As school council members of a middle school, we want to promote fundraisers to raise funds for in-school and after-school activities so that students will have an enriching learning experience.
Project duration: January – May 2022
My role:
Lead UX Designer (UXD), UX researcher (UXR),Web designer
Responsibilities:
user research, wireframing, prototyping, web designing
The problem
The current website is not attracting much web traffic because many parents are not subscribers of the school’s blog or online community. The principal’s announcements are not the most effective method to showcase school activities and go in-depth on school-related resources and topics through its messenger service.
The Goal
Revising the website will let parents see activities, updates, and upcoming fundraisers at their children’s school to affect parental involvement and support more school activities.
We will measure the effectiveness by the number of visits to the website and participation in fundraisers.
Understanding the Client
“How can we raise funds from now until June and have parents more aware of school activities.”
Ken is the principal who chairs the meetings. He needs to help coordinate, update and promote activities to gain support from parents to raise funds for extracurricular activities because some programs are too expensive for parents.
Knowing the competition
There is no competition as this is a service provided by the school. However, doing a competitive audit allowed the opportunity to compare other school council websites to get some ideas for the revised website.
Elements to consider from site comparisons:
- Create videos providing an overview of school councils and fundraising activities
- The use of affiliated programs under review
- Subscription to Twitter, Facebook
The Research
Discovery session based on November 2021 council meeting:
Pain points discovered:
- Not much web traffic
- Covid affected fundraising face to face.
- Not enough transparency on council votes and decisions, No record of fundraiser results.
- Many parents are not subscribed to the website blog and are unaware of events.
- A large number of parents are not on social media.
- Council members change every year or hold a position at most for three years.
- Lack of documentation and instructions for new members to take over positions
- The postings from the current blog are only visible for a couple of days.
The value of the revised website
- Parents will be aware of student life at the school
- parents will see postings of fundraising results
- Easy access to previous announcements, minutes, and annual reports information
- Parents will not have to be part of the online school community to get information
The value of the revised website for council members:
- Easier access to land acknowledgment statement
- Easy access to previous announcements, minutes, and annual reports information
- Clearer documentation of files stored online
Happy case
Web traffic increase
More fundraising supports
More proceeds from fundraisers
More parental involvement
Use school messenger to promote topics or articles posted on the site
Edge cases
Funds continue to dwindle
Low web traffic
© COPYRIGHT 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | OWNER JENNIFER WALLACE
The process
Paper wiring
Digital wiring
Mock-Ups of Desktop and Mobile designs
Usability Study findings
I conducted a 10 – 15-minute survey during a council meeting over zoom on Jan 10, 2022, to see how much the mockup website met the pain points listed. The session also allowed for more brainstorming on how the council might use the website.
Round 1 Findings
- “I liked the idea that I can have the annual reports posted, especially previous ones, instead of going through my binder.”
- All members liked the layout and design of the site.
Round 2 – Findings
The initial template of the website didn’t work out because I couldn’t modify the CSS codes under the free hosting plan. The new template uses classic styled navigation and layout, requiring less effort for individuals to learn to upkeep the site.
- no added recommendations, except the need for content
Refining the design
The website is still under construction at http://www.damorrisonsandbox.wordpress.com. Once approved and logistics for maintaining the website are discussed, the revised site will be migrated to https://damorrisoncouncil.wordpress.com/.
Accessibility Consideration
- feature to change font size
- feature to change languages
Take away
The impact of revising the site will allow parents to keep abreast with school activities. The purpose is to keep information consistent, reliable, accessible, and seamless.
I have learned and experienced not to hold on to ideas too tightly because things may change in the process, so it is best to be flexible and leave some room for change in the design process.
Next Steps
- To create a survey to collect feedback.
- meet with the Principal to discuss logistics, recommending volunteer writers to help build content and contribute to the blog, incl. guest speakers
- create documentation to orientate for the next member to take over the role
- focus on the content infrastructure
Thank you
Thank you for your time reviewing my contribution to helping DA Morrison council’s web presence.
JWallace Design 