BrainPOP X
As a playful ed tech company focused on classroom use for over two decades, BrainPOP has established itself in school districts and in over 70% of schools nation-wide. I was brought on as Senior Director of Product to lead the team building a consumer product that revolutionizes at-home learning. Through beta testing, play testing, diary study research, and small lightweight experimentation, I lead the team to find product-market fit to match BrainPOP’s school success, at home.
Beta Product Analysis
My first days at BrainPOP aligned with the beginning of the one-month paid beta period, complete with 300 families.
My first task was to analyze the viability of this product as our larger go-to-market product launch, defining where iterations or pivots were needed, and most importantly, to learn from this experience to define THE experience that will revolutionize at-home learning for elementary school students.
Usability Testing & UX Research Leadership
In the absence of a fully formed team in the infancy of BrainPOP X, I acted as usability testing and UX research lead throughout the beta period. I conducted a diary study with five families, gathering parent and kid sentiment over the period of four weeks. Communication was conducted via iMessage and weekly interviews. This provided the team with vital qualitative data to complement our usage and behavioral data.
Further, in my first weeks at BrainPOP, I was able to recruit, schedule, and conduct a series of play tests to determine and improve usability issues before the full beta period launch. This included a significant change to the functionality of the video recording tool to better align with conventions and expectations of simpler video platforms, like the phones and iPads that are omnipresent in kids’ lives.