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What was observed in ASU students?

Students had many different means of communicating with their classmates
Classes and academic groups lacked cohesion
Online classes left students feeling lonely or isolated

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What’s the underlying issue behind these observations?

Overall, students lack a consistent digital communication platform, inhibiting sociality as well as academic success. While students can find other means to connect, it is important to keep in mind the diverse backgrounds of ASU students and how, for some, this can be quite difficult. An on-campus student may be able to “put themselves out there”, but online students are in a different position. Some students may happily adopt new messaging applications for peer communication, but international students may struggle being torn from familiar services where they are from.

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How can we solve this problem?

My Proposal

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The Elevator Pitch

What if we expanded our current ASU Chat functionality in the ASU App to serve as a complete platform for academic communication in the Arizona State Community?

In this redesign, communication with individuals would only comprise one part of the experience. Group chats, such as for lab or study groups, could be created, along with class chats, common ground for members of a class to touch base and expand their learning opportunities outside the physical classroom.

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Who’s our Audience

Not unusually introverted or extroverted
Young adult students
On campus student, who may be taking some classes online, or commute to class
Wants an easier way to speak to classmates

Main Audience

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Who’s our Audience (continued)

Student who already has consistent peer groups with set communication methods

Are they in a clique? How can they be drawn out of it? Is that a good thing?

Students with strong preference already set for communication platform

Why do they prefer that platform?

Extreme Cases

Introverted and uninterested in connecting further, or so extroverted they are not in need of more social platforms

Still would like to learn how both groups handle group work in class

Students who rarely find themselves working with others in their classes

Would like to learn if they would collaborate more if made easier

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What issues will we run into?

How will cheating on assignments be prevented?

All communication happens in full view of ASU faculty and can easily be reported.

Are technology-dependent solutions exclusionary for some students?

Arizona State is already so dedicated to online operation

How can further class discussion be encouraged? Who’s to say these class chats will even be used?

We can encourage elaboration on class content with engagement questions

How can many of the largest classes be made to feel small and socially accessible in a message room setting?

By allowing students to split off into groups, familiar faces can filter through the crowd

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The Creative Process

How this concept developed into what it is today

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The Ideation Process

6 people in a room, with paper, pencils, and whiteboards, all dedicated to brainstorming
Throwing ideas together to see what will work best

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Selected Idea

The expansion of currently existing ASU Chat functionality, which already exists in a somewhat rudimentary state inside the ASU App.

ASU Chat Redesign

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Initial Prototype

Created using Adobe XD, this rough prototype provides an idea towards the feature expansion of the current app, ignoring aesthetics for the time being.

The idea behind this prototype was to collect feedback from an audience so the concept could be iterated upon further

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Feedback Collection Method

To collect feedback, a Google Form was created for anonymous student responses, and a link to this form (via QR code) was posted in several high-traffic campus areas.

While this is not the most representative way to conduct research, this gives a rough idea of the next steps to take.

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Feedback Responses:

Overall, a wide variety of apps are used to communicate with classmates (10 different apps were listed by 10 different respondents) but respondents largely seem unaware the ASU app even has messaging capabilities. The process of connecting with classmates is mildly difficult, averaging at 2.5/5 on a scale of least to most difficult.

Respondents prioritized ease of use and accessibility, but made specific mention of group chat creation, image attachment, search, and class directories.

Current Messaging Solutions

Functionality

In terms of visual look, most students agreed that the app should take the colors of the university: maroon and gold, while also closely resembling messaging apps students are already familiar with.

Aesthetics

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Final Solution

A more comprehensive UI/UX for the ASU Chat Redesign, taking feedback into account

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Onboarding

This ensures students are made aware of the ASU app’s chat features, rather than being “hidden” as one respondent described the current implementation.

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Chat Select + Chat Screen

Recent direct and group messages are separated by a tab from classroom chats.

Yellow borders are used to indicate online status, while red borders indicate groups, along with member counts.

Both the contents of chats as well as contacts can be easily searched with the search icon, while the floating action button allows for a new direct or group message.

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Impact + Tracking

Given the implementation of this idea, the desired impact will be students engaging to a greater degree with their academics, particularly in class chats, while easing communication norms and increasing the social wellbeing of students. To track these, a measure of student social wellbeing should be collected before and after implementation, and feedback on app usage in the form of both reviews and usage data should be monitored to ensure this concept is truly being used.

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