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Home-based PreK - Empathizing with the user to guarantee safety and happiness

Utilizing instructional design and empathy to ensure two preschoolers could learn safely while keeping them engaged and excited and the parents satisfied

Team

Parents/Guardians, Children, and Family Members

Tools

Excel, Adobe Photoshop, Google Suite

Timeline

5 months

Overview

I designed a home-based preschool that ensured the safety and well-being of my child and another child, both suffering from severe food allergies and asthma, that enabled them to learn without fear.

Role + Impact

I needed to design curriculum that enticed 2-4 year olds while keeping them safe and engaged. I did this by:

Empathizing with the user‍
Testing and Iterating

Problem Statement

Design a customer experience that:

Is fun and inviting

Ensures safety

Has built in precautions

Not doing so would mean the young preschoolers, as well as the parents/guardians, would be unhappy with the experience and stop coming.

Prior to starting the home-based preschool, I decided on the target audience of 2.5 year olds to 5 year olds from higher income households with a maximum of 3 children serviced to have fewer chances of children getting sick and more direct instruction time.

EMPATHIZE + DESIGN

Centering Design Around Users

User Needs Affinity Diagram

By mapping out all needs and wants of my users (children and their parents or guardians) I could plan curriculum, a schedule, and the physical space accordingly.

Testing + Iterating

After trying things out during the first week, I revised the process based on the feedback and responses I received.

Problem

The parents/guardians of one child worked from home and didn’t show up on time or would sometimes cancel last minute.

Solution

I learned to communicate better to help with the issue, but in the future, I could set up stipulations ahead of time or take that into account when determining the price.

Results

0 Safety Issues
‍No incidences with food allergies or asthma for either child

“My child doesn’t want to leave”
‍The children enjoyed themselves and didn’t want to stop playing at the end of the day.

“We really appreciate you”
‍The adults were very appreciative while I offered the service and upset when I had to stop.

Overall, I had good feedback from both the adults and children throughout the time I delivered services. I only had anything slightly negative when I had to stop services, which I took to mean that they valued the service I provided and hurt that I had to stop.