Advice Manager
UX Research of Student-Advising Document Management System
Background
Academic advising is a core aspect of students’ journey in institutions
of higher learning, it plays an essential role in academic performance, student
retention, enrollment, and successful completion of academic programs. Currently,
most institutions in the USA use a paper-based approach to create, document,
track, and manage advising processes, activities, and documents. The paper-based
approach is cumbersome, time-consuming, costly, inefficient, and creates difficulty in
tracking student advising activities. Also, it has been attributed to low retention rates
as well as student and employee dissatisfaction. This project aims to address the above challenges by designing, and developing an advising document management system, aka AdviseManager, to make advising easy, efficient, and seamless. AdvisemManager's is intended to support creating, tracking, documentation, and managing advising processes, activities, and documentations in higher institutions.
Competitive Analysis
The implications drawn from our comprehensive analysis of advising management systems hold significant relevance for institutions seeking to optimize their advising processes and aiding in designing AdviseManager. By analyzing the dimensions of User Experience and Interface features, implementing this into AdviseManager would provide educational institutions an easy to-use and effective platform for both students and advisors, facilitating smoother contact and more participation. The evaluation of Functionality (Document Management) underscores the importance of streamlined document handling and accessibility, which directly impacts the effectiveness of form submissions, communication, and academic tracking. Additionally, the assessment of the Integration with Student Services provides insight into the system's capacity to smoothly combine advising activities with other crucial student support services. This aspect emphasizes the value of a comprehensive strategy, ensuring that the advising system works in concert with tools like career counseling, academic support, and financial aid. We would create an effective and thorough system and enable these institutions to align their advising strategies with a larger ecosystem of student support, which would promote better academic outcomes and student well-being.
Findings
In most institutions, advising processes and activities are siloed across platforms and applications. E.g., Some advising activities take place in Blackboard, some in Degreeworks, etc. Students don’t like that they log into various software applications to perform various advising activities Students and faculty members are unhappy with siloed advising processes and activities and prefer a centralized advising platform Challenges of paper-based systems have been linked to lower retention rates, student dissatisfaction, and staff frustration. There exists a lack of awareness regarding the range of forms tailored to students' specific needsA tailored approach to categorizing and organizing advising forms, and aligning the system's features with the diverse needs of users is crucial to enhancing user experience.Students and faculty members have a growing need to prioritize notifications and minimize unnecessary alerts aligning with the growing concern over digital notification overload
Recommendations
Implement a feature that would allow users to easily track their academic progress, grades, and degree requirements, alongside suggestions and clear routing for academic careers and all touch points within the system Notification Customization – Allow users to customize their notification preferences, and make them visible across all platforms Paperless Document Handling – Implement a digital interface to sign, upload, and manage forms/documents directly within the system Form tracker and status updates – Design and develop a form tracker that will monitor the status and progress of each advising form submitted and send status updates to users and their forms move through different processing stages Integrate an instant messaging feature that would enable quick and direct communication between users in the system also showing each person available/online times, and after each advising appointment or activity, one can be able to leave feedback or recommendation Design a visually appealing and user-friendly interface that would be responsive across various devices and screen sizes. This should include a colorful, clear navigable, and organized layout Optimize the system’s performance to ensure it remains responsive and efficient even during peak usage times, and minimize loading times regardless of the user’s location or device An in-house way to schedule meetings rather than outsourcing to a different system or tab. Easily accessible and prominently placed aid systems for mental and financial support to be readily available either on the home page or within a dedicated tab for effortless discovery. A system-based employment portal where both employers and employees may check hours and pay rates as well as submit, file, and view forms. Improved search options that would enable users to specify their needs more precisely, supplemented by added features that enhance the software's ability to anticipate these user needs.
Conclusions
By tackling the prevalent challenges posed by traditional paper-based advising procedures, this project underscores a profound comprehension of practical educational necessities. Employing a diverse range of research methodologies, including surveys, interviews, workshops, and competitive analysis, the project ensures a comprehensive comprehension of user behaviors and preferences. Moreover, the integration of SWOT analysis derived from competitor assessments showcases a strategic approach to system development. By combining these components, the project not only addresses a pivotal pain point but also exemplifies a multidimensional and impactful application of academic insights to real-world problem-solving.
Solution
By tackling the prevalent challenges posed by traditional paper-based advising procedures, this project underscores a profound comprehension of practical educational necessities. Employing a diverse range of research methodologies, including surveys, interviews, workshops, and competitive analysis, the project ensures a comprehensive comprehension of user behaviors and preferences. Moreover, the integration of SWOT analysis derived from competitor assessments showcases a strategic approach to system development. By combining these components, the project not only addresses a pivotal pain point but also exemplifies a multidimensional and impactful application of academic insights to real-world problem-solving.
