eSpark is a learning tool that adapts content by how well students are doing – struggling students are presented with more foundational content and successful students are given more challenging content.
When I arrived at eSpark, the product was in need of a thorough overhaul. It was about eight years old at the time!
Part of the reason for the redesign was that eSpark wasn’t working well for older students. Since it was used for K-8th grade in some schools, students were clamoring for a change in the upper grades since they had been seeing the same design for so many years!
The first stage of the project was to design a brand-new experience for K-2 students, and a basic MVP product for grades 3 and up. The reasoning behind that decision was that the K-2 version would have more complex story elements to tie the content together, and the 3+ version would be more simplified structurally.
The new K-2 version of eSpark was inspired by visiting Kindergarten classrooms where students were just starting school – making friends in school is such a powerful experience! The design concept centers around students meeting friendly characters who have new lessons to share, and these friends traveling with the student as they progress through their lesson.
After lots of classroom visits and paper / clickable prototype tests, friendly engineers helped to assemble an early version of eSpark so that it could be tested in classrooms with real content!
Here’s the early K-2 version with some temporary versions of the critters:
…and here is the temporary 3+ version for the older kiddos:
After extensive testing, more refinements were added to the new K-2 version of eSpark – helped along by some more specific design specs!
Meanwhile, it was time to replace the temporary design for older students. I brought lots of sketches and rough paper prototypes into classrooms for students for feedback.
I was pretty scared to show my designs to sixth-graders, but they were actually nice – and gave me some very carefully-considered feedback.
Since the concept that we decided upon was based around the excitement of exploring new places, I designed the 3+ version to be easy to update, with the different graphic elements fitting into the same format.
Below are some of the specs and finished screen designs:
