About
My Classes, My Next Classes, and Map My Classes are three features within the BYU Mobile app.
These features regularly jockey for position depending on the time of year, but are usually in the top 10 for features used in the app.
Each feature contains information regarding their class schedule.
Problem
While combing through the ever growing list of features in the BYU Mobile app, it became apparent that some of the features could be combined.
At that point in time, the app had never been rethought or consolidated in any way, so it took a bit of consideration before the change was decided on.
Ultimately, the “My Classes”, “My Next Class” and “Map My Classes” features were selected due to their similarities.
Stakeholders
Students
Instructors
Faculty
Parents (May benefit if helping a missonary enroll)
Spouses (Depending on the situation, as spouse may need to know a student’s schedule)
Personas
John
John is a Junior @BYU. He loves the outdoors, and constantly seeks ways to do fun things outside with his friends. He’s not a fan of the city, and as such often loses his way in town (though he always knows where he is out of the city.)
Mary
Mary is a Freshman @BYU, Mary loves technology, has joined an intramural team, and loves going to on-campus events to socialize. She’s always with her phone, so she always knows what’s going on.
Professor Quirrell
Professor Quirrell can’t dance, but he teaches Herbology at BYU. For 30 years he’s biked to campus, and enjoyed his lunch on the south side of campus. He is deep in his chosen area, and so has little time, or thought for other activities.
Persona Scenarios
John
John is a Junior, he can never remember building names, much less acronyms, he relies on the My Next Class feature to help him find his classes. He only uses it for the first week, then he just knows where he needs to be from there. He never really uses Map My Classes, as he likes the simplicity of knowing about just his next class.
Mary
Mary is a Freshman, she is still learning her way around campus. Mary loves using the Map My Classes feature, as she uses it to memorize campus buildings, and their names. She used My Classes once, since it let her add her classes to her calendar.
Professor Quirrell
Professor Quirrell has a deep secret...he’s taking Dance 190, Beginning Ballet. For the longest time, he’s only stuck to the ESC, so he’s unfamiliar with campus. He uses Map My Classes to help him navigate through the mazes of campus.
Initial Survey
The primary problem that started this process was the number of features, we surveyed to confirm that this was a problem, and found that those surveyed felt the same. Those who were surveyed agreed this would be a fine solution to the problem.
55 students surveyed
80% had used the feature
My Classes was the most popular at 42.31% preference My Classes was also selected as the most useful
Of the components of each feature, students preferred:
Weekly Layout View (29)
Ability to see classes on map (27)
Room Numbers (21)
We also analysed app statistics to find that these features were in the top ten, and often jockeyed for top three depending on the time of school year.
My Classes
3rd Most Used Feature 589,620 views
3rd Most Used Feature 589,620 views
Map My Classes
9th Most Used Feature 69,833 views
9th Most Used Feature 69,833 views
My Next Class
10th Most Used Feature 67,143 views
10th Most Used Feature 67,143 views
Prototyping
In the process of prototyping, I decided to jump into high fidelity
prototyping, as I had ample time to tweak the prototype, I took the surveyed preferences, and combined the features using new techniques available to each platform. The prototype below shows a few screens for iOS.
Final Prototypes: 1) This screen represents the new "Next Class" view. It provides the same information as before, and even a little more. 2) This is the detail view for any classes that are tapped. 3) This is the main screen, where a student is able to interact with the map, and see their weekly schedule. 4) A weekly breakdown of a student's schedule.
Reflection
I enjoyed working on this project, and I am also pleased with the final product. From the testing that was completed, students will enjoy having these three successful features combined into a single accessible place. The work completed here will also help students better manage their schedules and be more efficient with their time.