Start with teachers
mobile app Concept
Project Overview
Goal
To create social impact by giving teachers support.
Problem
Teachers are not getting enough financial and emotional support, negatively impacting their teaching methods. Therefore, students are not getting the best education that they can.
Solution
Design a mobile application that allows people to donate school supplies to teachers to help secure them financially, support them emotionally, and will better their classroom environment.
Tools
Whiteboard & pen, Mybalsamiq, Sketch, Invision, Keynote, Omnigraffle
Research
In-depth interviews with five public elementary school teachers in Los Angeles with the objective to understand how valued they feel
Surveyed a mix of 25 teachers & “non-teachers” with the objective to understand the viewpoint of teacher
Comparative Analysis to understand other education systems around the world
survey & interview results
Comparative Analysis
Pictured: The difference in value placed on teachers between leading countries in education, versus the United States.
From Problems to Solutions
The Problem
Teachers feel undervalued from three different outlets
The US Government
The majority of teachers feel they are underpaid for the amount of hours they work, and for the amount of value they contribute to their students.
School Principal
Many teachers feel discouraged as there are constraints when it comes to creative teaching methods, due to standardized testing.
Community
Teachers feel under appreciated by their community and believe society is not aware of the hardships teachers face. They would like their communities to create awareness to bring support.
The result of teachers feeling underfunded, underpaid and undervalued is
Losing motivation from stress, negatively affecting their teaching
Career abandonment
We’re losing out on potential teachers who won’t consider it because of the salary
the solution
To increase community appreciation and value for our teachers, financially and emotionally through creating a mobile application that allows people to donate school supplies to teachers, bringing them financial and emotional support.
Teachers can:
Browse Supplies
Add needed supplies to their classroom wishlist
Donors can:
Find classrooms by looking up teachers (The classroom of your choice)
Access classroom wishlists
Donate supplies
Testing for validation
A low-fidelity prototype was tested to validate solutions and help us determine the direction of the application.
the teacher flow
next steps
Continue designing to pitch and fund the project