Fast and easy find substitute teacher

Most easy to use online platform to connect IB-coordinators with world class teachers

7 min

Type

Web App

ROLE

Design Lead

EXPERTISE

Product Design

Industry

Ed Tech/B2B

Project description

The goal of the product is to enable schools and coordinators to find a teacher with a specific qualification and experience to substitute for a short period of time or for permanent employment.

Background

SubHub is a standalone product from Lanterna, a company that has been developing cutting edge products in education for over 20 years. That is a unique product that was born out of the need of IB coordinators to quickly find a substitute teacher, so as not to stop the learning process.

Problem

IB coordinators search for and interview teachers for long periods of time, often exceeding the replacement period, which is detrimental to the school and the learning process.

Timeline

From explorations to final designs in 12 months while working with multiple projects at the same time. 4 month of witch was for testing, improvements, and implement new features.

Process

Research

In the start of project we had high level hypotes: Schools face significant difficulties in quickly finding qualified substitute teachers due to a lack of access to a broad candidate base.

Task

Identify the main needs and challenges schools face during the substitute teacher hiring process.
Find out which features and services are most important to schools when choosing an online platform for finding substitute teachers.
Determine which benefits of online platforms for hiring substitute teachers are most valued by schools.
Identify opportunities for innovation and new developments in the process of hiring and managing substitute teachers.

Research Method

At the very first stage we used user interviews to identify the pains of our audience. By the way, we had two types of audience Teachers who were looking for replacement jobs and Coordinators who urgently needed replacement teachers.

User interviews were conducted under my supervision

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Information Architecture

After studying the data, we started generating ideas and developing an information architecture, based on the principle of object-oriented design.

Task

Design an information architecture that will holistically represent the work of the product and interactions.

Wireframes & Usability test

We prepared 200+ wireframes for different roles, and 11 flows for testing where we had low level hypothesis using Useberry for Usability Testing

Task

Develop full bunch of wireframes, make a usability test, improve design based on research.

After Wireframes and usability test were done, we started most creative stage. The Concept.

Welcome to

Sub Hub

Idea of the visual design one of the important things in building a brand. We used unique approach for creating idea for visual design called Metaphor.
Metaphor it is extremely powerful visual tool, is an unexpected comparison of two dissimilar objects.
For example, a brand design for a sports car, the metaphor could be a cheetah because it is the fastest animal on the planet.

We are like
a Learning Hub

Is a metaphor that depicts our platform as the central point in the network of education, similar to how a hub functions in various domains such as transportation, technology, or communication.

This metaphor illustrates our role in simplifying access to educational opportunities, enabling easy sharing of knowledge, and fostering collaborations across the educational landscape.

Main Graphic Hook

The main graphic hook of our design is the use of a line pattern that symbolises navigation within the hub. The lines will serve as a subtle but constant reminder of the interconnectedness that our platform provides.

This particular graphic hook was chosen because it directly conveys the idea of connection and pathways within the hub.

This symbol supports the platform's goal of making the process of finding and connecting schools and teachers as simple and efficient as possible.

UI Concept

UI Design

IB Coordinator role

This is the role of a school employee who is responsible for lesson plans and teachers' office hours. It is he/she who decides how many hours of each subject a specific class will have and which teacher will teach the lesson.

Home page. This role involves hiring substitute teachers, so the home page has everything you need for an IB Coordinator.

Posting a new vacancy is one of the most important flow for an audience. Having conducted interviews and usability tests, we have designed 7 steps to create a vacancy that includes all the requirements of the audience.

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

Another valuable feature is the calendar. Since we found out that 98% of our users use Google calendar, we created a similar layout and functionality and of course, integration with Google calendar.

Substitute Teacher

The role of the performer is as important as the role of the employer. These are teachers who need extra work or who can help other schools to open up a subject in a new way.

The homepage for the teacher is a kind of dashboard that helps you easily navigate through the data stream

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

the possibility to select a curriculum from a list
pick an item from the list
set up a clear timetable directly in the vacancy
attach a schedule file and automatically recognise it
Possibility to view the vacancy before launching with the possibility to edit it

Another valuable feature is the calendar. Since we found out that 98% of our users use Google calendar, we created a similar layout and functionality and of course, integration with Google calendar.

Design System

In the beginning we used the standard approach with UI kit, but after a short time I realised that on such a growing project we would need a design system, with a description for paddings, tokens, dark theme and many components built on the principle of atomic design.

Summary

Me and my team completed the main design work 6% earlier than promised, we included at least 3 features not included in the general scope before the start of development. After the first closed alpha testing we received positive feedback from 89 users out of 100. The retention rate of the product after the first release was 72% on a one-month timeframe.