Context
I worked as a Media Specialist at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School (OLM) from August 2017-May 2018. Being an alumna of this school, I was deeply familiar with the needs and expectations of the students.
The Challenge
I visited classrooms to teach information skills, such as how to use the school’s databases and how to write a paper but realized there were no resources for students to refer to outside of class.
Inspired by the subject guides I made in college, I created one of my own using WordPress.
The Goal
To create an interactive writing and research guide to aid students outside of class
Scope
End-to-end
Tools
WordPress
Role
UX Designer
Team
Self-directed
The Goals of the Site
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To help students learn how to research scholarly sources
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To help students use the school's two main research databases: EBSCO and Questia
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To help students learn how to write a paper
Understanding the Users
Being an alumna of the school, I was very familiar with the students' needs.
Major priorities:
Students' busy schedules: The majority of students at OLM tended to participate in extracurricular activities, such as sports that would keep them at the school until late afternoon. The guide should take into account students' time constraints.
The advanced level of classes: As a school preparing its students for college, many advanced classes are offered. They have more readings, assignments, and homework students have to complete, so the site should be as simple as possible and not an extra reading they have to figure out.
Minor priorities:
The variety of classes students took: The guide would need to help students with papers for literature, history, and science, so it requires flexibility.
The students are diverse: OLM consists of a diverse population, particularly Spanish and Vietnamese speakers. The site should support any students who are not as comfortable as reading English.
Main Features of the Site
The main features of the site that I took into consideration relate to the users' needs.
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Brevity of content: The content needed to be as brief as possible so students could take what they needed and apply it quickly.
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Addresses busy student schedules
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Addresses the advanced level of classes
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Streamlined and linear process: Despite the research and writing process being cyclical, the menu reads left to right in a step-by-step way in order to make the tasks as easy as possible
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Addresses busy student schedules
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Addresses the advanced level of classes
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Images to supplement instructions: There was a high chance that students would not read through the instructions, so I added images to avoid confusion, especially for the databases
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Addresses busy student schedules
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Addresses the advanced level of classes
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Concise and clear content: To make reading the instructions as easy and quick as possible
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Addresses busy student schedules
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Addresses the advanced level of classes
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Outlining the Content
Before I started adding content to the WordPress site, I outlined the necessary steps for the guide's research, writing, and database portions.
On the right are some of the brainstormed outlines I made for the guide.
Site Content
The site contains the basic steps to writing and research.
I also included pages to show students how to use the Questia and EBSCO databases as well as how to read scholarly sources.
A page for Extra Resources, such as how to do presentations and utilizing Google and Wikipedia research are also included to supplement student projects in any class.
Additional Features
In order to make the site as informational as possible, I used WordPress's widget options to add extra features that students might need.
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Search Bar: This will allow students to search for specific items in the guide instead of browsing through the site.
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Library Hours: Aside from the hours being posted on the library door, there were no other indicators as to when the library was open.
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Categories: Categories will help students search for items in the Extra Resources portion of the site
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Select Language option: The school enrolled Spanish and Vietnamese speaking students, so I thought this feature would help students who were not as familiar with English.
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Concise and clear content: To make reading the instructions as easy and quick as possible
Conclusion
I was very proud of the final product. It was simple and to-the-point. At the end of the year, the school obtained a learning management system, so I transferred my content to that site. However, the WordPress site remains on the school’s page for the Learning Commons for easy access.
Even after leaving the position, students continued to use it. Since its creation in 2017, it has received 592 views by 173 visitors. The research guide is only promoted through OLM’s website, so it is only directly advertised to the students in the school.