UnlockedLabs

Problem/Opportunity

UnlockEd is well-positioned to help residents of correctional facilities prepare for their parole hearings because it houses important information related to their activities and programmes they have completed while incarcerated.

Residents in most states have to track their activities by pen-and-paper, collating their attendance reports, class completion certificates, and other documents into a manila folder that quickly grows unwieldy. For those with long sentences, representing their complete history of progress and rehabilitation to their parole board is quite the chore.

Herein lies the strongest opportunity for impact: help residents view and report their long-term progress so that they can effectively communicate their case for parole.

Responsibilities

As part of a small design team, I designed low-fidelity screens and tested these with our client partner, translated our UXR insights into a storyboarded user scenario, and designed the high-fidelity programme details module. Each week, we met with the CTO of UnlockedLabs to refine our process.

I was tasked with designing the dashboard to provide a higher-level, long-term perspective of learners’ educational journeys. My role encompassed user research, wire-framing, prototyping, and crafting the final design for a Program Management dashboard. This solution would help learners track progress, adjust their educational efforts, and generate printable, organised reports to support their case for parole.

Design Process

1. Research & Insights:
• Conducted user interviews to understand learners’ unique constraints and needs, particularly around portfolio management and long-term goal tracking.


• Analysed the existing dashboard’s limitations and identified gaps in functionality.

1. Ideation & Wireframing:
• Explored how to shift focus from short-term course tracking to a more strategic, goal-oriented perspective.
• Feedback from our low-fidelity dashboards encouraged us to pivot away from specific “course-level” information and instead focus on high-level programme information.

1. Prototyping & Iteration:
• Developed interactive prototypes in Figma, of a "zoomed-out" Program Management dashboard, highlighting milestones, progress summaries, and certifications.
• Conducted usability tests with stakeholders to refine layout and interaction flow.

Feature Highlight:

• Designed an exportable, printable report feature, carefully formatted to allow rearrangement of content after printing. This digital portfolio acted as a practical replacement for learners’ manually kept records.

Outcomes

• Improved Long-Term Clarity: Learners now have a clear overview of their cumulative progress, empowering them to make strategic decisions about their education.
• Seamless Portfolio Management: The exportable report replaces cumbersome manual methods, aligning with the constraints of learners’ environments.
• Stakeholder Buy-In: The dashboard was well-received by stakeholders for its balance of simplicity and functionality, ensuring alignment with the unique challenges of the target audience. Another 4-week design project for UnlockedLabs was secured as a result of this presentation.

Evolution

Moving forward, the dashboard could evolve by:

• Integrating feedback loops where learners receive personalised recommendations based on their progress.
• Adding mobile-accessible features for staff or facilitators to assist learners in real time.
• Expanding functionality to track extracurricular activities or non-academic achievements relevant to parole cases.