Stakeholder Analysis
the stakeholder analysis is crucial to this project because it enables the identification and understanding of individuals and groups having stakes in or influence overAdviseManager's development. These stakeholders—from academics and students toadministrators and technical support—hold insightful knowledge that may help the
system be tailored to their various demands. Through the involvement of stakeholders,particularly through methods like interviews, their opinions would influence the system'sdesign, improving usability and boosting the possibility of successful deployment by addressing their unique needs and concerns
Research Methodologies
The research spanned four weeks, comprising distinct phases. In the initial week, participant recruitment was carried out via a survey. Subsequently, a two-week interview session was conducted, followed by a conclusive week hosting a workshop involving activities like card sorting, brainstorming, and concept validation. Initially,
20 participants were enlisted through the survey; however, interviews were conducted with 8 participants (as depicted in the figure below along with their summaries). Each interview entailed discussions with two group members, with each session lasting 45 minutes. For full coverage of interview questions and workshop- activities, see the section on Test Artifacts / Instruments.
User Interview
From the interview session, this distinctive participant (as seen in the figure below) who is a seasoned 5th-year Ph.D. student and a professor at Drexel University since 2022, has had experience on both ends of advising – asa student and a capstone advisor. Her advising process involves a range of forms, from travel expense reimbursements to capstone project management. Her main pain points and challenges are information overload, disruptive notifications, lengthy forms, and coordination issues. Her preferences include a central repository for documents, a form tracker, shared folders for streamlined submissions, priority-based notifications, and simplified coordination of contact information, aiming to enhance the efficiency and organization of her advising activities. Through the analysis of her interview, we were able to find this information that would be useful for the design and development of adviseManager. The respondent in question was able to capture both the things we had considered and the ones we had not, even though there were plenty of others who were able to do this.stions and workshop- activities, see the section on Test Artifacts / Instruments.
Workshop
During the Workshop session, we conducted individual and group-based card-sorting exercises, engaged in brainstorming sessions, and undertook concept validation activities. To facilitate this, we crafted the sorting cards through a collaborative process involving diverse inputs from our team, and interviews held with recruited participants ensuring their relevance and effectiveness in capturing user preferences and categorization preferences. Participants were engaged to do same again but in groups. The main goal was to understand how they would prefer to organize, categorize, and find the various forms and paperwork used in advising.In activities 2a & b, the aim was to gain insight into academic advising processes, workflows, activities, and procedures to discover and address pain points, optimize workflows, and improve efficiency. Starting individually, the participants sorted their cards, following a group brainstorm on the processes they took to accomplish their specified advising activity.Following activity 3, concept visualization participants were asked to choose between two Low-Fi wireframes to gain insight into user design choices and gather feedback that would help to implement accessible and intuitive user interfaces.
Objective
The objective of this project is to develop, prototypes, and evaluate a document management system (ADMS) with a focus on ensuring its utility, user-friendliness, and alignment with user needs. The primary goal is to identify the advisory process requirements and user needs, and subsequently integrate them into the design of the proposed ADMS.
User Preferences
Availability of all forms at a glance, and Sign and submit these forms through the Advising System
An option to turn on High-priority notifications/alerts/reminders and turn off low-priority notifications /alerts/ reminders -
Form tracker to record or track the status of advising forms
Fewer clicks per task (to get information needed or fill out forms)
Easy appointment scheduling i.e., including a link to schedule a meeting, having the advisor meeting times, email, and contact
Adaptive and Responsive system – Users want fewer clicks per task, optimized load times, and a responsive and efficient system, especially during peak usage times
Document Handling – Users want an integrated document handling system that would enable them to sign and submit forms and have access to their academic progress and records
Control and customization – Users want the ability to control and customize their notification and reminder preferences and privacy settings
Digital over Analog – Users prefer digital processes. That is, they want to complete tasks and form submissions online and be able to schedule appointments without any face-to-face interaction
Clear, quick, and transparent communication – Users value transparent and direct communication i.e., including instant messaging, and advisor feedback
Frustrations | Pain Points
Paper-based forms (Frustrated with printing, signing, scanning, and submitting)
Unnecessary notifications and alerts
High usage of emails, making it difficult to track and manage advising forms
High number of clicks i.e., too many clicks to get the information or fill forms you need right away
Slow load and response time, especially applications that slow down at peak times
Motivation & Needs
Instant messaging feature
Form manager, tracker & status updates
Advisor Review after each advising activity (summary of advising recommendation/feedback, Advising Traceability )
Sign & submit forms in a timely & orderly manner
Easy appointment scheduling
Features
Notifications and reminders
Form tracking and status updates
Advising traceability
Employment Portal
Messaging system
Teletherapy
Information Center
Functionalities
Ability to track academic progress
Recommendations for appointments
Access to advisors' areas of specialty
Change of authentication process
Ability to sign and submit forms
Built-in study plan
Referral system
Ability to request advising
Note-taking and recording of advising meetings
Checklist of student-recommended steps
