MyBTEC
Online platform enabling teachers to streamline planning, delivery and assessment of vocational qualifications allowing them more time to spend with their students. See how it was brought back to life to make it more inclusive and easier to use.
Inheriting a legacy
myBTEC was initially created with the aim to digitise processes of vocational qualification (BTEC) delivery that were traditionally done manually. The environment was a straightforward conversion from manual to digital with little attention to the user experience.
It worked well with users that were familiar with all the roles within the system and had used myBTEC regularly. However, it was not sufficiently designed for new and infrequent users. The interface contained inconsistencies, which hindered the users' ability to learn the system through familiarisation. User journey was disjointed, meaning that users often got lost and could not accomplish simple tasks without help and support. As such, it discouraged usage.
It worked well with users that were familiar with all the roles within the system and had used myBTEC regularly. However, it was not sufficiently designed for new and infrequent users. The interface contained inconsistencies, which hindered the users' ability to learn the system through familiarisation. User journey was disjointed, meaning that users often got lost and could not accomplish simple tasks without help and support. As such, it discouraged usage.
Some of myBTEC legacy screens
The challenge
I worked within a small team and I was responsible for the research, experience strategy, interaction and visual design. My challenge was creating an intuitive interface that reflected the process users were familiar with, and designing an experience that allowed teachers to reduce their admin work and increase time spent with learners. Aim was to improve the platform in the short term by coming up with 'quick wins' so that business development teams can grow its user base.
Along the way, I had to gain a buy‐in from Pearson executives, senior stakeholders and other teams to continue investing into and grow myBTEC further. This was our last chance to make myBTEC successful, or scrap it.
Along the way, I had to gain a buy‐in from Pearson executives, senior stakeholders and other teams to continue investing into and grow myBTEC further. This was our last chance to make myBTEC successful, or scrap it.
Understanding the framework
I knew nothing about BTEC or vocational qualifications. I had to quickly get to grips with qualification framework and basic processes. I was lucky enough to work alongside of great Project and Product Managers, who had immense knowledge on the subject, and I quickly discovered how complicated this system really is.
BTEC is a vocational qualification framework split across different levels, sectors and years when they were created. This meant that the process and user journeys varied depending on each of those variables, including users' role, whilst at the same time adhering to qualification regulations set by Ofqual.
BTEC is a vocational qualification framework split across different levels, sectors and years when they were created. This meant that the process and user journeys varied depending on each of those variables, including users' role, whilst at the same time adhering to qualification regulations set by Ofqual.
Preliminary research
Having conducted initial face-to-face user research and heuristic review on the current state of myBTEC, we identified a number of key issues:
• Number of issues arose from the placement, labelling, visibility and intent of calls to action, which were crucial to completing tasks.
• A large number of features and functionality relied heavily on certain pages and tabs, which were working too hard to satisfy many functions.
• Critical functionalities were not immediately visible within their context, preventing effective use of the system.
• Lack of informative feedback and guidance meant users often abandoned tasks resulting in incomplete user journeys.
• Crucial tasks required an excessive number of steps and extensive knowledge of qualification delivery process in order to be completed.
Research outcomes - issues and notes around possible solutions
Visualising a journey
I spent a great deal of time mapping out the user journeys, processes and making sense of the existing content before. This involved a great deal of task analysis and card sorting work. We faced particular challenges with factoring in different user permissions and sign-off workflows.
I decided to concentrate on core functionalities that would make the most impact.
I decided to concentrate on core functionalities that would make the most impact.
A small part of myBTEC user journey
Concepts
Instead of wire-framing, I sketched quick designs on paper. I used paper prototyping techniques to bring the designs to life and evaluate them with our users. This helped me work quickly, save time, and opened my eyes to more ideas. Sketching these concepts helped me form a broader view of the system earlier ensuring a more cohesive design.
Early concepts and sketches
Prototyping
Once we were confident that our concepts were satisfactory, I created an interactive prototype (100+ pages) in Axure in order to validate our proposals. Communicating requirements face-to-face and discussing constraints and possibilities with users was an effective way of solving the Interaction Design. We worked collaboratively, tested constantly, and iterated progressively.
Interactive prototype (Axure RP)
Validation
Before I started working on this project, a contracted UX designer carried out a scenario-based user research. He asked each user to carry out 10 individual tasks in myBTEC. Each task represented a core functionality that was crucial to BTEC qualification delivery. He achieved 60% success rate at task completion.
