Click to view the Meddy prototype.

Project Overview

Meddy is a medication reminder app that guarantees a simple yet efficient way for teachers to manage student’s medication information. Meddy aims to ease the burden for teachers managing multiple reminder styles. Meddy provides several ways for teachers to import and track medication data.

The Problem

Teacher’s daily tasks are endless, and they often manage reminders with sticky notes, classroom timers and phone reminders. Missing a student’s medication dose by any number of minutes can impact their health and the remainder of their school day. The app’s target audience finds storing and tracking student medical information in a central location more convenient. 

The solution

I designed an app that provides teachers and relative school personnel with the confidence to administer their student’s medication as prescribed. I included design features to make Meddy a daily need for teachers.

Role & Responsibilities

I served as the Lead UX/UI designer for Meddy from conception to delivery.

User Research

primary research

The primary user groups were classroom teachers and special education teachers, who work closely with medicated students. I conducted 1:1 interviews with 4 teachers and one school nurse between the ages of 29-55. Users were asked about their experiences with administering student medication, their class/school dynamics, and their current processes of managing reminders.

user research insights

Users want to implement a more organized approach to their medication reminders. Users need efficient and multiple notifications to administer medication on time. Parent communication is important, and teachers need a way to message parents in-app to avoid navigating to other apps. Teachers are often met with unprecedented situations, and they discovered that all organization and reminder methods are not effective at all times. While designing the app, I focused on organization, communication, and reliability.

Personas  

The following personas are based on user interviews.

“I am anxious, but I am beyond excited to start my first year. ”

Sade Oluremi is an eager new teacher. She is originally from Missouri, but she currently teaches in Louisiana. She teaches an Autism Level 1 class in an elementary school. Her students are in grades kindergarten through 5th. With so much to learn and navigate about the profession and curriculum, Sade is worried she will not be successful in her first year. Sade teaches students with severe medication needs and struggles to remember when to administer doses.

“179 more days until summer break. The countdown is real.”

Robin Lourel is in her 10th year of teaching. She has worked in elementary and middle schools as a general education, special education, and ESOL teacher. In her current role, she provides academic interventions to students who are considered at-risk and performing below grade level. She works alongside several teachers in a push-in model, where she joins classes for specific academic subjects. Being responsible for a large number of students can impact satisfying medication responsibilities.

“Retirement.”

Tim Wood is a beloved high school engineering teacher. He teaches high school juniors and seniors and leads the after-school debate team. His class is inclusive of all students, and he does not have additional teacher support. His classroom is often loud and busy, and the students complete multiple projects. He sometimes misses reminders when engrossed in a project and feels very guilty about how it may impact his students.

Design Process

The app's design process involved several iterations of common features and designs enjoyed by users. The competitive audit revealed the current market design of apps and products, top competitors' target audiences, and their unique values to the market. The Meddy app addresses the gaps in users’ experiences and exceeds the user’s needs. Early designs reflect creating student, teacher, and parent profiles, adding individual reminders and calendar events, and importing class lists.

Core Wireframe

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE (SITEMAP)

Usability Testing

Usability study i

1. Users want to add medication information to reminders. Users identified their current storage methods of medication information, which include data notebooks, online portals, physical documents, or within their student’s individual education/504 plans. Including this feature in the design offers minimal disruption to the teacher and student’s day. 

2. Users want to add more information to profiles. Users identified a lack of information available for added profiles. Users need to include more characteristic information with the student, parent, and teacher profiles. This feature reinforces the app’s goal to alleviate organization hassles.

3. Users want to import student rosters. Users identified their preferred importing databases, which include Google Drive, Clever, Canvas, Class Dojo, .docx files, and .xlsx files. Including this feature in the design ensures productivity and a stronger commitment for teachers to use the app.

4. Users want to message parents. Users identified Class Dojo as the predominant messaging app used by teachers and parents. The teachers prefer to stay in-app to contact parents. This feature ensures teachers feel connected to the app and it’s functions.

usability insights i

• I observed 3 out of 5 participants had trouble adding reminders. This insight indicates most users would not find the app useful, as not being able to add reminders interferes with the app’s main purpose. The ability to add a reminder from the reminders page is included in the final mockup design.

• I observed 4 out of 5 participants desire to include more information when adding student, teacher, and parent profiles. This insight indicates most users believed the profiles did not communicate enough pertinent information. The final mockup design allows users to indicate relationships between parents and students, add phone numbers and emails, and include dietary restrictions with medication information.

• I observed 4 out of 5 participants inquire about functional aspects of the app. This insight indicates most users prefer a more productive experience with the app. The final mockup design allow users to assign multiple parents to a student, add classes by importing student rosters from several integrated apps, and separate classes into periods and blocks.

Usability study ii

1. Users could not delete profiles or classes. Users stated they could not delete profiles or classes singly or in bulk. It appeared users must create a new profile to modify classes. This feature ensures the app is continuously useful for teachers.

2. Users could not engage with reminders. Users stated they could tap to view reminders on the home page and the reminders page, but they could not interact with the reminder. This feature ensures users can engage with added reminders.

3. Users could not delete messages. Users stated they could not delete messages. Teachers may need to delete messages for storage purposes or if they no longer work with the teacher or parent. This feature indicates users desire to manipulate their profile as they see fit.

USABILITY INSIGHTS II

• I observed 3 out of 5 participants attempt to delete user profiles and added classes. This insight indicates users understand students withdraw, teachers move schools, parents can lose guardianship, and classes can change. In the final design, I included the ability to delete individual profiles, classes, blocks, and periods.

• I observed 5 out of 5 participants desired to include more information when adding student, teacher, and parent profiles. This insight indicates all users may become overwhelmed with the reminders page, which may aid in disorganization. In the final design, when users tap on reminders, I added an overlay screen for users to mark reminders as complete and delete or edit the reminder.  

• I observed 4 out of 5 participants inquire about deleting old messages. This insight indicates users want to remove messages that are no longer relevant or attached to teachers and parents they no longer teach. In the final design, I added the option for users to delete and pin messages.

Final Mockups

The polished designs reflect more engaging designs and actionable buttons. I added a welcome, sign-in, and join page, enhanced overlays, and a messaging tab. Additionally, I added specific data entry options for users to include more information when creating profiles, and the ability to delete or edit messages, users, and reminders.

Reflection

Meddy makes users feel confident and effective when administering their student’s medication. While designing the Meddy app, I discovered that users value unified approaches to managing student information, frequent and repeated reminders, and importing student information. The final designs successfully showcase my ability to understand users' needs, conduct thorough research, and effectively implement design principles to create an innovative and functional solution. I am confident Meddy will be used daily by teachers and aide in improving their current reminder system.