Classroom Ready Front Of Class Design
Industry
Front of Class, Lesson Delivery, Early Years
Role
UX Designer, UX Researcher
Team
Product Manager, Commissioning Lead, Content Leads, Third-party Developers
Year
2024-2025
Challenge
Teachers use various methods to integrate digital content into their lessons but struggle to find, collate, and implement quality resources. Existing solutions often require teachers to create their own materials and activities; not ideal for for daily use. As lead UXD, I led discovery through solution design for a front-of-class tool that enables seamless lesson delivery and engaging learning experiences for little learners.
Solution
Impact
Reframing the problem through cross-functional synthesis
I worked with publishing, content, and digital teams to dig into what teachers actually need. I facilitated workshops to turn initial research insights into clear Jobs-to-Be-Done statements and organised them by what we knew versus what we still needed to validate.
Outcome: finding resources is time-consuming, quality is inconsistent, and many teachers just make their own materials or avoid digital tools altogether. Teachers told us they need to be savvy (finding tools that actually reduce prep time), organised (having resources ready to go), and collaborative (sharing materials so everyone's not doing the same work).
Early Years Pedagogy
Before designing anything, I researched phonics pedagogy, looked at what competitors were doing, and studied what works for young children. I ran workshops to align the team on vision and success criteria, using storyboarding to map how each component would work in real classrooms.
The big finding: play and variety are key to keeping young learners engaged. Teachers use interactive activities, games, songs, and videos. Kids respond to gamification (achievement, leveling up), variety (fun animations, characters, changing interfaces), and being active participants. What doesn't work: boring activities, repetitive content, outdated materials, and technical issues that disrupt the flow.
From pedagogy research to design ideation
Before designing, I researched phonics pedagogy to understand what effective learning looks like. This directly shaped how I designed the UX activities around the various learning activities. I also conduced competitor teardowns to identify effective front-of-class UX patterns: clear lesson structures, audio/visual controls, progress tracking, and interactive engagement mechanisms.
I ran ideation workshops to translating these insights into design concepts, with one key finding driving ideation: play and variety keep young learners engaged. Kids respond to gamification, animations, characters, and active participation.
Validating the prototype with teachers
I built a high-fidelity prototype in ProtoPie and tested it with seven teachers across four global regions. Teachers loved the "one-stop hub" consolidating everything—saving time and reducing admin. They said it felt similar to Jolly Classroom, making adoption easier.
The key insight: digital is just one element of Early Years teaching—screen time must add real value and fit with hands-on play. Reactions were overwhelmingly positive: "consistent," "comprehensive," "complementary," and "engaging." Teachers appreciated that it eliminates extra materials (unlike Jolly Phonics) and complements current methods. Strong switch intent due to pedagogically-rich activities, flexibility, and Cambridge brand trust. I refined designs based on feedback: more lesson detail, clearer guidance, stronger engagement signals.
Lessons Learnt
Building effective education tools requires an understanding of pedagogy, teacher workflows, and real classroom constraints. For this, research as well as cross-team collaboration with content experts was essential.
Early validation revealed what initial surveys couldn't: teachers need digital solutions that balance screen time with hands-on learning, provide clear guidance, and deliver real engagement. Testing early caught refinements before building anything. Clear positioning emerged: we differentiate through superior guidance and comprehensive features.