Skillspace
Toronto, Canada
Liftyz x Design Buddies Innovate 48hrs Hackathon
Team
Beibei Hu, Elizé Khan, Fan Fei, Jeanelle Suarez, Xinlu Chen, Xiaohan Hou
My Role
As the team lead, I divided tasks based on my team members strengths and weaknesses and managed timelines.
Skills Developed
Wireframing, Presentation, Prototyping
Tool
Figma
Build online study community for professional learners
Skillspace offers online professional training programs tailored for busy, working professionals in the tech industry from different countries. The product and design team is exploring an idea of build an online community within their education platform.
Our mission is to use the resources, conceptualize and design this new online community feature.
full prototype >
Skillspace
Toronto, Canada
Liftyz x Design Buddies Innovate 48hrs Hackathon
Team
Beibei Hu, Elizé Khan, Fan Fei, Jeanelle Suarez, Xinlu Chen, Xiaohan Hou
Team
Beibei Hu, Elizé Khan, Fan Fei, Jeanelle Suarez, Xinlu Chen, Xiaohan Hou
My Role
As the team lead, I divided tasks based on my team members strengths and weaknesses and managed timelines.
My Role
As the team lead, I divided tasks based on my team members strengths and weaknesses and managed timelines.
Skills Developed
Wireframing, Presentation, Prototyping
Skills Developed
Wireframing, Presentation, Prototyping
Tool
Figma
Tool
Figma
Build online study community for professional learners
Build online study community for professional learners
Skillspace offers online professional training programs tailored for busy, working professionals in the tech industry from different countries. The product and design team is exploring an idea of build an online community within their education platform.
Our mission is to use the resources, conceptualize and design this new online community feature.
Skillspace offers online professional training programs tailored for busy, working professionals in the tech industry from different countries. The product and design team is exploring an idea of build an online community within their education platform.
Our mission is to use the resources, conceptualize and design this new online community feature.
full prototype >
Research Findings
(Resources provided by Liftyz)
Research Findings
(Resources provided by Liftyz)
Survey Methodology
Participants: Skillspace users, primarily tech industry professionals.
Distribution: Conducted via email and the Skillspace platform.
Response Rate: 231 responses collected over two weeks.
Key Findings
Current Engagement Levels:
65% reported low to moderate engagement.
"I often feel disconnected from other learners; there's little interaction beyond the course materials," shared one respondent.
Desired Features in Online Community:
71% want forums, chat, and video calls.
"Real-time communication tools would make learning more collaborative and less isolated," a user noted.
82% seek collaborative tools for project management and document sharing.
"Having a space to work on projects together would be invaluable," mentioned another user.
85% expressed a need for networking and peer support features.
A respondent emphasized, "Networking opportunities with peers and mentors would greatly enhance my professional development."
Key Findings
Current Engagement Levels:
65% reported low to moderate engagement.
"I often feel disconnected from other learners; there's little interaction beyond the course materials," shared one respondent.
Desired Features in Online Community:
71% want forums, chat, and video calls.
"Real-time communication tools would make learning more collaborative and less isolated," a user noted.
82% seek collaborative tools for project management and document sharing.
"Having a space to work on projects together would be invaluable," mentioned another user.
85% expressed a need for networking and peer support features.
A respondent emphasized, "Networking opportunities with peers and mentors would greatly enhance my professional development."
Meet Sophia and understand her needs
Meet Sophia and understand her needs
User Flow
User Flow
This visual guide illustrates how our design strategically leads users to discover the reward system and motivates them to accumulate points.
By introducing reward system, Sophia can be motivated to actively contribute high-quality content to the community, and increase the retention rate of users, which is crucial for the platform's growth and sustainability.
Online Forum
Sophia logs into Skillspace and searches for a new course to take. She notices a new category of results – Forums. She wants to access a Course Forum in which peers can share their portfolios for review and feedback. She searches for Design Thinking to learn more about the topic. There’s a discussion currently happening on the forums about Portfolio Review, this interests her because she hasn’t looked into creating a portfolio just yet.
Earning points to unlock functions
She realizes that she has limited access to the forums! But wait! There’s a new feature that she hadn’t noticed before. She can unlock these forums by earning points on Skillspace.
Different ways of earning points
Sophia notices that she can earn extra points by contributing to the study community. There are several ways to earn points.
Complete a course
Connecting with a study buddy
Students can message their peers, collaborate with them and share files via 'My Learning'
Participate in the course forum
Students can post their progress, questions or insights of their course in the forum
Engage in live comments during class
Students can send bullet comments to conduct live interaction with their peers and mentors in both live and recorded courses.
Levels of Learners & FAQ
After Sophia collecting some points, she can check her levels of learners and what tools she can unlock now. There's also a FAQ section about questions towards points redeem
Why do these features make Skillspace the
stand-out option?
