll
4 - Tools
All the tools that are accessible to the educator.
All the tools that are accessible to the educator.
Lens - Student view
Leaderboard view which shows the points gained by each student. Clicking on each card shows breakdown of points received by the student in each category.
Leaderboard view which shows the points gained by each student. Clicking on each card shows breakdown of points received by the student in each category.
1 - Default view
This is the default view host see's when they activate Live Q & A
This is the default view host see's when they activate Live Q & A
2 - Live Questions
3 - Starred
The starred questions act as an bookmark
The starred questions act as an bookmark
4 - Reply
Clicking the card opens the modal where the host can reply to the questions.
Clicking the card opens the modal where the host can reply to the questions.
1 - Default view
Participants see the questions asked by other participants. If they ask a question, the question pops up on their window with pending review tag. Once the host approves the question, it will be visible to all
Participants see the questions asked by other participants. If they ask a question, the question pops up on their window with pending review tag. Once the host approves the question, it will be visible to all
2 - Ask Question
Ask question modal. Participant can choose to ask question anonymously. This creates a safe space for participant to be more engaging.
Ask question modal. Participant can choose to ask question anonymously. This creates a safe space for participant to be more engaging.
3 - Resolved
The questions that are answered show up in this tab
The questions that are answered show up in this tab
Metrics:
Participant Engagement:
- Increased participant talk time by 25% on average.
- 30% rise in active participation rates during in-session quizzes and discussions.
Attentiveness Tracking:
Attentiveness levels improved by 20% as measured through the attentiveness tracker feature.
- 15% reduction in participant distractions during online sessions.
Attentiveness levels improved by 20% as measured through the attentiveness tracker feature.
- 15% reduction in participant distractions during online sessions.
Post-Session Analytics:
- 85% of educators reported utilizing post-session analytics to improve teaching methods and session effectiveness.
- 20% improvement in student learning outcomes attributed to insights gained from post-session analytics.
- 85% of educators reported utilizing post-session analytics to improve teaching methods and session effectiveness.
- 20% improvement in student learning outcomes attributed to insights gained from post-session analytics.
User Adoption and Satisfaction:
- Over 30 institutes adopted Lens for online teaching, with an average of 150 students per meeting.
- 90% user satisfaction rating based on feedback surveys and user reviews
- Over 30 institutes adopted Lens for online teaching, with an average of 150 students per meeting.
- 90% user satisfaction rating based on feedback surveys and user reviews
Takeaways:
User-Centric Design: Conducting market research and seeking feedback helped in creating a product that addressed the specific pain points of users.
Seamless Integration: Prioritizing a smooth integration with the existing platform (Zoom) enhanced the usability of the product.
Data-Driven Insights: Providing meaningful data and analytics enabled educators to understand their students better and tailor their teaching approaches accordingly.
Gamification for Engagement: Gamification elements like leaderboards and quizzes enhanced engagement and incentivized participation.
Value Addition: Building features that added significant value to users led to the successful adoption of the product by numerous institutes and a large number of students.
