Creating and monitoring the health of student-tutor pairs through a centralized platform.
The Data Center processes the data inputs we collect into actionable information for Pandemic Professors staff. Our platform enables pairers to:
Make student-tutor pairs more efficiently
Monitor the health of pairs over time to ensure they are long-lasting or to take the necessary measures to resolve student-tutor pair issues
For the past few months, we worked to test and validate the types of data collected for the Data Center:
This form scores the tutor applicant’s level of Uncertainty Tolerance, a metric we developed to identify those who are naturally more empathetic towards their students, which is a predictor of a pair’s success.
Learn MoreThis form collects information from student applicants in a way that decreases miscommunication and lead to more automated processes for the Data Center.
Learn MoreThis form helps facilitate structured conversations centered around empathic listening in order for tutors to elicit meaningful feedback from their students. The data generated helps Pandemic Professors monitor the health of the pair.
Learn More
Through numerous sketches and client meetings, we eventually built out a fully functioning Data Center that’s hosted on Google Sheets. We chose to use Google Sheets because of budget constraints and for its features such as collaboration and integration with other Google products.
In order to validate the Data Center, we ran a series of usability tests.
Usability tests where participants completed a series of tasks to perform on the interface
Pandemic Professors' pairing team
6 pairing staff members
A majority expressed a willingness to adopt our Data Center. They perceived the associated pairing experience to be easier and more efficient than with the current system.
Additionally, test participants found the various scores and metrics displayed in the Data Center to be helpful in making a decision regarding a particular tutor, student, or pair.
Tutor Information
Pairers can view the most important information about a tutor at a glance and expand the columns to see details.
Our research revealed that pairers want to see the most qualified tutors. As a result, our final iteration highlights tutors with high Uncertainty Tolerance scores and positive traits in green. Meanwhile, medium and low Uncertainty Tolerance scores are highlighted in yellow and red, respectively.
Tutor Intake Tracking
This tab helps pairers track the status of an applicant’s background check and information such as their education level and if they are located in the US.
Make a Pair
Pairers can use the ‘Make a Pair’ tab to view student and tutor information (e.g. availability) relevant for creating a pair. During our testing sessions, pairers expressed that they liked having access to aggregated tutor and student data (e.g. compatibility).
Active Pair Monitoring
Staff can monitor existing pairs at an aggregate level. Pairers can use this tab to view the status of an active pair and identify if any re-matches are needed. The tab displays various scores and metrics derived from the most recent 6 Feedback Sessions conducted between the student and tutor. We chose to display the most recent data because we learned through testing that recent information is more informative and relevant when monitoring the pair at a high level.
Session Summary Responses
More detailed metrics from the Feedback Sessions can be viewed here. Contrary to the ‘Active Pair Monitoring’ tab, this tab is a repository of all responses.
Pandemic Professors staff can use the historical data on this tab to assess the health of a pair over time. The additional scores and metrics (related to attendance and quality of the tutoring session) can help them identify potential red flags and take informed steps to prevent a pair from failing.
Master Pair List
Pairers can use this tab to track every student-tutor pair that’s been made in the system. It serves as both a data repository and communication tool.
Organization-Wide Statistics
Pairers can view statistics that are calculated using tutor and student data. This page is intended to give insight into the organization’s operations and impact.
