ClassDojo UI Redesign

 

Everyday, multiple times a day from August through May, I click on that little green ninja to see what’s up with my kids at school. Teachers and school administration use ClassDojo as the Source of All Truth to communicate with parents by sharing photos, posting announcements, homework updates, you name it. ClassDojo is self-described as “a beautiful, safe, and simple communication app for teachers, parents, and students” on Google Play.

But the parent dashboard could be so much more!

After 4 years of using the app I keep stumbling over the same pain points:

  • I cannot filter content on my feed

  • I cannot search by keyword

  • All postings are not separated by child’s class

  • It’s not easy to share info from ClassDojo to other caregivers

I say this based on my own experience and others. Just today I overheard a parent lament their frustration with ClassDojo! This is a real world, tried and true problem!

So I reimagined what the parent dashboard could look like according to my own needs and pain points.

A customized dashboard with search features.

No. More. Endless. Scrolling.
No. More. Screenshots.

With the redesign I can easily switch between children and their related posts, which makes it easier to find information pertaining to each child. Previously to find a post, I would need to scroll back in the feed until I found it, sometimes not finding it because the content would load and move you back to the top of the feed. Ugh!!

I also can filter what content appears in my dashboard by let’s say, date, category, or even grade level. ClassDojo would somehow how have to maintain that certain posts are not filtered out. For ex., posts by administration, safety alerts, bus rerouting, etc.

I now can find what I need, imagine that! This goes back to the endless scroll for finding information - the last thing I have time for! With a search button I can search all content posted to find what I need: by teacher’s name, keyword, date, you. name. it.

Another feature: sharing a post. It would be WONDERFUL if I could share a post with my partner at the click of a button, instead of having to screenshot and then text them an image. Parents divide and conquer these days and it would be nice if the app made it easier to share important info with other caregivers who might not be as active on the app.

Design is a continuous process.

Impact: a customized dashboard that doesn’t make me think and allows me to quickly search + filter content.

What went well: solving a real-world problem with simple changes! ClassDojo is a great tool for parents to stay connected with their kids’ school, and enhancing an already valuable product just felt right.

If I had a do-over: I would add a Save and Favorites feature so I can save posts to my Favorites and easily find them later on, similar to Facebook’s Save feature.

I can take this redesign a step further and lean into the UX process and conduct qualitative research with other users. I would probably design a short survey to uncover other points of friction that parents experience when using the app. After the interview questions, I would then show them my redesign to gain feedback on what they like and what could be done better.

Thanks for visiting!