Teaching Tools—a way to make students on campus feel recognized and supported
CLIENT
Teaching Tools
TIMELINE
2024
PLAN
UX Research Sprint
Idea Phase
EdTech
UX Research
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Teaching Tools is an EdTech startup that promotes effective, inclusive college teaching. Its platform provides a basic lesson planning tool, an active learning library, and an AI-powered brainstorming tool. Teaching Tools is currently working on a sub-project that aims to make college students feel recognized and supported by delivering personalized gifts and messages at key moments in their journey. To successfully pilot at Johns Hopkins in Fall 2024, user research was required to understand product requirements and develop a go-to-market strategy.
At the time of collaboration, Teaching Tools was in the early phases of product discovery in the EdTech market. However, they lacked the internal resources to conduct a comprehensive cycle of UX research themselves. As a result, B’More Designful joined Teaching Tools as a design partner. B’More Designful delivered a comprehensive blended user research study, combining both qualitative and quantitative analysis to help the client gain a deeper understanding of their problem landscape and user needs.
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
Teaching Tools opted for the UX Research Sprint Package. We conducted a 2-week intensive research sprint and leveraged the data triangulation method. The data included 10 live user interviews, 32 survey responses, and 8 polls with an average of 677 responses. We worked closely with the client through a strategic planning session to get alignment on the product vision and ensure our findings would inform future business priorities. Additionally, our delivery included a detailed research findings presentation deck for stakeholder/investor meetings and a compilation of raw user data highlights, providing clear, actionable insights.
IMPACT
From our in-depth user research, we uncovered 8 key insights, synthesized the data into 4 distinct personas, and identified, on average, 2 critical “minimum viable experiences” per persona essential for product success. This research not only validated Teaching Tool's high-level product concept with genuine user feedback, but also provided a solid foundation for refining their strategic direction, ensuring the product resonates deeply with their target audience and sets them on the path to success.
Words from the client
"Not only was this raw data useful, but the 8 tangible insights and 4 user profiles the team distilled from this data were truly actionable for our team. B'more Designful was professional and easy to work with, ensuring their clients get maximum impact for their value. They will take the time to understand your project and provide the most usable outputs for your context."
Michael McCreary
Co-Founder of Teaching Tools
WHY THIS PACKAGE WORKS
The UX Research Sprint Package was the perfect solution for Teaching Tools because they needed fast, actionable insights to inform their go-to-market strategy. As a new player with limited internal resources for comprehensive UX research, Teaching Tools required expert support to understand their product requirements and user needs. The 2-week intensive research sprint provided just that, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to gather valuable data from real potential users. By leveraging data triangulation and collaborating closely with the Teaching Tools team on strategy and vision, we provided data-driven insights that directly impacted their product roadmap. This package helped Teaching Tools determine whether to pivot their strategic direction or stay aligned with their original vision based on real user feedback and data.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Co-Founder of Teaching Tools
Michael McCreary is co-founder of Teaching Tools, educational developer, and former instructor at Johns Hopkins University. He graduated with a BA from Duke and with a MA and PhD from Johns Hopkins University. Teaching Tools is an EdTech startup working to improve college teaching and student support through inclusive, research-backed digital tools.
Teaching Tools—a way to make students on campus feel recognized and supported
CLIENT
Teaching Tools
TIMELINE
2024
PLAN
UX Research Sprint
Idea Phase
EdTech
UX Research
BACKGROUND
Teaching Tools is a startup that aims to make college students feel recognized and supported by delivering personalized gifts and messages at key moments in their journey. To successfully pilot at Johns Hopkins in Fall 2024, user research was required to understand product requirements and develop a go-to-market strategy.
At the time of collaboration, Teaching Tools was in the early phases of product discovery in the EdTech market. However, they lacked the internal resources to conduct a comprehensive cycle of UX research themselves. As a result, B’More Designful joined Teaching Tools as a design partner. B’More Designful delivered a comprehensive blended user research study, combining both qualitative and quantitative analysis to help the client gain a deeper understanding of their problem landscape and user needs.
SOLUTION
Teaching Tools opted for the UX Research Sprint Package. We conducted a 2-week intensive research sprint and leveraged the data triangulation method. The data included 10 live user interviews, 32 survey responses, and 8 polls with an average of 677 responses. We worked closely with the client through a strategic planning session to get alignment on the product vision and ensure our findings would inform future business priorities. Additionally, our delivery included a detailed research findings presentation deck for stakeholder/investor meetings and a compilation of raw user data highlights, providing clear, actionable insights.
Words from the client
"Not only was this raw data useful, but the 8 tangible insights and 4 user profiles the team distilled from this data were truly actionable for our team. B'more Designful was professional and easy to work with, ensuring their clients get maximum impact for their value. They will take the time to understand your project and provide the most usable outputs for your context."
Michael McCreary
Co-Founder of Teaching Tools
IMPACT
From our in-depth user research, we uncovered 8 key insights, synthesized the data into 4 distinct personas, and identified, on average, 2 critical “minimum viable experiences” per persona essential for product success. This research not only validated Teaching Tools's high-level product concept with genuine user feedback, but also provided a solid foundation for refining their strategic direction, ensuring the product resonates deeply with their target audience and sets them on the path to success.
WHY THIS PACKAGE WORKS
The UX Research Sprint Package was the perfect solution for Teaching Tools, a startup in the early stages of product discovery in the EdTech market, because they needed fast, actionable insights to inform their go-to-market strategy. As a new player with limited internal resources for comprehensive UX research, Teaching Tools required expert support to understand their product requirements and user needs. The 2-week intensive research sprint provided just that, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to gather valuable data from real potential users. By leveraging data triangulation and collaborating closely with the Teaching Tools team on strategy and vision, we provided data-driven insights that directly impacted their product roadmap. This package helped Teaching Tools determine whether to pivot their strategic direction or stay aligned with their original vision based on real user feedback and data.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Michael McCreary is co-founder of Teaching Tools, educational developer, and former instructor at Johns Hopkins University. He graduated with a BA from Duke and with a MA and PhD from Johns Hopkins University.