Project Overview

Our team faced a significant problem regarding the improvement of the academic experience for student athletes. Specifically, we wanted to simplify their daily lives by addressing the challenges they encounter when trying to contact their professors and manage their assignments while balancing their demanding training and competition schedules.

Through this initiative, we aimed to reduce the stress and time constraints often associated with balancing athletic commitments and academic responsibilities, ultimately enhancing the overall well-being and success of student athletes. Our biggest aim is to figure out how might we be able to improve the classroom educational system in relation to student-athletes and all parties involved at Montreat College.

Timeframe

4 weeks

Problem Statement

Objective

Research and Discovery

We decided to conduct multiple google form surveys, in which we focused on phrasing them in a way that would gather the information we needed to meet our goals accurately. We conducted these surveys on student-athletes and professors at Montreat College to better understand our users and gather quantitative data.

A few questions asked on the student-athlete questionnaire:

How many classes do you miss during per month because of your sport when you are in season?
How long does your sport last for in season? (months)
How many games do you have per week in season?
How many credit hours do you take during your season?
What is your semester GPA in season?
How many hours a week do you spend on homework?

A few questions asked on the professor questionnaire:

How many hours a week do you spend catching up student-athletes outside of class?
How many student athletes come to you for help per week?
How many trip reports do you get per week?
Do you read trip reports?
How many classes can students miss before dropping your class?
On average how many student-athletes miss your class per week?

We gathered 32 responses from student athletes and 6 responses from professors. The following are some examples of our survey results:

Design Solution

User Testing

Results & Impact

return to top

Design Team

Yessenia Castellanos, Mapalo Nalwamba, CamRon Sias

My Role

User Research, Interviews, Data Collection, User Testing, Empathy Mapping

Tools

Google Forms, Email, InDesign, Canva

In the fast-paced academic environment of today, student-athletes tend to face unique challenges in balancing their rigorous training schedules with their academic responsibilities. To address this need, our project is aimed at revolutionizing the way student-athletes at Montreat College experience academics by improving the current system.

Revolutionizing the way Montreat College student-athletes manage their commitments to enhance their academic success and alleviate stress.

After gathering quantitative data from our surveys, we decided to conduct a handful of one on one in person interviews to gather some qualitative data that could help us. We interviewed one coach, three student-athletes, one professor, and our athletic director. Here are some key findings we have found through our quantitative and qualitative research:

From a student’s perspective, most student-athletes find it difficult to miss class because the context of what occurred in class cannot be replicated. Also, most student-athletes do not have much social time because they are focusing on school and sports. Student-athletes miss around 3-5 classes per month and compete in a large time frame from all year to four months. The average time is around 4-5 months of competition time.
From a professor’s perspective, around 0-2 student athletes come to professors for help per week. Most professors get at least 10 trip reports per week and around 50% of professors do not read trip reports. There is a wide range of 2-10 student athletes missing class per week and most student athletes notify professors before leaving for competition.
From a coach’s perspective, most coaches try to schedule travel as late as they can, so students do not have to miss class. Most coaches have a watch list and check up on students who are not performing well academically but do not have a structured way of contacting professors or the Thrive Center. Coaches believe that the less structured a student athlete’s day is, the worse they will perform academically

Design Process

Professor Response

Student-Athlete Response

After analyzing our research, we decided to user map our user’s experience in three different ways. The first user map we created is a service blueprint. In this service blueprint we mapped out the journey of a student-athlete missing a class for their sport and then the steps they would take to make up the work.

The second set of user maps we created are empathy maps of three individuals:

Jessica, a student-athlete that values their sport over their education.
Jim, a student-athlete that valued their education over their sport.
The third empathy map was modeled after a professor at Montreat College.

The last set of user maps we created are three different perspectives of a user journey. These are the same perspectives as our empathy maps.

We developed a policy that should be followed by all student athletes, professors and coaches at Montreat College. This policy aims to proactively work with all parties involved to reach a solution that will make the process of being a student-athlete in the classroom easier.

An important feature mentioned in the policy is the Student Athlete Application. We embarked on developing a mobile application that would serve as a centralized platform for communication with professors, streamlining the organization and timely completion of assignments. Our goal was to create a user-friendly interface that would seamlessly integrate into the busy routines of student athletes, equipping them with the necessary tools to excel academically while pursuing their athletic endeavors.

After coming to a finished prototype of our policy and Athlete Pro App, it was time for user testing. We gathered a handful of student-athletes, professors and coaches to participate in a student-led focus group. In this focus group, participants were each given a copy of our policy while it was explained. Then, participants were presented with the prototype screens of AthleteTrackPro. After the policy and app were explained by the team, the floor was open to discussion. Participants were asked a series of questions, and at any time could ask or comment suggestions for our project.

Some questions asked included:

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of balancing your academic responsibilities and athletic commitments as a student-athlete?
Do you feel that your professors are understanding about your athletic commitments?
Can you identify one aspect of this presentation that could be improved from the perspective of a student athlete?

After a complete discussion that lasted for about an hour, we gathered the following insights:

In relation to our contract:

Instead of giving college credit for study hall, professors should use study hall to offer extra credit in classes.
Policy must be reviewed, updated, and redistributed to student athletes on a yearly basis.
Professors must give student athletes 1 week to make up work from missing a class.
Policy should allow teams to schedule games only certain days of the week, for example, Tuesdays and Saturdays. The minimum GPA should be lowered to 2.8. The punishment for student-athletes should change from ineligibility to more study hall hours.
The laison should check in students into Study Hall to prevent student fraud. The laison must be able to problem solve and work directly under the athletic director as part time facutly staff.
Allotted practice times should be earlier, starting at 1:00.

In relation to our app:

When opening the log in screen, we should add a transition that shows our logo first and then slides into log-in screen.
In relation to the study hall student screen, we should change the time counter to a stop watch clock once you clock in, similar to the ADP app clock in screen.
Once you are clocked in, the app should automatically turn your phone into do no disturb mode.
We should integrate blackboard into the app as much as possible.
In relation to the master schedule student screen, we should add blackboard assignment due dates, club events, and athletic
trainer appointments.
All content needs to reflect team language or togetherness.

Other suggestions include: We could scratch app, and combine suitable and blackboard and aspects of the AthleteTrackPro app.

The entire process of this user centered design experiment was a success, as we gathered insight from our peers and staff to create a solution that might just work. The overall consensus of the project still remains the same: to find a better future for student-athletes at Montreat College. As a school that is more than half student-athletes, this project remains close to my heart, and I believe it is not just a problem affecting our small campus, but also across the country.

Looking at our user testing, our contract had a huge success. The app was not as successful, and soon we determined as ideal as it was, it would be very difficult for our college to sponsor the creation of an entire new app. Instead, using our resources and hiring a liaison might be the best option.

It is very attainable for universities across the country to adopt this policy. I am proud to say Montreat College will be the first to adopt this contract policy, as talks have been in the making until this point. I am very proud to be apart of this change, and as an alumni, I understand how important it is to balance your ambitions mentally, physically, and emotionally. I hope this policy blends the wishes of all parties involved into a harmonious solution that creates a culture on campus of responsibility and dedication.

The Student-Athlete Experience