ROLE:
Senior Product Designer
YEAR:
2021-22
PLATFORM:
Web & Mobile
TEAM:
2 Designers, 3 PMs, Engineers
about.
The platform guides users through periodic check-ins to assess what they’ve learned, where they’re struggling, and how to adjust their learning paths.
My goal as a product designer was to help define and design the MVP that makes reflective practice more actionable, visible, and community-driven. My role was to lead the end-to-end design from basic research to final UI delivery and handoff.
discovery & research.
We began by interviewing teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators. We also audited existing tools and surveyed existing Swivl customers.
Key insights:
1
The reflection process is considered a valuable activity, but often feels like “extra work.”
2
Teachers want to see what their peers are working on, not just track their own growth.
3
Trust and psychological safety are crucial to open sharing. Teachers want control over what they share and with whom.
4
Educators often reflect in isolation and without structure.
5
School administrators need aggregated insights to make professional development relevant and responsive. They lack extra time to manage educators and visibility into teacher needs and strengths.
user pain points & needs.
Pain Points:
Lack of regular support from administrators, mentors or coaches.
Overwhelmed by the need to address diverse academic and behavioral student needs.
Extremely limited time and mental bandwidth.
Needs:
More dedicated time to focus on student support and growth.
Practical solutions to real-time classroom challenges, especially behavioral.
Personalized 1:1 collaboration with experienced mentors or peers to identify growth areas.
Pain Points:
Limited time to provide hands-on, individualized teacher support.
Lack of visibility into which teachers are thriving and who may be struggling.
High costs and time investment in recruiting and retaining staff.
Needs:
Scalable tools that directly contribute to student achievement.
Systems that support and retain top-performing teachers.
More efficient ways to allocate time and resources to support educators.
design challenge.
core features.
Community Boards
Community Boards are the centerpiece of Reflectivity, designed to turn personal reflection into a shared, community-driven learning experience. We wanted to build a living space where educators insights are not only shared but seen.
The boards evolved into vibrant collages, blending reflections, recent activities with photos of peers. Seeing familiar faces and spaces sparked an emotional connection, reminding educators that they’re part of something larger. This visual storytelling approach made the experience more personal, human and impactful.
Educators see trending topics across their school or district, encouraging alignment and shared goals.
Teachers add thoughts over time, upload evidence (like videos), and track their progress toward goals.
Boards are open for colleagues to view, comment, and “boost” each other’s insights creating a supportive feedback culture.
Groups: Small Spaces, Big Impact
We designed groups to support deeper collaboration through focused, small-group reflection. Through research, we heard: educators felt overwhelmed, isolated, and under-supported. Frequent coaching was rare. Time was tight. And many felt unequipped to handle the complex needs of their students alone. We recognized that the most meaningful growth often happens among trusted peers with room for vulnerability and honest dialogue.
Educators can reflect within trusted groups, encouraging honest discussion and peer support.
Teachers share updates, videos, and questions others can respond with time-stamped comments or suggestions.
Built-in reflection prompts help spark meaningful dialogue and guide professional thinking.
Dashboard for Administrators
Reflectivity dashboards offer tailored experiences for educators and administrators, transforming reflection into actionable insights.
Aggregated board data reveals what topics are trending, helping leaders plan targeted, relevant professional development. Supports informed decision-making for targeted professional development initiatives.
Insights into educators' focus areas, enabling administrators to identify common themes and address areas needing support.
iterative development.
Testing:
Conducted usability testing with educators, instructional coaches and customer success team.
Refined user flows to improve clarity, reduce friction, and maintain engagement.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Worked closely with the Head of Product to align on feature priorities and user needs.
Collaborated with engineers to build a scalable design system that maintained consistency across platforms.
