Feature Brief

Context

This feature will help users search for professors based on the course or courses based on a professor.

Note:

• (or directly, to the results page if they decide on both?)

• We already have a search that lets the user enter anything.

• If they search for the course it shows the distribution across all professors and there is no list/option to choose the professor if they don’t know who is teaching next sem.

• Similarly, If searched for prof. there is no option/list to choose the course, if they don’t already know what they are teaching next sem

• The above approach will require them to go and search on the coursebook/planner which is again going to the core problem the website is trying to solve, that is, no single page with all the data.

Problem Statements

I am a user who relies on past data to help me plan my courses. I am trying to choose a prof. and a course for my degree plan. But it's tough to decide the prof. because there are lots of courses/prof. there is no single page with all the data which makes me tired and frustrated.

Goals

• To make it intuitive for users on what to search for.

Hypothesis

(Feature): Have a search bar with a toggle button that lets you search by course or by professor.

(User behavior): The user clearly knows what to type or search for in the search bar.

(Metrics): 30% reduction in website bounce rate.

If we <achieve/enable X>, then <user behavior Y changes in this way> leading to positive metrics <Z>. Include guesses for the size of the win on specific metrics, using past launches as a baseline.

Vision Narrative

1. John, a student planning his next semester on Nebula planner decides on a combination of multiple courses he can take next semester. Now he needs to weigh other factors like professor, syllabus, schedule, and arrive on our platform. He sees an intuitive search bar that clearly asks him to enter the course and he does that to see a comprehensive results page.

2. Jessica, a student in her final semester has to take electives so she wants to take them with a professor she likes the most based on her experiences. Curious to see what the professor is teaching next semester she arrives on Trends (since Trends is comprehensive of the syllabus, course evals, and reviews, etc.). She sees an intuitive search bar with the toggle to “search for the professor”. Does that and she sees all the courses that prof. is teaching along with other data.

Rough Scoping & Timeline

• V1: Develop the Search with a toggle button and show results purely based on that.

• Later Versions: Might pivot back to a single search or separate fields based on metrics, user behavior, and feedback.

• Project Size: This is a small-sized project.

• Rollout/Testing Plan:

  • A/B Tests.

  • Roll out to a select group of users for beta testing before a full release.

Key Trade-Offs & Decisions

• More clicks are required from the user if they already know the prof. and the course.

Concept Mocks

Include some mocks or a prototype to illustrate the concept. (Add links)

Open

Feature Proposal

Proposal

Detailed Requirement:

• Create a toggle "Search Bar" that explicitly mentions “Enter Course“ and “Search by professor“ on the toggle and vice-versa

• Results:

  • Show a list of all profs teaching this course next sem, then the previous sem with infinite scroll or pages

  • Make sure the labels highlight the course-prof combination metrics.

  • Allow to expand the label to see other metrics, graphical views, and filters.

  • The label shall have “+“ or “Add to compare“ button

• UX:

  • Ensure the results page is responsive and user-friendly on both desktop and mobile devices.

Risks & Mitigations

• Risk:

  • Mitigation:

Open Questions

• How to reduce the number of clicks if a student knows the course and prof?

Research

• Conducted user surveys to understand the need for a better search flow.

• Reviewed user feedback regarding course and professor search.

• Analyzed existing search and flow for usability.