What is Whereby?
Whereby is a browser-based video meeting tool with an emphasis on ease of use. We modified this platform by adding interactive design elements to encourage participation in young students who have transitioned to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has completely rerouted how teachers and students collaborate positively and negatively. Our goal was to design a digital learning platform that better engages young students.
My sketches revealed that quite a few factors needed to be considered within the design. However, we decided to primarily focus on the filter concept and add meaningful tabs to the student's screen.
Since our primary audience for this modification would be young students, we wanted to make all the features were easily accessible from the virtual classroom window.
The "sign-in" and "choose a filter" flow allows the student to easily flow through the necessary steps before entering the classroom in a simple yet fun way.
The virtual classroom needed to stay uncluttered, so we placed all the features in a "folder with tabs" design to the right of the screen, where the student can access them easily during class.
The virtual classroom follows most video-conferencing platforms in style. The main screen is to the left, and the right side consists of various tools and information. The four tabs that we decided were important to include were:
Notepad: allows the student to take notes within the screen rather than switch between windows.
Resources: the needed resources are easily accessible to the student without disrupting the main classroom area to save them as they need.
Settings: the student can quickly change settings without exiting the classroom.
Chat: the classroom chat can is available without overlay, and the "chat with the teacher" button can be seen among the standard controls underneath the whiteboard.
