Niko
Helping online students communicate in hybrid class
In hybrid classrooms, online students are sometimes
left out of the conversation
With the normalization of hybrid learning, new and innovative modes of interaction are needed to address differences in the quality of learning experiences between online and in-person students.
"It's hard to build social and academic
relationships with screens between us..."
- Sally Frydenlund
How might we
help online students seamlessly communicate with their in-person peers & teachers in hybrid class?
Key Insights
Looking closer at the problem
💬
Online students miss out on informal interactions
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Online students are overlooked during group discussions
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Teachers struggle to meaningfully connect with online students
The Solution
Niko helps online students actively interact in class.
Our design intervention aims to facilitate better communication between online students, who cannot be present in the classroom, and their in-person peers by supplementing their physical presence through Niko and facilitating social interactions through an online interactive platform.
Break room
Online student use Niko to engage
with their in-person classmates.
Drop by
Multiple Niko’s around the room allow online students to move between in-person groups.
Interactive Classroom
Niko helps online students get their teachers' attention so teachers can easily call on them.
How it works
How Niko helps online students communicate
So how did we get here?
Secondary Research
We researched hybrid classrooms
“One of the main reasons why learning experience has been receiving much more attention over the last decade is that student engagement is regarded as one of the top factors affecting student performance."
"...between physical and remote, significant differences were found regarding sense of presence and sense of belonging...”
4 of 5
students want an online option for their courses
33%
students are unsatisfied
with their schools' approach to hybrid learning
User Interviews
We spoke to online students
After understanding the impacts of hybrid learning has on online students through secondary research, we wanted to get first-hand accounts from students about how they actually felt in a hybrid classroom.
“My in-person classmates & teachers
sometimes forget I’m online.”
User group
University students ages 18 - 35 attending hybrid classes online
Context
Students enrolled in universities in the United States
Key Stakeholders
Teachers and in-person classmates in hybrid classrooms
Why this group?
They are self- motivated and benefit from flexibilty.
Affinity Mapping
We synthesized our research and discovered
We took the observations from the students we interviewed in our target user group and synthesized our results through affinity mapping.
“Existing hybrid communication
methods are ineffective.”
Research Insights
Our research revealed the behaviors and concerns of online students.
Key Insights
We narrowed our focus to a few key issues.
Design Principles
Our design should be
Inclusive
Takes everyone’s
needs into account
Interactive
Creates meaningful connections in classrooms
Accessible
Understandable, usable, and available for all
Concept Generation
We explored different concepts
We generated different concepts based on possible themes in which we could eventually take our design intervention. We explored tangible as well as intangible aspects of online student's experience. Based on our research an in-person presence seemed like the best application of digital tools to the problem space that could have the highest impact.
We decided to focus on in-person presence for online students
Making online students more comfortable
Creating a supporting and engaging avatar, gauging mood, supportive interactions
Encouraging online students to participate
Nudges to increase participation, tools for autogenerated responses, ice breakers
A physical presence for online students
Making their presence felt by others in the class through a stand-in physical presence
Next, we developed our concept through iterative research and design
Fly on the wall
We sat in on a hybrid class in action
During this observation we realized that the hybrid classroom is a very fragmented experience for all participants. We wanted to create an environment where all participants could seamlessly interact without having to move back and forth between different modalities.
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Key Insight
Online students need a way to get their in-person peers and teacher's attention
Prototyping
‘Niko’ an in-person presence for online students
By supplementing student's online presence with 'Niko' teachers can focus their attention on the class as a whole. A smart light helps online students get teacher's attention and interact better in class.
Bodystorming
We enacted a group discussion
We chose bodystorming so that we could actually experience the situation ourselves and observe logistical nuances. We knew that online students were missing out on classroom interactions but acting out different scenarios helped us discover key points of intervention.
We discovered logistical challenges faced by online students.
Key Insight
Online students can't move around the classroom and talk to different groups
Prototyping
We helped online students ‘drop by’ in-person groups
Through body-storming we discovered that online students were restricted to interacting with one group. We layered a digital presence on top of Niko as an in-person presence so that online students could be more interactive with their in-person peers.
Now online students can move around the room virtually
User Journey Mapping
We mapped out a day in class
Making a user journey helped us break down the classroom experience into a sequence and observe each more closely. Looking at these phases from the perspective of each user group helped us document and further understand each of their pain points. Looking at the user journey map from the perspective of each user group helped us document and further understand each of their pain points. We became aware of the different facets of the classroom experience including the various logistical issues.
We observed each phase of the class more closely
Key Insight
Online students miss out on socializing with their in-person peers before class
Wireframing
We created a ‘break room’ for interaction
Even though online students couldn't experience the same level of interactivity as an in-person student, we wanted to simulate the same informal and spontaneous environment. We experimented with interactions that were more fun and engaging.
Final Solution
Putting it all together
All these research methods ideas led to a design in which we tried to address many different aspects of interactivity that were previously missing in online classess. We tried to stick to our design principles to a create a design that is more interactive, accessible, and inclusive.
Break Room
Breaking the ice for casual
conversations before class
Forming strong social bonds with classmates is key to better engagement and learning. We created a fun and interactive to give the online experience some much needed spontaneity.
Interactive Class
Encouraging more participation during lectures
We created various ways for online students to better interact with their teachers and classmates through a well integrated ecosystem of devices.
Drop by Groups
Supporting interactive discussions during group activities
When students can move around the class more freely, they feel more included in the conversation.