I used his test results as a benchmark to validate our prototype. I devised identical scenario-based user test by asking users to complete the same tasks, but this time in our prototype. We achieved 99% task completion.
I used his test results as a benchmark to validate our prototype. I devised identical scenario-based user test by asking users to complete the same tasks, but this time in our prototype. We achieved 99% task completion.
Scenario-based user test results. Comparison between legacy and prototype.
Specs
I created detailed style and interaction guide to communicate requirements to the development team and support our quality assurance teams in writing test cases. This document keeps evolving and improving over time.
Parts of myBTEC style and interaction guide
The Agile way
In order to quickly improve myBTEC experience before the start of the new academic year we had to begin development alongside the existing platform. In true agile fashion we broke development into epics and prioritised them in order of impact on the user experience. Each new feature and functionality we developed was immediately deployed and replaced the old one.
Making way for improved experience
The screens below show some of the final designs.
Some of myBTEC screens
Little goes a long way
Our designs had promising results as we tested all through the development process, but we didn't expect small and incremental changes we were making to make an instant impact in the way they did. We were resolving real problems.
INCREASE IN TASK COMPLETION BY 81%
COURSE AND ASSIGNMENT COMPLETION UP BY 72%
INCREASE IN ACTIVE USERS BY 243%
It is still early days, the development is still underway and we are continuously iterating. However, signs are promising and feedback from users has been brilliant.
Tradeoffs
User experience is about balance between managing users' needs and expectations with business goals and objectives. We could have decided to build new version of myBTEC separate to the old one. However, as we had a small team, by the time we would have completed and were ready for launch it would have been too late. Active user base was already in a downward spiral. If we didn't improve the experience quickly and show our customers how they can benefit from using myBTEC, they would have left us, and business would have killed the new version before we had a chance to deploy it. It would've been the end.
The only option was to rebuild bit by bit. This meant confusing user experience for active users in the short term as they switched between old and new parts of the system.
Was it ideal? No. However, we were able to show users we were making incremental improvements, meeting their expectations and making their experience better. At the same time we managed to get a buy-in from our senior team to keep going, because we could show them that we were on the right track.
The only option was to rebuild bit by bit. This meant confusing user experience for active users in the short term as they switched between old and new parts of the system.
Was it ideal? No. However, we were able to show users we were making incremental improvements, meeting their expectations and making their experience better. At the same time we managed to get a buy-in from our senior team to keep going, because we could show them that we were on the right track.
Final thoughts
To say that that development was/is hard would be an understatement.
Re-building legacy platform meant that while we were improving existing features and building new ones we still had to support the old ecosystem and resolve legacy bugs along the way, and that slowed us down. Connecting decades old databases to the new frameworks created issues and sometimes meant that certain features we planned to build just weren't possible. We had to find ways around these issues, which sometimes meant going back to the drawing board, quickly iterating and testing already validated designs.
myBTEC had to adhere to already established product brand guidelines, which wasn't well adapted for web-use. The use of orange colour didn't meet certain accessibility standards, something I was very vocal on. However, we did our best to meet at least AA accessibility standards.
After all is said and done, I believe what makes this project successful is that it is, and how it is being used, despite all the compromises that had to be made. We have managed to turn it around and grow its active users, make them engaged and enjoy the experience of using myBTEC. What's more, we passed the 'quick fix' phase, exceeded our business objectives and are extending myBTEC beyond its initial purpose.
Re-building legacy platform meant that while we were improving existing features and building new ones we still had to support the old ecosystem and resolve legacy bugs along the way, and that slowed us down. Connecting decades old databases to the new frameworks created issues and sometimes meant that certain features we planned to build just weren't possible. We had to find ways around these issues, which sometimes meant going back to the drawing board, quickly iterating and testing already validated designs.
myBTEC had to adhere to already established product brand guidelines, which wasn't well adapted for web-use. The use of orange colour didn't meet certain accessibility standards, something I was very vocal on. However, we did our best to meet at least AA accessibility standards.
After all is said and done, I believe what makes this project successful is that it is, and how it is being used, despite all the compromises that had to be made. We have managed to turn it around and grow its active users, make them engaged and enjoy the experience of using myBTEC. What's more, we passed the 'quick fix' phase, exceeded our business objectives and are extending myBTEC beyond its initial purpose.