Helping millions of teachers find activities for their students every day

Helping millions of teachers find activities for their students every day

Helping millions of teachers find activities for their students

5% increase in search success rate

25,000 more games every day on Quizizz

5% increase in search success rate

25,000 more games every day on Quizizz

5% increase in search success rate

25,000 more games every day on Quizizz

5% increase in search success rate

25,000 more games every day on Quizizz

5% increase in search success rate

8% increase in monthly games

My Role

TEAM SEARCH & DISCOVERY

TEAM SEARCH & DISCOVERY

TEAM SEARCH & DISCOVERY

1 Designer (me), 1 PM, 3 Devs

PROBLEM SCALE

PROBLEM SCALE

PROBLEM SCALE

Mature platform with 1.5Mn DAU

TIMEFRAME

TIMEFRAME

TIMEFRAME

1½ months (design to ship)

I was the only designer on this project, leading the redesign of Quizizz's search experience as part of the Search & Discovery team.

We focussed on driving content discovery and product adoption in the U.S. market, which includes 4Mn daily active teachers and 500K daily searches.

What is Quizizz?

Teaching is a lot of Work

A typical day for a teacher involves preparing lessons, getting students to practice, finding who needs extra attention, pinpointing areas that need re-teaching, and much more. Now, imagine doing this across multiple subjects, grade levels, and throughout the year

A typical day for a teacher involves preparing lessons, getting students to practice, finding who needs extra attention, pinpointing areas that need re-teaching, and much more. Now, imagine doing this across multiple subjects, grade levels, and throughout the year

Quizizz makes learning easy & fun

Teachers use Quizizz to engage students in learning with game-like activities while they get clear insights

Teachers use Quizizz to engage students in learning with game-like activities while they get clear insights

Content on nearly every topic

There are millions of activities created by other teachers on nearly any topic on Quizizz. However, finding these activities and ensuring that they can be used in the classroom — this is the crux of Search experience.

There are millions of activities created by other teachers on nearly any topic on Quizizz. However, finding these activities and ensuring that they can be used in the classroom — this is the crux of Search experience.

Search at Quizizz

On content platforms, search is critical to discovery.

Every day, teachers visit Quizizz with a specific topic in mind — in fact, nearly half of our daily visitors (1 million) begin their journey with search.

On content platforms, search is critical to discovery. Every day, teachers visit Quizizz with a specific topic in mind — in fact, nearly half of our daily visitors (1 million) begin their journey with search.

Most teachers start their journey by searching for a topic on the Explore page of Quizizz dashboard
Most teachers start their journey by searching for a topic on the Explore page of Quizizz dashboard
Most teachers start their journey by searching for a topic on the Explore page of Quizizz dashboard
Most teachers start their journey by searching for a topic on the Explore page of Quizizz dashboard

Over last few years, the Search Results Page (SRP) has had many incremental updates—we've added new features and more informational elements. Multiple teams constantly ran experiments for activation, growth, and engagement

Over last few years, the Search Results Page (SRP) has had many incremental updates—we've added new features and more informational elements. Multiple teams constantly ran experiments for activation, growth, and engagement

It was time to look at the experience holistically and ensure it scales for a foreseeable future. Two key problems had to be solved:

It was time to look at the experience holistically and ensure it scales for a foreseeable future. Two key problems had to be solved:

Problem Statements

Problem

Problem

No.

No.

1

1

Search was not optimised for teachers’ devices

Search was designed for:
1280px
×
720px
Search was designed for:
1280px
×
720px
Search was designed for:
1280px
×
720px

Most teachers used old chrome books with short viewports (1280px × 560px) which made their experience very frustrating.

Initially, this issue wasn't apparent, as Google Analytics and our data platforms didn’t reveal it. We first discovered the problem during user interviews and later saw this pattern consistently in Hotjar recordings. This had a direct impact on teacher engagement with the platform

Problem

Problem

No.

No.

2

2

Teachers didn't discover new activity formats

Peardeck

for instructions

Peardeck

for instructions

Peardeck

for instructions

Edpuzzle

for topic intro

Edpuzzle

for topic intro

Edpuzzle

for topic intro

Newsela

for Reading

Newsela

for Reading

Newsela

for Reading

Quizlet

for review prep

Quizlet

for review prep

Quizlet

for review prep

Teachers primarily associated Quizizz with quizzes (no pun intended!) but also used other dedicated products for formats like: interactive videos, flashcards, lessons and passages.

While Quizizz offered activities for each of these use cases, their discovery wasn’t done well yet. We had to surface these new activity formats on search

I've excluded two other problem statements from this project to try & keep the case study within a 5-minute read.

Research

Insights from 12 teacher interviews

I conducted a qualitative study with teachers to understand their mindset during the search process. Two key questions needed to be answered:

I conducted a qualitative study with teachers to understand their mindset during the search process. Two key questions needed to be answered:

Question

1

What does a teacher's search journey look like?

Question

2

How do teachers select activities for students?

Transcripts and notes from teacher conversations

As described by Ms. K, teachers begin their search journey with a query - the topic they're teaching. As soon as the results are shown, they typically do a quick scan to ensure it roughly aligns with the topic in mind. If not, the query is rephrased.

