eSpark
Assignment First Mode
- Product Designer • Frontend Engineer |
- Figma • FigJam • Illustrator • Svelte • TS • Bootstrap • HTML/CSS
We designed and engineered a system that required students to complete teacher-assigned lessons before moving on, transforming assignments from optional to essential. This shift not only highlighted the value of differentiated instruction, but also supported our AI-powered Teacher Assistant by ensuring its recommendations were acted on. The result was a smarter, more intentional learning path powered by thoughtful UX and responsive, classroom-informed engineering.
The Problem
Teachers were creating meaningful assignments, but students were bypassing them through the self‑guided adaptive path (“set it and forget it”). This undermined efforts around differentiation and our new AI‑powered Teacher Assistant. Plus, teachers lacked quick, actionable visibility into student performance, rescheduling needs, and commonly missed questions.
How might we
- Ensure students complete teacher-assigned lessons before accessing adaptive content?
- Give teachers streamlined control over assignment workflows and clearer insight into outcomes?
We Dug into Teacher Workflows🚜
Teacher Interviews & Classroom Testing
Spoke with more than 8 teachers across different grade levels. We observed firsthand how they assign, monitor, and adapt in real time.
Iterative Prototyping
From early wireframes to polished mockups, we tested features like lock indicators, inline buttons, and dynamic scoreboards in real classroom environments.
| Insight | Design Response |
|---|---|
| Students felt confused by invisible blocks | Added grayed adaptive cards with tooltips and lock icons |
| Teachers needed to act fast on reassignment or rescheduling | Added inline “Reassign” and “Reschedule” buttons in tracker |
| Lack of clarity around who struggled and why | Built score tier visuals and surfaced most commonly missed questions |
Here’s what we did ✅
We delivered two interconnected updates:
Assignment First Mode
- A teacher-facing toggle that locks access to the adaptive path until all assigned lessons are completed
- Enforced priority logic: assignments ordered by priority and recency
- Clear visual cues indicating locked content on the student dashboard
Revamped Assignment Tracker & Details Page
- Filters for subject, date, and status
- Inline “Reassign” and “Reschedule” controls for faster workflow
- Class-average performance shown via color-coded percentage tiers
- Popover insights highlighting the most commonly missed questions
Teacher Dashboard
Student View
Impact 💰
22%
increase in assignment usage from teachers within six weeks
17%
increase in differentiated assignments across students
Time
Teachers reported significant time savings and better classroom control
AI
Reinforced the value proposition of our AI Assistant