ADOBE FOR EDUCATION

Personalizing the way educators discover creative teaching resources

I led the design and research for introducing personalization to Education Exchange, Adobe's global hub for millions of educators to find teaching materials, professional learning courses, and connect with other educators.

ADOBE FOR EDUCATION

Personalizing the way educators discover creative teaching resources

I led the design and research for introducing personalization to Education Exchange, Adobe's global hub for millions of educators to find teaching materials, professional learning courses, and connect with other educators.

Role

Experience Design

User Research

Timeline

June - September 2021

Team

Design Manager, Senior Designer, Product Managers, Content Producers, Developers

Team

Design Manager, Senior Designer, Product Managers, Content Producers, Developers

Role

Experience Design

User Research

Timeline

June - September 2021

Team

Design Manager, Senior Designer, Product Managers, Content Producers, Developers

OUTCOMES

The personalization experience was shipped with successful results.

28%

increase in content views

12%

increase in teaching resources downloaded

50%

shorter search times

PROBLEM

Educators spend unnecessary time searching and filtering looking for relevant materials on each visit because they teach specific subjects and grade levels.

PROBLEM

Educators spend unnecessary time searching and filtering looking for relevant materials on each visit because they teach specific subjects and grade levels.

I like seeing teaching resources by subject… I only teach science so it would be a waste of time to see other subjects

Ms. Foster, 4th & 5th Grade Science Teacher

I like seeing teaching resources by subject… I only teach science so it would be a waste of time to see other subjects

Ms. Foster, 4th & 5th Grade Science Teacher

DEFINE

Clarifying the difference between personalization and customization

Customization refers to giving users control over their experience.

The goal is to allow users to choose and modify what type of resources they want to see. This is the first step to a personalized experience.

Personalization is about tailoring an experience to the user.

Because we now know their customization preferences, we can tailor our resources each time they visit our platform.

DESIGN

I designed and A/B tested 4 variations of ways for educators to input their resource preferences.

Card
In-title menu dropdown
Tags
Button flyout menu

Usability testing on 5 educators led to design principles that guided the product strategy.

Usability testing on 5 educators led to design principles that guided the product strategy.

Support multi-selection

Educators often teach more than one subject and grade level at a time, so allow them to select all that is relevant to them rather than force a singular choice. They can also edit these choices if their subject and grade level changes from year to year.

Support multi-selection

Educators often teach more than one subject and grade level at a time, so allow them to select all that is relevant to them rather than force a singular choice. They can also edit these choices if their subject and grade level changes from year to year.

Breadth at first glance

Designs that were above the fold and showed all of the options were more likely to get interactions. Educators who did not scroll down missed the opportunity to personalize.

Breadth at first glance

Designs that were above the fold and showed all of the options were more likely to get interactions. Educators who did not scroll down missed the opportunity to personalize.

Guide users to view more

Since the home page only surfaces the top 4 most relevant results, lead users to the search page with pre-selected filters for their preferences.

Guide users to view more

Since the home page only surfaces the top 4 most relevant results, lead users to the search page with pre-selected filters for their preferences.

Personalize beyond customizations

Surface teaching resources for time of year, such as Black History Month or Christmas time, to increase personalization beyond their subject and grade level.

Personalize beyond customizations

Surface teaching resources for time of year, such as Black History Month or Christmas time, to increase personalization beyond their subject and grade level.

The final designs utilized the insights from usability testing.

Using tags for subject and grade level shows the breadth of options that an educator can select, and is also more clear in allowing for multi-selection.

Once selections have been made, educators view the top 4 resources based on the content strategy — for example, Adobe Express was newly launched targeting students, so we surfaced resources directing traffic to that tool.

Reflections

Reflections

Increase level of personalization over time

Gradually move from user input to collecting implicit behaviors over time rather than all at once, making the experience more organic.

Increase level of personalization over time

Gradually move from user input to collecting implicit behaviors over time rather than all at once, making the experience more organic.

Balance discovery and familiarity

Integrate "exploration" features to expose users to new content while still prioritizing familiar, personalized recommendations.

Balance discovery and familiarity

Integrate "exploration" features to expose users to new content while still prioritizing familiar, personalized recommendations.