As described by Ms. K, teachers begin their search journey with a query - the topic they're teaching. As soon as the results are shown, they typically do a quick scan to ensure it roughly aligns with the topic in mind. If not, the query is rephrased.

They select activities appropriate for their grade level and sift through the content to ensure the right level of difficulty and a variety of questions. Once they find a 'good' activity, they assign it to students.

They select activities appropriate for their grade level and sift through the content to ensure the right level of difficulty and a variety of questions. Once they find a 'good' activity, they assign it to students.

QUERY

Express the topic and intent

SCAN

Does content match intent

REFINE

Rewrite query or
Specify preferences

SIFT

Select relevant content
Check scope, difficulty

COMMIT

Play, assign or save
Are edits required?

This journey is an abstraction based on teacher interviews, session recordings, and funnel analysis. I'd be happy to discuss nuances.

Design Explorations

Searching for better ways to Search

Searching for better ways to Search

Teachers had struggled but had little choice but to adapt to the current experience. However, adding new features or information risked overwhelming the page. Here’s a look at the solutions I explored:

Teachers had struggled but had little choice but to adapt to the current experience. However, adding new features or information risked overwhelming the page. Here’s a look at the solutions I explored:

Where we started —

Where we started —

Current experience

Current experience

No longer scalable

Not scalable

Teachers struggled to preview content, only 3 activities were visible. Information density had to be adjusted to fit to viewport. Metric-wise, we set out to improve the search-to-host journey

Teachers struggled to preview content, only 3 activities were visible. Information density had to be adjusted to fit to viewport. Metric-wise, we set out to improve the search-to-host journey

Direction 1 —

Direction 1 —

Grid layout

Grid layout

Dense but clean

Dense but clean

While this would display more activities in the viewport, we hadn't yet abstracted our content into metadata that would help teachers decide. We needed a way to preview content

While this would display more activities in the viewport, we hadn't yet abstracted our content into metadata that would help teachers decide. We needed a way to preview content

Since most thumbnails were irrelevant, showing content instead seemed like a good idea, but these questions were too lengthy. Plus, all this information on the page could be overwhelming

Since most thumbnails were irrelevant, showing content instead seemed like a good idea, but these questions were too lengthy. Plus, all this information on the page could be overwhelming

Direction 2 —

Direction 2 —

List layout

List layout

Minimal & sequential

Minimal & sequential

Switching to a list view made the information less overwhelming, but the issue of previewing content remained, along with our lack of key metadata

Switching to a list view made the information less overwhelming, but the issue of previewing content remained, along with our lack of key metadata

Tried ways to preview content, but the volume of information quickly became overwhelming

Tried ways to preview content, but the volume of information quickly became overwhelming

Direction 3 —

Direction 3 —

Restructure IA

Restructure IA

Iterating page structure

Iterating page layouts

Reorganised the page in many many ways, most ideas challenged our team's mental models. The key was to show as much preview as possible while balancing everything else

Reorganised the page in many many ways, most ideas challenged our team's mental models. The key was to show as much preview as possible while balancing everything else

For promising explorations, I stress-tested the designs to ensure they were future-proofed:

Could we add more metadata to the activity cards? Could we introduce new features? Was the preview optimised for new formats?

For promising explorations, I stress-tested the designs to ensure they were future-proofed:

Could we add more metadata to the activity cards? Could we introduce new features? Was the preview optimised for new formats?

Final Design

Design that got shipped

After aligning with stakeholders on key design decisions, such as: moving filters from the side to top. Filters, such as grade and number of questions, were used everyday by 14% of teachers. Would this change impact filter discovery and thus the search journey?

After aligning with stakeholders on key design decisions, such as: moving filters from the side to top. Filters, such as grade and number of questions, were used everyday by 14% of teachers. Would this change impact filter discovery and thus the search journey?

User tests

Validating ideas with teachers

I conducted a series of prototype tests with ten teachers to validate key design decisions. The process was simple: ask teachers to complete a task using the current experience, and then have them perform the same task on the prototype.

I conducted a series of prototype tests with ten teachers to validate key design decisions. The process was simple: ask teachers to complete a task using the current experience, and then have them perform the same task on the prototype.

↯ EXAMPLE 1 ↯

Repositioning the filters

Teachers didn’t get confused by this change. In fact, all 10 teachers easily located and applied the filters. I also realised that they often have clear, explicit preferences — so, filter discovery is not an issue when they are actively seeking it.

EXAMPLE 2 ↯

Verbose activity format names

As for Problem 2, related to new activity formats - there was significant stakeholder push for more verbose names. I was against this approach, as it created redundancy. Through these tests, validated that teachers recognised new formats and used the tabs as "legends" to identify them- without the need for long, descriptive labels.

I assessed the quality of the design by comparing their behaviours on the current experience versus the prototype - essentially a design A/B test. Observing where they faced difficulties and where things were smoother than before.

I'd like to say a few things

Until I finish writing this case study, I wanted to share a few things with you

Thanks for your time

Contact

hi.vinodxyz@gmail.com

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