We Schools | Red Thread Innovations

At a glance

Walgreens, in partnership with WE Schools, developed an online initiative supporting teachers in helping students become active, engaged citizens. Red Thread Innovations created the co-branded Walgreens WE Virtual Learning Centre. This self-serve, online portal empowers educators with access to free educational resources and professional development support, all at their fingertips.
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Service: New Product Launch

Expertise

Product Strategy & Roadmap

Interaction Design

UI & UX Design

UX Research

Information Architecture

Service Blueprinting

Software Engineering

Platform

Headless CMS

Mobile responsive web

React

Node

Typescript

Salesforce Integration

Graph QL

Challenge

Walgreens was looking to scale their support for America’s teachers by sponsoring access to free educational tools, grants and resources.

Solution

Red Thread Innovations built an online educational portal providing access to WE Schools' learning tools and a library containing thousands of teacher’s courses, curricula, and videos.

Result

Walgreens built strong connections with hundreds of thousands of educators through the Virtual Learning Centre, delivering on its commitment to empower the communities they serve.

Designing for scale

We completed primary and secondary UX research to understand how the portal could best meet the needs of educators. Leveraging techniques like card sorting to categorize pages, resources, and naming conventions. We then adapted the WE brand guide to create UI designs aligned with Walgreens' needs. We then decomposed those designs into atomic components that could efficiently be reused across the portal.

Rapid content discoverability

With hundreds of thousands of resources available on the Virtual Learning Portal, being able to navigate and find the right resources is paramount. Intuitive navigation and updated information architecture paired with a global search allow users immediate access to the desired content.

Learning management

A custom Learning Management System allowed us to create an interface design that delivered educational content aligned with Walgreens' program expectations. The portal included a content library with videos, teaching guides, course materials, and lesson overviews offering a more interactive and dynamic experience for teachers.

The online library and volume of courses are a great addition to help reinforce learning and build knowledge.

Real-time Feedback

It was critical to Walgreens and WE Schools to collect real-time feedback as a natural part of the user journey. This allowed the portal to track resource usage, learn about behavioural patterns impacting students and educators, and provide a deeper understanding of the value of the portal.

“I feel more empowered as I now have access to the tools and resources I need to support my students.”

Making the grade

Walgreens met its goal of reaching America’s teachers with free educational resources. The scalable, Virtual Learning Centre empowers educators to address difficult issues, so students thrive in the classroom and beyond. Finally, the portal has allowed WE Schools to completely rethink how they deliver value to teachers and partners while significantly improving their operational efficiency.