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build tools for personalized learning

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  • Interaction Design
  • Visual Design
  • Front-end Development
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Education is changing. Schools are beginning to thoughtfully use data in order to personalize their students’ learning. However, there is a gap between the tools currently available, in the market, and what teachers actually need.

The Gates Foundation developed Teachersknowbest.org as a resource for EdTech entrepreneurs to aid in the building of more effective digital products. Our team was tasked with investigating and distilling how teachers use data in the classroom into action items for developers.

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Over 4,500 teachers were interviewed

We conducted workshops with teachers and developers where we reviewed teacher needs and software concepts. The participants discussed approaches to effecting change and innovation in the ed tech space. We found teachers used 6 distinct approaches to using data in the classroom and that they mapped into three larger buckets of Assess, Analyze, and Pivot.

We conducted interviews and surveys with the target users of the report, ed tech developers, and found that a static pdf or presentation would not be as impactful. We heard from developers that they valued agile development with direct access to users, storytelling supported by facts and tools to help them start to build immediately.  I worked with the team to bring the clients on board with creating more interactive experience for the report.


Using insights from our research I created wireframes focused on the content ed tech developers would be interested in and drafted multiple lo fidelity designs exploring the information hierarchy and how we might build the report into the existing platform (teachersknowbest.org).

The Making Data Work report worked to bridge the gap between ed tech developers and the teachers using their software. Developers valued direct access to users but did not always have contact with their users. We simulated this access with lots and lots of video footage from interviews and research. Developers could hear directly from their users what their wants and pain points were.

Our solution was to surface compelling statistics and incorporate them into the story alongside bold blocks that led to the raw data (excel docs, posters, pdfs).

Landing Page

Storytelling and raw data competed for importance in the research findings. With this in mind I designed the landing page to give space to each user need. Leveraging large type, which was a style set in the parent property, users read the results of the research as a story as they scrolled.

The Making Data Work report worked to bridge the gap between ed tech developers and the teachers using their software. Developers valued direct access to users but did not always have contact with their users. We simulated this access with lots and lots of video footage from interviews and research. Developers could hear directly from their users what their wants and pain points were.

Striking a balance between not wanting to hide the many years of research the Gates Foundation had and overwhelming the user was important. Developers had shown equal interest in being able to see the raw data for themselves.

Our solution was to surface compelling statistics and incorporate them into the story alongside bold blocks that led to the raw data (excel docs, posters, pdfs).

We organized teacher needs into the 3 buckets, Assess, Analyze, and Pivot. In each section a developer could find more research findings, video interviews, and thought starters whose purpose was to kickstart and fast track development.

The parent property also housed additional reports and tools, which developers could access at any time.

Over 4,500 teachers from innovative and mainstream schools were interviewed along with 15 software developers.


As a designer who values creating informed designs, this project was a dream as it relates to having access to research. Beyond the report landing page we created pages for each of the 9 opportunity areas teachers identified as needing the most help (organized into 3 larger categories). On each we showcased video interview snippets, clear descriptions of the challenges and ready-to-print thought-starters.

Though the project ended and the report hub has been archived, I imagine the foundation continued to research the impact of technology in the classroom and measure their findings against metrics of software adoption by teachers, feedback from students on if they felt fulfilled and protected as they learned, and if ed tech developers found consistent value in the recommendations provided.

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In the Wild

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