Current competition
limited forum functions
absence of live interaction among peers
lack of future connections within the learning community
Insufficient collaboration tools and platforms
absence of incentive mechanisms to motivate students engaging and learning
Next Steps
Next Steps
If we have more time, we will
Conduct the usability test for the future iteration
Re-design the hi-fi to meet accessibility needs
Improve the design logic of redeeming points
Reflection
Reflection
Leadership: It was my first time participating in a Hackathon and serving as a leader in a UX design team. Within a span of just three days, I actively monitored progress and assigned tasks to team members to ensure we could achieve high productivity within the limited time.
Storytelling: From this experience, I learned how to incorporate storytelling into our final presentation, linking every feature together seamlessly. The judges also highly praised our presentation.
Learning to let go: During the ideation stage, our team developed more than four hi-fi features. However, the most challenging aspect of the design process is knowing when to give up. After consulting with a mentor, we decided to showcase only the essential features in our final design.
Thanks for Scrolling!
Skillspace
Toronto, Canada
Liftyz x Design Buddies Innovate 48hrs Hackathon
Team
Beibei Hu, Elizé Khan, Fan Fei, Jeanelle Suarez, Xinlu Chen, Xiaohan Hou
My Role
As the team lead, I divided tasks based on my team members strengths and weaknesses and managed timelines.
Skills Developed
Wireframing, Presentation, Prototyping
Tool
Figma
Build online study community for professional learners
Skillspace offers online professional training programs tailored for busy, working professionals in the tech industry from different countries. The product and design team is exploring an idea of build an online community within their education platform.
Our mission is to use the resources, conceptualize and design this new online community feature.
full prototype >
Research Findings
(Resources provided by Liftyz)
Survey Methodology
Participants: Skillspace users, primarily tech industry professionals.
Distribution: Conducted via email and the Skillspace platform.
Response Rate: 231 responses collected over two weeks.
Key Findings
Current Engagement Levels:
65% reported low to moderate engagement.
"I often feel disconnected from other learners; there's little interaction beyond the course materials," shared one respondent.
Desired Features in Online Community:
71% want forums, chat, and video calls.
"Real-time communication tools would make learning more collaborative and less isolated," a user noted.
82% seek collaborative tools for project management and document sharing.
"Having a space to work on projects together would be invaluable," mentioned another user.
85% expressed a need for networking and peer support features.
A respondent emphasized, "Networking opportunities with peers and mentors would greatly enhance my professional development."
Meet Sophia and understand her needs
User Flow
This visual guide illustrates how our design strategically leads users to discover the reward system and motivates them to accumulate points.
By introducing reward system, Sophia can be motivated to actively contribute high-quality content to the community, and increase the retention rate of users, which is crucial for the platform's growth and sustainability.
Online Forum
Sophia logs into Skillspace and searches for a new course to take. She notices a new category of results – Forums. She wants to access a Course Forum in which peers can share their portfolios for review and feedback. She searches for Design Thinking to learn more about the topic. There’s a discussion currently happening on the forums about Portfolio Review, this interests her because she hasn’t looked into creating a portfolio just yet.
Earning points to unlock functions
She realizes that she has limited access to the forums! But wait! There’s a new feature that she hadn’t noticed before. She can unlock these forums by earning points on Skillspace.
Different ways of earning points
Sophia notices that she can earn extra points by contributing to the study community. There are several ways to earn points.
Complete a course
Connecting with a study buddy
Students can message their peers, collaborate with them and share files via 'My Learning'
Participate in the course forum
Students can post their progress, questions or insights of their course in the forum
Engage in live comments during class
Students can send bullet comments to conduct live interaction with their peers and mentors in both live and recorded courses.
Levels of Learners & FAQ
After Sophia collecting some points, she can check her levels of learners and what tools she can unlock now. There's also a FAQ section about questions towards points redeem
Why do these features make Skillspace the
stand-out option?
Current competition
limited forum functions
absence of live interaction among peers
lack of future connections within the learning community
Insufficient collaboration tools and platforms
absence of incentive mechanisms to motivate students engaging and learning
Next Steps
If we have more time, we will
Conduct the usability test for the future iteration
Re-design the hi-fi to meet accessibility needs
Improve the design logic of redeeming points
Reflection
Leadership: It was my first time participating in a Hackathon and serving as a leader in a UX design team. Within a span of just three days, I actively monitored progress and assigned tasks to team members to ensure we could achieve high productivity within the limited time.
Storytelling: From this experience, I learned how to incorporate storytelling into our final presentation, linking every feature together seamlessly. The judges also highly praised our presentation.
Learning to let go: During the ideation stage, our team developed more than four hi-fi features. However, the most challenging aspect of the design process is knowing when to give up. After consulting with a mentor, we decided to showcase only the essential features in our final design.
Thanks for Scrolling!