Bridge Charter Academy

Bringing a modern edge to learning management systems. I designed pages, user flows, streamlined school processes, and led a staff transition to Figma and FigJam.

Bridge Charter Academy is a publically funded hybrid in-person and online school. The academy was founded with the intention to offer a hybrid option for students in rural Oregon.

My Role

While at Bridge Charter Academy, I was a member of the Systems Support Team. There, with a team of four, I took on many different roles.

UX/UI Design

I streamlined the user experience in Stacker HQ, the no-code software used by Bridge Charter to display student data, staff dashboard, time clocks, and more.

System Support Team

Bridge Charter Academy's data management and process flow charts were outdated. The Systems Support Team successfully reduced clutter.

Support Tickets

Handled support tickets as needed. The Systems Support Team experienced a 35% drop in tickets after a successful UX/UI overhaul.

Educator

Educated staff on the use of Figma and Figjam, instructed 2nd-5th grade students in English at Bridge Charter Academy.

The Problem

At Bridge Charter Academy, support tickets coming in often shared a common theme: users were getting lost during the enrollment process. This led to unfinished enrollments, more support tickets, and longer wait times.

Before

While looking into the enrollment process, I noticed that multiple steps required administrator approval and feedback before the user could move on. In addition, users had to upload different files multiple times during the process.

I hypothesized that the flow could be improved by requiring administrator approval at the end of the process and adding a quick links page that includes a single place for users to upload all of their needed files.

After

The key change in the information architecture was the enrollment page where the user was able to upload all files and start the enrollment process. This reduced navigation issues and provides a clear place for the user to access the enrollment process.

During this Information Architecture overhaul, working within the UX and UI constraints of the Stacker HQ app proved to be the greatest challenge. It was a great lesson to learn that true UX thinking can be applied to any problem, even when design constraints are applied.

Results

Staff support tickets dropped by 35%.
Student Enrollment support tickets dropped by 25%.

Staff reports indicate the UX/UI overhaul made the enrollment process more efficient.
Enrollment process completion rate increased by 55% during summer enrollment.

Staff support tickets dropped by 35%.
Student Enrollment support tickets dropped by 25%.

Staff reports indicate the UX/UI overhaul made the enrollment process more efficient.
All staff users reported higher satisfaction levels with Stacker HQ.

Transition to Figma

Staff were using too many different apps to document processes, collaborate, design graphics, and more. I proposed the school adopt Figma and FigJam as a live collaborative tool, saving money on subscriptions and housing flowchart files in one place.

Staff were using too many different apps to document processes, collaborate, and design graphics. I proposed the school adopt Figma and FigJam as a live collaborative tool, saving money on subscriptions and housing flowchart files in one place.

The problem

All of the different apps and subscriptions Bridge Charter was maintaining was costly and led to many staff support tickets requesting password assistance or access to different files across different apps.

A few of the tools Bridge Charter was using were:

Miro
Notion

Canva
LucidChart

These each cost the school money and left many staff members confused where to access meeting notes, flowcharts, notes, design graphics, and more.

Solution

After exploring various all-in-one options, Figma and FigJam seemed like logical tools to explore for multiple reasons.

FigJam's powerful live collaborative features seemed ideal for Bridge Charter Academy's brainstorming and flow chart meetings.
Figma has an education plan, allowing educators access to their software for free.
I was already familiar with Figma and would be best suited to lead a smooth transition into a new software for Bridge Charter Academy.

Figma Education

Once Figma was ready and live I ran a 90 minute conference detailing its features, running live tutorials using FigJam's live collaborative features, and showcasing Figma's design and prototyping capabilities.

I also recorded many short form videos for staff to reference after the meeting, as well as provide support over the weeks folllowing the transition.

Reviews

Results

Jennifer

Student Coordinator

This looks fun for meetings! I like all the cute stickers and pins.

Benjamin

Principal

I like that this option helps reduce our costs, and I love the sticker animations. I think this will be a great system for meetings and brainstorming new ideas.

Debbie

Growth Team Coordinator

This looks like a great way for my remote Growth Team members to stay connected during meetings.

Helen

Systems Director

Alec did a fantastic job presenting Figma to the staff at Bridge Charter Academy, Figma will be a powerful and fun tool for Bridge Charter Academy.

Jasmine

Director of Curriculum

I've gotten lost and confused finding accounts and passwords for everything, it's hard to keep track of. I like that we can keep all our flow chart and note files in one place. It looks way easier than the other one.

Lydia

Systems Developer

Alec did a great job transferring all our existing flow charts into FigJam files.

Rachel

Office Director

I like that we can have more interactive brainstorming sessions, the timer feature is great.

Ann

Teacher, Parent Liaison

Housing all of the files in one place seems like a good thing. I still think I like Canva though.

Results

FigJam was universally adopted by Bridge Charter Academy. However, most users ended up preferring Canva over Figma to design graphics.

Throughout this process I learned that leading a software transition required many hours spent preparing a fun, easy to understand tutorial, presenting clean, real-world examples, and preparing FAQ's, as well as ongoing support over the following weeks.

FigJam was universally adopted by Bridge Charter Academy. However, most users ended up preferring Canva over Figma to design graphics.

Throughout this process I learned that leading a software transition requires many hours spent preparing a fun, easy to understand tutorial, presenting clean, real-world examples, and preparing FAQ's, as well as ongoing support over the following weeks.

FigJam was universally adopted by Bridge Charter Academy. However, most users ended up preferring Canva over Figma to design graphics.

Throughout this process I learned that leading a software transition requires many hours spent preparing a fun, easy to understand tutorial, presenting clean, real-world examples, and preparing FAQ's, as well as ongoing support over the following weeks.

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