Unlocking insights in classroom observation reporting data

Overview

Existing learning walks report page

Quantitative data analysis showed that school leaders rarely returned to reports over time. In discovery, I documented several usability issues deterring continued use:

Internal teams had an additional pain point relating to their current workflows: the customer service team was manually summarizing data and identifying trends and patterns from report data across learning walk events, spending a considerable amount of time and effort across accounts.

In the planning phase, I worked closely with the product manager and the software engineer responsible for greenfield projects to synthesize improvements that addressed the identified pain points and increased the usability of the report.

I outlined a design solution that introduced new features and usability improvements into the platform, prioritized clear data visualization, and defined differentiated experiences based on user roles.

User Flows

I designed user flows for observers (users observing classrooms), school leaders (users with access to all reports), and facilitators (company employees who facilitate learning walk events). The flows consisted of learning walk event creation, email notifications, event delivery, and reporting. Detailed permissions were necessary to ensure school leaders and facilitators had comprehensive data access while maintaining privacy and ensuring observations were non-evaluative for the educators who were observed.

User flows for observers and facilitators

Reporting Structure

The existing platform only enabled combining data from multiple events and didn’t have functionality to compare event data or data over time. Another limitation was that observations could only be submitted during a facilitated event. As part of the larger project to rebuild the learning walks platform, the ability to submit observations at any time was added to the platform. This unlocked additional data and highlighted the need to build for longitudinal data. This led me to create of a dual-report design, supporting two distinct reporting needs for school leaders:

• Event-Based Report: Includes data from a single learning walk event.
• Indicator-Based Report: Includes all data for a set of indicators, allowing leaders to view and compare data across events and individually submitted observations.

These reporting views ensured that the platform supported both in-the-moment analysis and long-term trend tracking.

Event-based report

Indicator-based report

Design Validation and Iteration

To validate the design before engineering implementation, I built high-fidelity prototypes of the reports with data from recent events for customers selected for alpha testing. These prototypes were shared with the customers and the solution designer overseeing the pilot for initial feedback, enabling validation of the core information hierarchy and data visualization.

Alpha testing was conducted on the initial build with three key customers. Based on feedback, I made refinements to data comparison features, comment organization, and filtering options, which were implemented in the final solution.

In-App Guidance

I planned and built in-app guidance in the Userpilot platform for each user role. This consisted of tours to introduce new features, tooltips to highlight updates to existing functionality, and surveys as a mechanism to continuously gather insights.

Planned in-app guidance

The final solution addressed all of the identified pain points, transforming learning walk reporting into a robust platform:

• Data Comparison: The new indicator-based report allows school leaders to choose how to compare data gathered over time:
• Event Comparison: Enables comparison of data from two or more selected events by indicator.
• Time Comparison: Enables comparison of data aggregated by week or by month.
• Expanded Data Inclusion: Display of event data, data summary, and percentage breakdowns for all values. Stacked bar charts replaced pie charts, using page space more efficiently so that data for indicators could be viewed all at once.
• Advanced Filtering: All report data dynamically updates based on selected filters. Filters populate based on classroom details entered during observations.
• Interface Styling: Improved organization of elements, visual hierarchy, and intentional color usage in the layout.
• AI Data Summary: A summary of the report data generated by the company's native AI, reducing the time spent by internal teams manually summarizing the data.
• Share Report: Share a link to the report with other school leaders, with the ability to display or hide the filtering capabilities.

Overview tab on the Report page

Responses tab

Responses tab - filtered

Share Report functionality

Mobile learning walk report

Mobile responses tab

Mobile filter drawer

This project was an integral step in the company's strategic shift from a service-centric model to a scalable SaaS provider and informed the product roadmap for the upcoming year. The utility of historical and future observation data was unlocked by the introduction of the dual-report system, data comparison views, and improved data visualization.

I created page event tracking and in-app surveys for the following metrics to track the success of the new reports post-launch:

This effort transformed classroom observation reports from an underutilized data archive into a dynamic resource, enabling the platform's evolution into an essential analytical tool to support school districts in teacher development and classroom growth.