Award Explorer
Helping University of Toronto students find awards & scholarships in a single search session
Financial obligations is a constant cause of concern and anxiety among students. In November 2020, CTV reported that "every year millions of dollars in grants and scholarships are left on the table because students don't bother to look for them." But why is that?
Client
Innovation Hub @ UofT
Role
UX Designer & Researcher
Team
2 UX Designers
2 UX Researchers
Duration
8 weeks
Problem
How might we help the University of Toronto students FIND the awards best suited for their needs?
The University of Toronto offers 3,861 undergraduate awards and 1,004 graduate awards. But the institute's decentralized structure makes it difficult to gather relevant information. Students consider the task of searching for awards tedious, time-taking and frustrating. As a result, students frequently miss out on the opportunities and support available.
Goal
Time Taken
To find all the eligible awards
Result
~3 mins
To create award profile & the get the list of eligible awards
Solution
A profile-based Award Explorer integrated with the university student portal (ACORN) to assist students identify and track awards they are eligible for
Design Process
Overview of the project phases
Research
How do students pursue financial aid and what challenges do they face?
We wanted to uncover how students currently approach securing awards for supporting their education. We began with a survey to narrow down the area of focus, conducted user interviews to learn about motivation and barriers and finally ran usability tests on the existing Award Explorer to discover what is/is not working and students' expectations from it.
41
Survey responses
11
User interviews
11
Usability tests
Insight #1
Very few students apply for awards
Despite the significant number of awards offered by the university, only a handful of students even apply for them. These numbers are alarmingly low when it comes to international students. Even though a tool (Award Explore) exists, more than 50% of students are unaware of it.
27/41
Students had NOT applied for ANY award
12/19
International students had NEVER applied for an award
24/41
Students were NOT AWARE of the current Award Explorer
Insight #2
Finding the right awards to apply for is a challenge
Award information is scattered across various university and faculty websites. Students spend a lot of time just searching for information. Reading detailed award descriptions to determine eligibility takes a lot of time and energy. The lack of a fixed structure or format for award descriptions causes students to sift through the every details of each award.
Insight #3
Keeping track of awards is chaotic and inefficient
Without a proper tool, students often resort to their own methods which often cause frustration and confusion. The onus to stay updated with the latest information and newest awards falls completely on the students.
Taking Screenshots
Capturing information found during the search session.
Bookmarking Webpages
Saving references to read the details later.
The main problems students are facing
Scattered Information
Award and scholarship information is spread across various university and faculty websites.
Time Consuming
Reading detailed award descriptions to determine eligibility takes a lot of time and energy
Missed Deadlines
Application deadlines are often missed due to the chaotic and time-consuming nature of the award search process.
All the learnings and insights from our research indicated that the biggest hurdle the students faced in their financial aid journey was finding the right information.
Finding the right information was the biggest hurdle students faced
User Persona
Meet Izzie the busy international student
We synthesized all the data and insights from the research to create the persona so that the team can view the challenges through her eyes and come with ways to help her.
Design Goals
Defining the desired outcomes for Izzie
We defined the design goals so that the whole team can align to the vision and work together focusing on achieving on the same set of goals
ELIMINATE
Izzie can ELIMINATE inapplicable awards WITHOUT READING award descriptions
SHORTLIST
Izzie can SHORTLIST which awards to apply for in a SINGLE session
TRACK
Izzie can TRACK all awards she in interested in a SINGLE place and never miss a deadline.
Ideation
Exploring possible solutions
Prioritization
Selecting a solution based on impact & feasibility
The combination of these two ideas address the pain points identified from research:
1. One source of information - university student portal.
2. Expediting the search process by pulling student information from the portal.
​
User Journey
We documented Izzie's current user journey and envisioned the desired ideal journey with the selected solution.
Core Features
Key Solution Elements
We determined the key features in the solution to achieve the design goals.
AWARD PROFILE
A student profile to narrow down the list of awards for Izzie
DASHBOARD
One glance view of the Izzie's award application journey
CALENDER VIEW
A visual representation to help Izzie to keep track of deadlines
Defining a comprehensive award profile
From our research we identified common parameters that students use to determine if they are eligible for an award. In addition we analyzed 100s of award descriptions to identify patterns in eligibility criteria. Armed with this knowledge we defined a comprehensive award profile.
Academic
Academic standing in the form of GPA requirement, graduation year, faculty, program, level of study and major.
Extra-curricular Activities
Active participation in sports and community programs.
Demographic
Nationality, gender and ethnic identity, accessibility requirements and household circumstances.
Financial Situation
Financial need and assistance received so far.
Low-fidelity designs
From there, we started iteratively refining designs and went through multiple iterations. We on the three key solution areas that we defined.
Create Award Profile
Awards Dashboard
Get Eligible Award List and Shortlist Awards
Design Iteration #1
Design changes based on user feedback
We collected feedback on the low-fidelity designs from 4 students by walking them through the storyboard. We were looking to test the clarity of the question and comprehension of the features.
Adding description for unfamiliar terms
Before
Certain terms such as 'Legal Status' used in the questions were unclear to the students.
After
Tooltips with description of the terms were added next to questions.
A focused dashboard
Before
Students were overwhelmed with the amount of information in the dashboard.
After
We reduced the sections of the dashboard, with focus on actions and overview.
Calendar view toggle
Since we removed the calendar view from the dashboard, we decided to introduce a toggle between list and calendar in the Eligible Awards and Shortlisted Awards tabs.
Mid-fidelity Designs
Usability Testing
Evaluation of Mid-fidelity Prototype
We evaluated the mid-fidelity prototype by conducting a short usability test with 3 graduate students. We were looking to test if the Award Explorer embedded in ACORN address the pain points identified in research and usability of the features.
Goals
-
Are the core features true to the design goals?
-
Are any critical pain points not addressed?
-
Are the core features clear and discoverable?
Execution
-
Observation + Interview
-
3 tasks
-
30 - 45 minutes
Task completion
4
/5
Satisfaction rating
Design Iteration #2
Design changes based on user feedback
We collected feedback on the low-fidelity designs from 4 students by walking them through the storyboard. We were looking to test the clarity of the question and comprehension of the features.
Download as calendar
Before
Students did NOT find the Calendar view particularly useful.
After
We learnt that students extensively use other calendar application to keep track of things. So we introduced 'Add to Calendar' feature.
Comprehensive introduction
Before
The introduction screen did not provide enough information about how the Award Explorer works
After
Clear instructional information was added to explain how Award Explorer works
Final High-fidelity Designs
Create award profile
Students create their award profile on the university student portal. The information already available on the portal is pre-filled in their profile.
Shortlist and awards dashboard
Students received a list of awards they are eligible for. After viewing details, students can shortlist the ones they are interested in. The Awards Dashboard gives a clear overview.
Reflections
Project Limitations
01 Lack of generalizability
Due to time and covid restriction we were not able to recruit research participants from a diverse student pool. Most of our participants were graduate students from our faculty. Therefore, our research findings lack generalizability.
02 Technical feasibility not validated
We were not able to validate the technical feasibility due to lack of involvement of concerned stakeholder. We made assumptions where ever necessary. Changes may be needed after consulting with technical team.
Next Steps
01 From shortlisting to applying
Students' journey does not end with identifying the awards? How might we help them in applying for the awards?
02 Operating database of awards
Investigate the what, where, when, why, and how of creating and maintaining the awards database efficiently.