At a glance

Koru, a leader in mindfulness education, sought to enhance their digital offerings to better serve educators and students in mindfulness practices. Red Thread Innovations partnered with Koru to overhaul their existing platform, focusing on improving user experience and engagement, operational efficiency, and retention rates through a comprehensive digital transformation.

Service: Product Growth & Evolution

Expertise

UX/UI Design
Software Engineering
UX Research
Service Design

Technology

React
React Native
Node JS
PHP

Challenge

Koru's journey began with a desire to deepen the impact of mindfulness education. Their legacy system, however, was creating barriers in the educator-student connection, impacting user satisfaction and resulting in inefficiencies in program management. Koru's mission was clear: transform their platform to nurture meaningful connections, simplify processes, and enhance the overall experience for every participant in their mindfulness education journey.

Solution

Through extensive user research and discovery processes, Red Thread Innovations identified key areas for improvement. We redesigned the teacher's dashboard for greater ease of use, streamlined the student registration process, and enhanced the logbook feature for better teacher-student communication. A focus was also placed on operational efficiency by simplifying account management and payment processing, reducing the need for manual intervention by Koru’s team.

Result

The redesigned platform resulted in a more intuitive and efficient experience for both teachers and students. Teachers now enjoy improved course management and student interaction tools, while students benefit from an improved registration and mindfulness tracking experience. The platform's enhanced stability and functionality have contributed to improved teacher retention and overall satisfaction with Koru's offerings.

User-Centric Discovery

Through extensive research and dialogues with educators, our team gained critical insights into the specific needs and challenges faced by teachers. This process illuminated the importance of a user-friendly logbook feature to help educators and students interact seamlessly, and more efficient course management processes. The feedback gathered was instrumental in guiding the redesign, ensuring that the platform’s functionality aligns closely with the everyday realities of mindfulness educators.

Developing a Design System

Our approach to redesigning Koru's platform emphasized the creation of a cohesive design system, focusing on clarity and user engagement. This system brought uniformity and intuitiveness to the interface, particularly evident in the teacher dashboard and student logbook. By streamlining interactions and refining the visual language, we've enriched the mindfulness journey for educators and students, fostering a supportive and connected learning environment.

Streamlined Teacher Experience

The teacher dashboard underwent a significant transformation, with a focus on easy navigation and streamlined management tools. Recognizing the diverse responsibilities of educators, the redesign aimed to make course setup and student interactions seamless and effortless. This new dashboard allows teachers to easily organize courses, access resources, and interact with students, thereby reducing administrative burdens and enhancing their ability to focus on teaching.

Building Connections

A pivotal feature in Koru's platform, the logbook, serves as the primary communication channel between teachers and students. Students submit details of their mindfulness practices and meditations which are received by educators to then provide personalized feedback, guidance, and support on each entry, nurturing a continuous dialogue and reinforcing the bond between them and their students. The logbook's redesign focused on creating a more intuitive, engaging interface, making it easier for teachers to navigate, respond, and manage activities, thereby fostering a stronger sense of connection and community within the mindfulness courses.

Operational Efficiency

To address operational challenges, we focused on simplifying the account and payment management systems within the platform. By improving these features and automating processes, we significantly reduced the need for manual intervention and reduced duplicate work previously being done on disparate systems. This advancement not only improves accuracy and reduces administrative workload but also enables the Koru team to manage their operations more effectively and reshift focus on strategic initiatives.

Transforming Mindfulness Education

Koru’s reimagined platform embodies a holistic approach to mindfulness education, combining intuitive course management, enriched communication channels, and efficient operational workflows. This transformation empowers educators to deliver impactful courses and students to engage more deeply in their practices. Koru is a testament to the power of thoughtful digital transformation in enhancing educational experiences and fostering more meaningful connections between students and educators.

Related Work