WPA toolkit

Overview

Background

The initiative involves the development of an online toolkit tailored for new and under-resourced Writing Program Administrators (WPAs). Housed on a disciplinary platform, this toolkit is designed to empower administrators in confidently navigate uncertainties such as pandemics and budget fluctuations. Offering resources for crisis planning, assessment advocacy, and outreach strategies, it aims to cultivate adaptable writing education programs. The toolkit serves as a comprehensive resource, enabling administrators to proactively address challenges, streamline solutions, and share best practices across diverse contexts.

Personal Contribution

Conducted sponsor meetings
Conducted workshops with sponsors
Sketched

Designed low-fi and mid-fi prototypes

Conducted primary and secondary research

Team presentation and documentation

Project Info

Team

Greta Segert

Matt Weaver

Gianna Maihofer

Lizzy Jarrell

Maddie Braile

Duration

Fall 2023

≈14 Weeks

Tools

FigJam

Figma

Skills

User Interview

Sketching

Framing

Wire-framing

Mid-Fi Prototype

What is a WPA?

Why is a WPA important?

Our Problem Frame

Trying to figure out How might we design comprehensive toolkit that

provides essential resources, knowledge, and support for WPAs to succeed in their role

Goals:

- Create a resource that supports WPAs in their current work

-Increase/improve/facilitate communication between WPAs

-Streamline resources to help facilitate crisis management

Research

We initiated our exploration by delving into the National Census of Writing, aiming to understand the responsibilities of writing program administrators. Subsequently, we scrutinized our sponsor's dissertation table to pinpoint challenges, which ultimately guided us in crafting a user journey map that emphasizes existing gaps.

User Journey Map

The goal of this user journey map was to highlight gaps in our stakeholders’ journey to help our team further grasp what WPAs do on a given task and in which areas we need to learn more.

Investigated situation: Writing Program Administrator reaching out to another Writing Program Administrator, revealed deficiencies in utilizing resources and uncertainties surrounding the extension of the overall experience.

Employed gained insights to create an interview protocol centered on communication, strengths/weaknesses, and crisis management.

Interviews

Initially, we interviewed current Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) to examine how our stakeholders engage in communication with other WPAs, navigate challenges, and fulfill their roles. Simultaneously, we sought to emphasize both the existing strengths and weaknesses within their current positions.

Task Analysis

We performed a task analysis to understand how our users presently accomplish tasks and pinpoint potential challenges in their workflow.

What we found :

Prioritization Matrix Activity:

Engaging three of our stakeholders, Writing Program Administrators (WPAs), we conducted a prioritization matrix exercise. During this activity, our stakeholders ranked various activities, features, and tasks identified through our research based on their perceived levels of high value, high urgency, low urgency, and low value. This exercise provided insights into the significance of specific features for our prototype.

We color-coded each feature to help easily distinguish how sticky notes landed on the matrix.

The features were based off of some of our Sponsor's Dissertation and our interview findings

Our Solution

During our initial sketch session, inspired by insights gleaned from interviews, our team brainstormed ideas, assessed sketches using Figma, and commenced the wireframing process, guided by design questions and concepts proposed by team members.

First Sketches

Wireframing

The wireframe established a distinct layout and structure for our toolkit website, directing the positioning of buttons and interactive features. It tackled potential concerns, such as integrating a sign-in page and seamlessly incorporating advocacy into the design space. This process ultimately molded our conceptual ideas into a well-organized prototype.

Initial Prototypes:

Final Prototypes:

Reflection:

In summary, our team successfully crafted a website prototype that effectively addresses several key challenges faced by Writing Program Administrators (WPAs). The primary pain points we targeted included ensuring user security, establishing a central method of communication between WPAs, easing the process of finding new connections, and addressing the sustainability issues of existing platforms. To tackle these challenges, our platform facilitates seamless communication among WPAs, fosters meaningful connections, allows for the uploading of resources to aid colleagues with uncertainties, and incorporates a resource-viewing feature for enhanced knowledge-sharing. Through these solutions, our prototype aims to provide a comprehensive and practical tool for WPAs, enhancing their overall experience and efficiency.

What I learned from this project:

Valuing user feedback as a cornerstone, our design process revolved around actively listening to and integrating user input. This iterative approach proved invaluable, allowing us to make enhancements that genuinely resonated with our target audience. Emphasizing simplicity in design elements and features was pivotal for accessibility, ensuring that the platform remained user-friendly and accessible to individuals with diverse technological backgrounds. In fostering teamwork, we recognized the importance of strategic task division, enhancing productivity by assigning specific responsibilities to teams during meetings. This collaborative and well-organized approach enabled us to concentrate more effectively on distinct aspects of the project, contributing to the overall success of our design endeavors.

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