Carta Sidebar

Empowering and equipping students with the tools to plan their academic journey with data-driven decisions and confidence.

CHALLENGE

Determine the inclusion of the Sidebar in V2 based on its significance in students' course planning

SOLUTION

Understand students’ course planning processes and assess Sidebar’s relevance
If kept, redesign Sidebar to address current shortcomings and pain points

ROLE

UX Designer

DURATION

8 weeks (April - June 2021)

TOOLS

Figma, Miro

01 | Overview

Elevating the Course Planning Experience

Carta, Stanford University’s course exploration and planning platform, serves as an invaluable resource for 95% of undergraduates, helping them make informed, data-driven decisions as they plan their academic journeys.

My focus was improving the Sidebar, which serves as a touchpoint for students to access their weekly schedule at any stage of the course exploration process.

02 | Research

Qualitative Analysis

I interviewed four Stanford undergraduates across all years to learn what processes work when crafting their academic schedules. Students were asked to walk me through their Spring quarter planning process.

Quantitative Analysis

To see how widely-used the Sidebar is, I sent out a survey through various university mailing lists. 68 respondents gave insight into the percentage of students that use the Sidebar, the importance of keeping the feature, and alternative resources used when course planning.

Key Insights

From my research, I concluded that the Sidebar should be kept since a clear majority of students utilized it to some extent, and keeping it would at least give students the option to use it if they so desired. Additionally, the research highlights its value for short-term planning. Therefore, my next step was to redesign the Sidebar to best meet students' ideal planning process.

CURRENT STATE

Good portion of students use tool to some extent
Used more for course reviews and intensity
Students like ability to hide classes from course overview

ENROLLMENT ACTIONS

Identify and secure necessary classes, then select filler classes
“Spitball” all potential courses of interest
Narrow down based on logistical constraints, goals, etc

NON-SIDEBAR USERS

Enjoy personal planner for flexibility + customization
Like ability to create multiple versions
Value color coding (must-have vs shopping, degree reqs, etc)

Competitive Analysis

To begin my redesign, I first researched the interfaces that students were currently using for quarter schedule planning.

SimpleEnroll

Feature within Stanford’s official course enrollment platform. Students “Plan” their desired classes, and SimpleEnroll saves them for when enrollment opens.

Enrolled classes show up as time blocks = intuitive visualization
Classes that are planned but not enrolled in are hidden by default = reduces clutter/visual overload
Logistical info for class shows up when hovering over time block

Carta V1 Sidebar

Short-term planning feature that persists throughout the course browsing process, allowing students to construct their quarter’s course schedule.

Pinned classes are displayed at top, so Quarter Overview is pushed below the fold when a lot of classes are pinned
All sections are automatically added = visually overwhelming

03 | Wireframes

Crafting the Solution

1st Iteration

Incorporates all key changes and uses drag and drop to move around classes
Can drag course card from course page onto appropriate drop-zone in Sidebar
Can reorganize classes into “Must-takes” and “Undecided” for flexible planning experience

2nd Iteration

Rather than drop zones, course cards have drag handles to indicate to users they can move
When dragged, position bar is displayed to indicate where card will go when cursor is released
User testing needed to determine which UI display is more preferred

3rd Iteration

Takes into consideration the Saved feature, which currently does not exist but will be in future iterations
“View Saved” button would provide students quick access to classes they could be considering adding to their quarter

04 | Reflection

Key Takeaways

Through this project, I acquired invaluable experience and insight into each stage of the design process. As an avid Carta user, this project felt especially relevant to me, and hearing my peers' perspectives on the Sidebar was truly rewarding. I found great inspiration in their individual planning approaches.
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Next Steps:

If not for time constraints, I would have...

Conducted user testing to assess the redesign’s effectiveness at addressing student needs and determine the most successful version
Explored additional features such as color coding time-blocks according to students’ preferences, creating multiple quarter schedules to accommodate various plans, etc