The Vision
Apollo was designed to be the "Office 365" for school systems—an ambitious, all-in-one solution capable of addressing the needs of districts, schools, parents, and students alike. The founder envisioned a platform that could manage a wide range of features, from school budget reports to tracking individual student allergies.
The Challange
I was asked to build the Teacher Platform in 6 weeks. We needed to create a unified, intuitive experience for multiple user groups— teachers, students, and parents. The complexity of use cases required:
Scalable, reusable design patterns
Optimize 17 teacher-specific workflows
A seamless experience across web and mobile devices
Research
To inform the design, I conducted user research to understand teachers' workflows, schedules, and daily pain points. Examining their routines—including how they juggle nine class periods with extracurricular activities—we developed a clear mental model of their workday. These insights guided the creation of features tailored to their needs.
Our Goals
Teachers should be integrated into the District Platform to better serve the students and parents easily and intuitively.
Save Time: Streamline repetitive tasks to minimize teacher’s effort.
Boost Productivity: Enhance efficiency across the school system from district to parents.
Simplify Onboarding: Reduce setup time for teachers.
Prioritize Critical Information: Keep critical data accessible and front-and-center.
Key Decisions
Sidebar Navigation: Designed a reusable, efficient sidebar to help teachers quickly switch between periods and tasks.
Attendance: Introduced a fast and seamless way for teachers to record attendance, prioritizing usability during high-traffic times like the start of a class period.
Grading Workflows: Streamlined grading processes to save teachers time while maintaining accuracy.
Handwritten vs. Digital Grading: Balanced traditional grading methods with digital innovations to cater to varying preferences.
Native Chat: Implemented a chat system to improve communication between teachers, parents, and administrators.
Significance
Over two months, I drove the project from initial research to product strategy, delivering 140+ designs and launching 23 new Minimum Viable Product (MVP) features. This MVP enabled beta testing with partner institutions and laid the foundation for a scalable, user-centered platform.
