Got It project

Got It: An App for Struggling Apprentices

Client

  • BCIT Digital Design and Development/ConnectHer

Timeline

  • September 2025—December 2025

Role

  • UX Designer

Team Size

  • 7 members

Development

  • VS Code, React.js, React bits, API calling

Software

  • Google Drive, Google sheets, Google Doc, Figma, Adobe Suite, Jira

Brief

Level 1 electrical students at BCIT, particularly those who are neurodiverse, face significant challenges with retention and are at higher risk of leaving the program before completing their Red Seal certification.

What was the result

We developed a webapp that help neurodiverse electrical apprentices turn dense study materials into accessible, easier-to-understand learning content. It lets students upload their own documents or open built‑in textbooks, then uses AI tools to simplify text, generate summaries, and create mind maps so they can quickly see the “big picture” and key points.

This was the process

Key Findings

In analyzing my research findings, I see a clear misalignment between how my participants learn best and how their program content is currently delivered. Neurodiverse electrical apprentices are moderately comfortable with digital tools, yet they are expected to navigate dense, textbook-heavy materials with small text, jargon, and minimal visuals, especially in math and the Canadian Electrical Code. This setup creates cognitive overload and leaves many of them feeling discouraged and behind. I noticed that students respond by building their own supports—highlighting, taking notes, repeating concepts, seeking hands-on practice, and relying on videos—which shows strong motivation and a clear preference for multimodal, guided learning. I also observed that institutional accessibility services are not widely known or consistently helpful, suggesting they are either not visible, not tailored, or not aligned with day-to-day study challenges. Based on this, I proposed a tool with strong visual supports, simplified language and glossary, flexible learning modes, accessibility controls, and features like search, annotation, and printable cheat sheets to better match how these learners actually study.

Digital Comfort and Textbook Barriers

In leading this research at BCIT, I found neurodiverse electrical students rely on personal laptops with moderate digital comfort, but textbook-heavy materials—especially dense math and Canadian Electrical Code with small fonts, jargon, and few visuals—leave those with learning disabilities discouraged and behind.

Got It research insightResults from User Survey

Study Organization Struggles and Coping Strategies

Participants struggle to start studying and organize complex material, coping by breaking down text, highlighting, note-taking, repeating concepts, and using hands-on practice, step-by-step visuals, diagrams, and YouTube tutorials.

Got It research insightResults from User Survey

Accessibility Gaps and Specific Pain Points

I also discovered low awareness and mixed experiences with BCIT accessibility services, along with pain points like confusing acronyms, limited real-world examples, overly technical language, scarce practice exams, and scattered resources.

Got It research insightResults from User Survey

Recommended Tool Solutions

Based on these insights, I recommended a tool with strong visual supports, simplified language/glossary, diverse learning modes, accessibility settings, offline access, search, annotation, and printable cheat sheets.

Got It research insightResults from User Survey
Got It research insightResults from User Survey
Got It research insightResults from User Survey

This was the approach we went with

The research led us to conceptualize a web application that consolidates students' fragmented study methods into a single, cohesive platform tailored to neurodiverse learners.

The idea is to provide one environment that integrates required textbooks with accessibility-focused features, reducing the need to constantly switch between tools.

The web app would include:

  • Pomodoro-style study timer.
  • AI-powered summarization.
  • Simplification.
  • Mind mapping.

To support different ways of processing information. It would also offer core editing and navigation capabilities such as highlighting, bolding, line-spacing adjustments, and a split-screen view to compare original and transformed content. Together, these features are designed to keep everything visible, organized, and accessible without overwhelming the user.

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