Giving Students Better Access to Information on the Wellness Center Website @UChicago
By: Techteam Talks
Tags: Uchicago, UX Research, Project Management, UX Design, UX

From Yena’s Perspective:

Like many UChicago students, I frequently scroll through anonymous confessions shared by the highly followed Facebook page called UChicago Secrets. These daily posts range from compliments to strangers, complaints about the old campus buildings, and the occasional political discourse — all of which I quickly skim while procrastinating on yet another homework assignment.

In the past year, however, I began to notice inquiries regarding the mental health resources provided by Student Counseling Services (SCS). Students were resorting to their peers for critical points of confusion about their mental health, asking simple questions like “Can I see someone regularly through SCS, and is it covered through USHIP?” and “How do I make an appointment with SCS?” At first, I simply furrowed my eyebrows at these lost students’ questions, wondering why they couldn’t just google it. But as more and more inquiries steadily flowed in, I realized the blame couldn’t be put on the students because, in truth, their voices were part of a larger problem that the University desperately needed to address — a lack of information accessibility and inclusion for all.

I knew I couldn’t possibly help everyone. But I knew I could use the power of design thinking to better understand the needs of our students — the target users of the official Wellness Center website — and help craft a better user interface (UI) that would provide more accessible experiences for students looking to improve their mental health. Given my previous experiences as TechTeam’s lead user experience/interface designer for the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) project, I reached out to Jiaqi Gao, a close friend of mine and co-chair of TechTeam, and started ideating ways in which we could provide our services to the Wellness Center.

A screenshot of the beginnings

To better explain what I was thinking, I devised a proposal with several project ideas (e.g., conducting interviews, usability testing, prototyping a services quiz) over the summer of 2019. After reviewing my proposal with Jiaqi, I emailed Dr. Meeta Kumar (Director of Student Health and Counseling Services) to see if she would be interested in working with TechTeam that coming fall. Before clicking “Send,” doubts lingered in my mind. Would the University even be willing to collaborate with students? This was my first time reaching out to a potential client, and unlike other TechTeam projects, we were proposing something that didn’t have a clear form just yet.

But much to my surprise, Dr. Kumar replied the very next day with great enthusiasm. We arranged a meeting with Julie Edwards, Director for Health Promotion and Wellness, as well, and I learned that the Wellness Center was in need of a better digital home — one that emphasized a comfortable environment for students to learn about the Center’s resources and policies quickly and comprehensively. University students come to the wellness.uchicago.edu site to tap into their various health and counseling services: scheduling appointments, reading up on available counselors, information on how insurance works. We discussed transparency and accessibility issues on the Wellness Center website and decided to focus on building a platform that would make the process of finding and navigating information easy and intuitive, one that prioritizes the needs of its people.

From Sydney’s Perspective:

I first joined Tech Team as a sophomore, hoping to apply the technical skills I was learning in the classroom to real-world challenges. I spent my first quarter helping develop a website for the Greater Bronzeville Neighborhood Network (GBNN), a Chicago organization dedicated to improving local employment opportunities. I was surprised by the enthusiastic support we received from the GBNN staff; they were convinced that the new website would play a critical role in their outreach efforts. When the quarter was finished, I felt satisfied knowing that our team had contributed something meaningful to the Chicago community, and was eager to lead a project of my own the following quarter. I spent the spring leading a project for the UChicago Office of Career Advancement, where my team collected information on internships across the country using a data extraction technique called web scraping.

When Autumn Quarter neared, I was excited to see the list of new projects. I was particularly inspired by the collaboration with SCS, initiated by Yena. Though I was unfamiliar with their website, I had observed student confusion and anxiety regarding SCS in the form of anonymous Facebook posts and secondhand accounts. It was clear there was a problem, and I was thrilled to join Yena in the search for a solution. As co-leader of the project, I would have the opportunity to work alongside a dedicated group of students and contribute my technical experience to a compelling cause. I couldn’t wait to get started.