The Oppia Foundation : Expanding Subject Access for Young Learners

Team

1 UX Designer

1 Product Manager

1 Web Tech Lead

1 Developer

Duration

3 Months

Website

Oppia

About Oppia

Oppia is a Northern California-based non-profit organization focused on making education accessible, particularly in underserved regions like Africa and Brazil. My role as a UX Designer was to translate product requirements into effective design solutions to increase engagement with Oppia’s expanding subject offerings. Final deliverables included desktop and mobile prototypes and a developer handoff file.

Oppia is a Northern California-based non-profit organization focused on making education accessible, particularly in underserved regions like Africa and Brazil.

My role as a UX Designer was to translate product requirements into effective design solutions to increase engagement with Oppia’s expanding subject offerings. Final deliverables included desktop and mobile prototypes and a developer handoff file.

Problem

Oppia primarily offers Math as its core subject. With plans to introduce new subjects, there was no clear way for learners to access them.

Solution

To facilitate seamless subject exploration, I designed multiple entry points:

Navigation Menu

Learner's Dashboard
Adjacent Subject Pages

Users insights

Primary Audience: Young learners (ages 8-14)

Key Challenges:

• Limited device access (siblings share devices, children borrow from parents)

Need for engaging features like gamification and interactivity
Preference for a mix of reading and writing in learning
Reliance on mobile devices at home, often with limited internet access

Scope of work

Redesign access to new subjects, focusing on:

Community Library Page
Science Classroom Page

Entry Points for Subject Access:

Existing: Community Library, Dashboard, Navigation Menu

New: Science Classroom Page, Science Topics Page

Design goals

1. Enable quick access to all subjects

2. Simplify navigation between topics and subjects

3. Provide clear starting points for learners

Preliminary Audit Findings

Identified areas within the learner’s dashboard and Math subject page to incorporate new subjects.

Exploration

I started the design exploration in desktop format, once I have the concepts into mid fidelity, I would include designs for the mobile version.

Iterated on multiple layouts for subject cards within the Community Library.

Explored organization of subject pages and dropdown navigation.
Conducted rounds of iterations based on feedback from designers and stakeholders.
Advocated for a wayfinding approach that strengthened Oppia’s brand identity.

•. Iterated on multiple layouts for subject cards

within the Community Library.

Explored organization of subject pages and dropdown navigation.
Conducted rounds of iterations based on feedback from designers and stakeholders.
Advocated for a wayfinding approach that strengthened Oppia’s brand identity.

Hi-fidelity prototypes

Multiple iterations led to refined prototypes for desktop and mobile.

[View interactive prototypes:]

Desktop
Mobile

Solution Overview

Access to all subjects

Discovered inconsistencies in Math subject icons; redesigned and standardized icons.

Removed disruptive ad-like panels from the Community Library, instead placing subject entry points at the top for clarity.

•. Discovered inconsistencies in Math subject

icons; redesigned and standardized icons.

Removed disruptive ad-like panels from the Community Library, instead placing subject entry points at the top for clarity.

Improve way finding navigation

Oppia previously used a breadcrumb-style navigation with the logo doubling as a home link, limiting

space for text.

Solution: Moved breadcrumbs to align with content headings, improving clarity and brand visibility.
Implemented a 3-level breadcrumb rule, displaying up to three hierarchical pages (e.g., Subject > Topic > Lesson).

Oppia previously used a breadcrumb-style navigation with the logo doubling as a home linke, limiting space for text.
Solution: Moved breadcrumbs to align with content headings, improving clarity and brand visibility.
Implemented a 3-level breadcrumb rule, displaying up to three hierarchical pages (e.g., Subject > Topic > Lesson).

Quick starts for learners

Research revealed many learners felt lost when starting.
Introduced Quick Start Links to direct users to lessons efficiently.
Added an optional Placement Quiz to help learners determine their entry level.

•. Research revealed many learners felt lost when

starting.

Introduced Quick Start Links to direct users to lessons efficiently.
Added an optional Placement Quiz to help learners determine their entry level.

Collaboration with developer

This project was selected for Google Summer of Code (GSoC), creating urgency to finalize designs for development. Beyond delivering design files, I worked closely with developers to ensure accurate implementation.

Next steps

Testing on the Oppia test server.

Participate in usability testing with learners to validate designs.
Iterate on Community Library and Classroom pages based on feedback.
Collect data on task-based navigation effectiveness.

Reflections

This project differed from previous work where problem areas were explicitly outlined in a Product Requirements Document (PRD). Since I was enhancing an existing system, I focused on integrating new elements seamlessly rather than redesigning from scratch. Given the tight timeline, I prioritized the most impactful solutions while planning future iterations based on user feedback.

Primal 7 Project

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