Summary
The Tutoring Answering Tools research and usability-test project focused on testing potential improvements to the tools within the Brainly Tutor desktop application.
   
Through in-depth interviews and prototype testing with experienced Brainly tutors, the project aimed to gain insights into their workflow, evaluate proposed improvements, and prioritize enhancements to optimize the user experience.

In this project I collaborated in brainstorming on potential improvements, participating in co-designing sessions, and preparing an extensive prototype used on the usability test as well as helping my fellow UX designer during the interviews.
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Company • Brainly
Role •​​​​​​​ Senior Interaction Product Designer
Year •​​​​​​​ 2022
Objectives & Key features
1. Understanding the tutor's working context ​​​​​​​
2. Evaluating the drawing tool improvements
  
1. Understanding the Tutor's Work Context: The study provided valuable insights into the diverse backgrounds and experiences of Brainly tutors, who ranged from students to professionals like engineers and teachers. 

Despite varying backgrounds, all tutors shared a common goal of helping others and had extensive experience with the Brainly platform. 

Among the tools available in the Brainly Tutor app, the equation editor, text editor with image upload, and drawing tool were the most commonly used. 

However, tutors encountered challenges with the drawing tool, including usability issues, limited functionality, and difficulties in creating and saving drawings efficiently.

2.  Evaluating Drawing Tool Improvements: Prototype testing revealed a positive reception to proposed improvements, such as expanding drawing space and duplicating drawing areas.  Tutors appreciated the potential of these enhancements to streamline their workflow and improve the usability of the drawing tool. 

Overall, the tutors expressed their satisfaction with the proposed improvements and highlighted their potential value in enhancing the tutoring experience. 

The most appreciated improvements included expanding drawing space, duplicating drawing areas, and uploading images directly to the drawing space. Conversely, features such as "Send to back" and specific shapes like hexagons and ellipses were less favored by tutors.
Learnings & Future directions
By actively involving tutors in the evaluation and improvement process, we gained valuable insights into their workflow, challenges, and preferences, ultimately guiding the development of more intuitive and functional features within the tutor app.
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This project highlighted the significant reliance of tutors on external tools due to limitations within the current app. 

Moreover, workflow interruptions and time constraints contribute to tutor stress, compounded by language barriers and uncertainties in providing answers. Usability issues with the drawing tool further impede effective use and adoption. 

A couple of recommendations stemming from these insights include investigating integration with external and internal tools, exploring methods to show students the progress of drawings for enhanced explanation flow, and improving the drawing tool's usability through the introduction of new features and enhancements. 

Additionally, implementing notifications about new features, investigating user offline behavior and session flow, and exploring copy-paste and image upload behaviors are suggested to improve the user experience.
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