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Quincy Conley, PhD

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Case 05 · Pearson · Athens / Global Learning Platform · 2016–2019

Making the problem-solving process visible

Context

Students needed guided practice and feedback on their reasoning. Instructors needed to see students’ work to understand where they struggled, while managing the demands of larger classes.

Executive summary

Role
UX Researcher and Research Lead
Contribution
Secured another two and a half weeks of research and coordinated research support across GLP teams.
Scaffolding decision
Break engineering problems into explicit steps rather than ask only for a final answer.

My research leadership described here is specific to Athens.

Research decision

Securing more research

After two research rounds, the team had identified promising features, but questions remained about their implementation. The original allocation covered only two rounds. I presented the remaining uncertainty, secured another two and a half weeks, and coordinated research support across GLP teams.

Product decision

The additional research informed a scaffolding decision: break engineering problems into explicit steps rather than ask only for a final answer. This made the problem-solving process visible and created opportunities for feedback along the way.

Product comparison

Making the steps visible

Restyled from original project materials.

The Athens screen is a prototype from the project materials, not a screenshot of the shipped product.

Earlier product experience

Earlier product experience, restyled: a MyEngineeringLab homework screen titled “Homework: Week 4 homework” for problem CC 12-1. Part (b) asks for the mass of gas in a tank and offers a single answer box (“The mass is __ grams”). A Question Help menu and a More Info window showing the gas constant R are open. The footer reads “Enter your answer in the answer box and then click Check Answer” beside a Check Answer button.
  1. Marker 1: Final-answer entry: a single answer box (“The mass is __ grams”).
  2. Marker 2: Correctness check: “Check Answer” after the answer is entered.

Earlier product experienceRestyled from original project materials.

Scroll sideways within the screen to see all of it. The numbered key is below the screen.

Earlier product experience, restyled: a MyEngineeringLab homework screen titled “Homework: Week 4 homework” for problem CC 12-1. Part (b) asks for the mass of gas in a tank and offers a single answer box (“The mass is __ grams”). A Question Help menu and a More Info window showing the gas constant R are open. The footer reads “Enter your answer in the answer box and then click Check Answer” beside a Check Answer button.
  1. Marker 1: Final-answer entry: a single answer box (“The mass is __ grams”).
  2. Marker 2: Correctness check: “Check Answer” after the answer is entered.

Athens prototype

Athens prototype, restyled: “Problem 5” with a score of 19/20 and a diagram of boxes B and D on inclined surfaces. The work is divided into five labeled stages — Given, Free body diagram, Equations, Solution, and Answer — each beside a feedback panel: “Listed all given” (3/3), “Correct free body diagram” (10/10), “Correct equation for problem” (3/3), “Solving these four equations yields to the final equation” (3/3), and “Check math before submission” (0/1).
  1. Marker 1: Given — feedback: “Listed all given” (3/3).
  2. Marker 2: Free body diagram — feedback: “Correct free body diagram” (10/10).
  3. Marker 3: Equations — feedback: “Correct equation for problem” (3/3).
  4. Marker 4: Solution — feedback on the solution steps (3/3).
  5. Marker 5: Answer — feedback: “Check math before submission” (0/1).

Athens prototypeRestyled from original project materials.

Scroll sideways within the screen to see all of it. The numbered key is below the screen.

Athens prototype, restyled: “Problem 5” with a score of 19/20 and a diagram of boxes B and D on inclined surfaces. The work is divided into five labeled stages — Given, Free body diagram, Equations, Solution, and Answer — each beside a feedback panel: “Listed all given” (3/3), “Correct free body diagram” (10/10), “Correct equation for problem” (3/3), “Solving these four equations yields to the final equation” (3/3), and “Check math before submission” (0/1).
  1. Marker 1: Given — feedback: “Listed all given” (3/3).
  2. Marker 2: Free body diagram — feedback: “Correct free body diagram” (10/10).
  3. Marker 3: Equations — feedback: “Correct equation for problem” (3/3).
  4. Marker 4: Solution — feedback on the solution steps (3/3).
  5. Marker 5: Answer — feedback: “Check math before submission” (0/1).
The earlier experience emphasized answer entry and correctness. The Athens prototype made intermediate problem-solving steps and associated feedback visible, illustrating the scaffolding decision informed by the research.

