SKILLSCOPE

AI Innovation & Product Development

Child using a laptop computer that displays a colorful educational game or app screen with animated characters and titles.

SkillScope is a K12 EdTech product suite that authentically assesses essential skills like Collaboration, Perseverance, and Communication in middle school students.

Using GenAI and Multimodal AI, it provides accurate skill measurement and actionable feedback to support students' future success.

Areas of Focus

EdTech, GenAI, Innovation, UXR, Product Management, Agile, Feature Prioritization, Roadmapping, Cross-functional Collaboration

Methods

Usability Testing
Wizard of Oz Prototyping
Participatory Research
Concept Testing
Wireframing
Qualitative Research
Quantitive Research
Mixed Methods
Attitudinal Method
Behavioral Method

Year

2024

Team

Mandy Figueroa (PO)
Katrina Roohr (IR)
Kinta Montilus (ID)
Akim Desire (SD)
Hankun He (UXD)
Donya Iman (UI)
Casey Medlock Paul (LS)
Andrew Emerson (AE)
Hillary Molloy (DE)
Sara Walker (UI)
Michael Schanio (SE)
Stephon Thomson (SE)

PRODUCT
OVERVIEW

These dynamic learning experiences measure affective, behavioral and cognitive skills derived from extensive foundational research that uncovered some of the most valuable skills to have in the 21st century.

Blurb Builder

Primary Skills

AI Literacy
Determination
Continuous Learning

    • Human Computer Interaction

    • AI Familiarity

    • Emotional Regulation

    • Resilience

    • Prompt Engineering

    • AI Ethics

    • Resourcefulness

Upcycle Uprise

Primary Skills

Critical Thinking
Collaboration
Civic Responsibility

    • Conflict Management

    • Decision Making

    • Adaptability

    • Empathy

    • Problem Solving

    • Logical Reasoning

    • Evaluation

Homework with Harry

Primary Skills

Perseverance
Collaboration
Effective Communication

    • Empathy

    • Adaptability

    • Conflict Management

    • Critical Thinking

    • Problem Solving

    • Persuasion

    • Verbal Communication

Space Story

Primary Skills

Originality
Active Listening
Team Synergy

    • Adaptability

    • Creativity

    • Empathy

    • Collaboration

    • Decision Making

    • Critical Thinking

    • Written Communication

Multiple electronic devices displaying educational and creative software, including a desktop computer showing a beach-themed presentation, a laptop with a climate change poster, and a smartphone with a video call interface.

SkillScope offers 15-20 minute modules that assess critical skills like Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Digital Literacy through interactive, themed activities.

Students receive personalized insights into their strengths and growth areas, while teachers access early performance indicators to provide targeted support.

By exploring real-world scenarios, students are empowered to cultivate essential life skills for success beyond the classroom.

Four laptops displaying educational or creative programs on a light gray background.

WIZARD OF OZ PROTOTYPING

Flowchart with sections labeled Activity 3, Likert, and Skills Report, including various interconnected slides and icons, representing a presentation or project process.
Flowchart diagram illustrating the steps for an activity process, featuring various screens and pathways for user interaction, decision points, and activity completion.

The Wizard of Oz prototyping method simulates a product’s functionality, where users believe it’s autonomous but are actually interacting with a researcher-controlled system.

This approach allows early insight into user needs and pain points, helping guide strategic decisions, save budget, meet deadlines, and gain stakeholder buy-in.

Screenshot of a digital flowchart or storyboard consisting of multiple slides with a purple and pink theme, featuring illustrated female characters, text boxes, conditional screens, and arrows indicating a sequence or process.

IMMERSIVE UXR

Using mid & high-fidelity wireframes, I crafted multimodal experiences in MS Teams, Figma, and AI tools, conducting think-aloud usability studies to gather valuable data.

These immersive simulations enriched our understanding of user behavior and informed the product’s next development stages.

Three animated characters smiling and standing together, with a solid beige background.

Middle School Teacher

"I think that it aligns well with preparing students for life after graduation because we cannot just teach them skills that are tied directly to a content area."

Middle School Teacher

"This is timely and reflective of an ever-evolving technology world."

Four animated children, one in a wheelchair, smiling and standing together against a plain background.

Middle School Student

“It looks like a useful app and it gives a lot of choice for what the user wants to do with it.”

Middle School Student

"It was kinda fun . . . it seems similar to what will happen in real life, you know, or what it would look like."

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Research Execution & Methodology

  • Conducted high-volume, cross-functional sprints, interviewing 50+ students and teachers within two week periods over two quarters to inform crucial product decisions on skills measurement.

  • Employed co-design sessions, Think Aloud Usability tests, and focus groups to identify user pain points, use cases, and optimization opportunities.

Child using a laptop with a website displaying an environmental theme and an animated character in a settings interface.

Cross Functional Collaboration & Leadership Award Recipient

  • Promoted user-centered, agile methods that were adopted across the UX department to enhance efficiency and team collaboration.

  • Nominated for the ETS 2024 Spotlight Award by senior leadership for exceeding product and business goals through impactful research, cross-functional collaboration and innovation on tight timelines.

BUSINESS IMPACT

Child in a classroom using a laptop to interact with an educational webpage about upcycling, featuring a virtual beach scene and recycling-related icons.

Innovation & Process Improvement

  • Pioneered immersive wireframe testing and automated research phases, enabling faster synthesis and ahead-of-schedule code handoffs.

  • Significantly reduced development timelines by streamlining research processes.

Child using a laptop with a colorful educational game or app on the screen, surrounded by scattered paper and art supplies.

    • Led research across multiple product teams, consulting for 2-4 additional product teams, supporting researcher and designers

    • Championed UXR throughout the organization, gaining buy-in from UX Designers, Developers, Engineers, and other stakeholders

    • Advocated for diverse demographics & user needs, spanning from middle school students to 60-year-old professionals

    • Leading co-design/participatory research initiatives methods

    • Implemented new processes resulting in heightened clarity, efficiencies, and impact for researchers across the organization

    • Streamlined new internal SharePoint files and data organization

    • Automation via templates across share-outs, 1-page reports, repositories, protocols, etc.

    • Created global note taking decks/comms channels for team members to communicate in interviews and note take findings

    • Created new cross-functional live interview observer sit ins

    • Instituted cross-functional feedback on research protocols (welcoming expertise from various disciplines on the product team)

    • Team Prioritization Sessions baked into share out

    • Proven track record of conducting “moderated and unmoderated research” with over 50 participants within tight timeframes, showcasing her ability to efficiently manage research logistics.

    • Optimizing workflows in an agile EdTech environment demonstrates adaptability and ability to handle evolving project scopes, a valuable asset for a Research Operations role.

    • Pioneered innovative multimedia research techniques” for AI product development, showing that she brings creativity and cutting-edge methods to research, which can be useful in improving research operations and data capture methods.

    • Conducted workshops on effective share-outs, cross-cultural research, cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder buy-in

    • Organized workshops on research repositories

    • Held brainstorming ideation session

    • Developed new cross-functional collaboration across research disciplines: UXR, UXD & IR (pilots, alpha and beta studies)