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

  1. In-depth interviews with five public elementary school teachers in Los Angeles with the objective to understand how valued they feel

  2. Surveyed a mix of 25 teachers & “non-teachers” with the objective to understand the viewpoint of teacher

  3. Comparative Analysis to understand other education systems around the world

survey & interview results  

Comparative Analysis

The value of teachers around the world.png

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

  1. 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. 

  2. School Principal

    • Many teachers feel discouraged as there are constraints when it comes to creative teaching methods, due to standardized testing. 

  3. 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

  1. Losing motivation from stress, negatively affecting their teaching

  2. Career abandonment

  3. 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:

  1. Browse Supplies

  2. Add needed supplies to their classroom wishlist

Donors can:

  1. Find classrooms by looking up teachers (The classroom of your choice)

  2. Access classroom wishlists

  3. 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