Validation matrix

The feature-validation matrix documents testing across three rounds and MVP inclusion for stepwise practice, free-body diagramming, student feedback, and an equation editor.

Restyled from original project materials.

  1. Stepwise Practice

    Provide scaffolded practice with problem solving methodology based on common engineering practices that is customizable by instructors, so that students get the strong foundation they'll need to be successful engineers.

    Research Round: R1
    Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R2
    Fidelity of concept: Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R3
    N/A
    MVP
    Yes

  2. Free-Body Diagramming

    Simplified representations in a problem of an object (the body), and the force vectors acting on it.

    Research Round: R1
    Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R2
    Fidelity of concept: Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R3
    N/A
    MVP
    Yes

  3. Student Feedback

    When students get stuck on a problem or don't have the skills or concepts they need to complete a problem successfully, Athens will provide them with help and targeted remediation, including worked examples of similar problems, math and other prereq skills refreshers, and instructional content.

    Research Round: R1
    N/A
    Research Round: R2
    Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R3
    Fidelity of concept: Tested and Validated
    MVP
    Yes

  4. Equation Editor

    All assignment items must be graded instantly, consistently, and accurately, with data flowing immediately to the gradebook.

    Research Round: R1
    N/A
    Research Round: R2
    Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R3
    Fidelity of concept: Tested and Validated
    MVP
    Yes

  5. Dashboard

    Provide access to students' fully worked solutions, results and feedback for both instructors and students, so that they have a common, recorded view of each student's work to refer to throughout the course.

    Research Round: R1
    N/A
    Research Round: R2
    Tested and Validated
    Research Round: R3
    Fidelity of concept: Tested and Validated
    MVP
    Vector-based Palette for Version 1More robust solution for Version 2
Feature-validation matrix documenting research across three rounds and decisions about MVP inclusion.

Research coordination

Alongside the product research, I created a shared research activity log to coordinate questions and priorities across Athens, Rio, and Oslo. It made overlapping research needs visible and supported cross-team coordination. Cost and time savings were not quantified.

Coordinating research across products

Restyled excerpt from original project materials.

Formatting simplified; wording and recorded priorities preserved. PMM expanded for clarity.

Workspace tabs in the source log

  • Rio
  • Oslo
  • Athens (selected tab in the source)
  • Research Schedule
  • Research Strategy
  • Agnostic Items

Athens is the selected tab in the source.

Priority columns

For the Product Marketing Manager (PMM) to determine: High, Medium, Low.

  1. Topic · Dashboard

    Research Question

    What reporting and actionable insights of student performance do instructors value? What information would instructors want to track from the assignment?

    Priority by round

    R1: Priority for Explore Phase
    Blank in source
    R2: Priority for Validate Phase
    High
    R3:
    Blank in source
    Alpha
    Blank in source

    Project Significance

    Do instructors want access to students' fully worked solutions, results and feedback for both, so that they have a common, recorded view of each student's work to refer to throughout the course?

  2. Topic · Dashboard

    Research Question

    What actionable insights do students value in a dashboard?

    Priority by round

    R1: Priority for Explore Phase
    Blank in source
    R2: Priority for Validate Phase
    High
    R3:
    Blank in source
    Alpha
    Blank in source

    Project Significance

    Do students want to see how many hints they used, what part of the problem solving process they scored well on vs. not as well, completion rates and scores?

  3. Topic · Product Model Definition

    Research Question

    What is the minimum that this type of solution needs to deliver on, in order to make an impact on student understanding and execution of the problem solving process?

    Priority by round

    R1: Priority for Explore Phase
    Blank in source
    R2: Priority for Validate Phase
    High
    R3:
    VERY HIGH
    Alpha
    Blank in source

    Project Significance

    MVP definition

  1. Questions made explicit.
  2. Priorities recorded across research rounds.
  3. Product significance documented alongside each question.
The shared log organized research questions, priorities across rounds, and their significance to product decisions. Separate product tabs and shared planning tabs supported coordination across GLP teams.
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