Overview
School teachers in India’s CBSE and state board schools face a pressing challenge: they are expected to shape the next generation but often lack access to effective professional development. Existing training programs are typically generic, overly theoretical, and disconnected from the practical realities of their classrooms, leaving a significant gap that hampers teacher growth and student outcomes. This project bridges that gap through extensive research and field visits, culminating in a system and digital platform designed to provide teachers with relevant, personalized upskilling opportunities tailored to their needs.
My Role
Project Owner (Solo Project)
Timeline
10 Weeks
Nature of Project
Research & Interaction Design
The Challenge
How might we design an up-skilling program that empowers teachers to explore their interests, equips them with practical strategies and tools for impactful classroom outcomes, and supports sustained implementation over time?
During my research with over 30 teachers and education experts India, I discovered that:
Most training programs take a one-size-fits-all approach, ignoring individual teacher needs
Teachers struggle to balance professional development with their already heavy workloads
Most training programs don't provide teachers with meaningful outcomes that help them in classes
There is minimal scope for follow-up or implementation support after training sessions
My Process
Given that I had complete ownership of the project, I had the opportunity to spend time on all the aspects of the design process, while my design process was in no way a liner process, I have presented an overview of the kind of work I did in the project here.
Research & Observations
To develop a comprehensive understanding of teacher training challenges and opportunities, I conducted both secondary and primary research over a period of 3 weeks.
Secondary Research
To understand the landscape of teacher education and training in India I started off with some literature review, reading articles, understanding current options available for teachers in terms of up-skilling and the problems they face.
View Sources
National Education Policy - 2020
The Missing Link in Education Reforms, - The Wire
Challenges Faced By Indian Teachers - Shanlax International Journal of Education, Meenakshi R, 2017
View Sources
National Education Policy - 2020
The Missing Link in Education Reforms, - The Wire
Challenges Faced By Indian Teachers - Shanlax International Journal of Education, Meenakshi R, 2017
Why Do Teachers Need Training?
Teacher training and professional development are crucial components of a robust education system, yet they often receive insufficient attention. As noted in India's National Education Policy, "the quality of teacher education, recruitment, deployment, service conditions, and empowerment of teachers is not where it should be, and consequently, the quality and motivation of teachers does not reach the desired standards." This gap begins with traditional B.Ed programs, which often fail to prepare teachers adequately for real classroom challenges.
"A teacher is just a human being who has studied in the same dysfunctional system, which means most of their teaching practices stem from beliefs and experiences acquired during their school days."
Initial Hypothesis/Goal
At this stage I had already spoken to a few teachers and conducted some preliminary research around teacher training and the problems in the space. This led to me formulating a hypothesis as the frame of reference for the rest of my research.
Teachers don't get access to adequate and practical up-skilling programs to equip themselves with new and engaging techniques to enhance the student learning outcome.
Primary Research
I conducted stake holder interviews with 11 teachers and 3 experts from the teacher training industry. Along with this I also conducted a remote survey in which 19 teachers participated. I also had the opportunity to attend a training session in person.
Interviews with Experts in Teacher Training
I had the opportunity to interact with a few well known experts in the teacher education industry, this gave me the opportunity to understand the problems within the space of teacher training in depth and with proper backing.
Mary Ouseph
Freelance teacher education consultant
Maya Menon
Director at The Teacher Foundation (TTF)
Vivekananda
Principal teacher trainer at Academy for Creative Teaching
Questions & Discussion Points
What are the training programs like today? What happens in them? How are they planned?
What are the challenges faced by teachers while trying to access relevant training resources?
How can we help teachers determine the areas in which they want to develop and how they want to up-skill?
How can we create an assessment system that can help trainers, teachers, and school management identify the right training programs and content based on the teacher context?
How could we introduce scalable and cost-effective solutions that are accessible and easily adaptable to the current systems?
How to make personalized and contextualized training accessible for teachers in low-resource schools, or tier 2, and tier 3 schools?
How can technologies like PAL and AI be used to solve for teacher training program relevance?
Questions & Discussion Points
What are the training programs like today? What happens in them? How are they planned?
What are the challenges faced by teachers while trying to access relevant training resources?
How can we help teachers determine the areas in which they want to develop and how they want to up-skill?
How can we create an assessment system that can help trainers, teachers, and school management identify the right training programs and content based on the teacher context?
How could we introduce scalable and cost-effective solutions that are accessible and easily adaptable to the current systems?
How to make personalized and contextualized training accessible for teachers in low-resource schools, or tier 2, and tier 3 schools?
How can technologies like PAL and AI be used to solve for teacher training program relevance?
Interview Artifacts
Interview & Surveys With Teachers
I conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers in the CBSE board from various schools across Karnataka, some of these interviews were in person while some were remote. At the same time I also circulated a survey form among teachers. Around 19 teachers filled the form.
Questions & Discussion Points
Do you think teachers need professional development?
How do you approach professional development currently?
What are your motivations to up-skill?
What are your thoughts on the available training programs and workshops?
What are some of the issues and pain points you have with training programs?
Questions & Discussion Points
Do you think teachers need professional development?
How do you approach professional development currently?
What are your motivations to up-skill?
What are your thoughts on the available training programs and workshops?
What are some of the issues and pain points you have with training programs?
Interview Artefacts
Findings
Long & Non Engaging Content
Training content is non-engaging and at times even boring for teachers to sit through. These programs/ workshops run for long hours and tend to wear out teachers.
Generic & Non Personalised
The training programs are not aligned to teachers real needs and requirements, more often than not the teachers don’t get to take away any practical and implementable strategies, tools or skills.
Mismatch Between Reality & Content
Training programs usually adopt a one size fits all approach and it completely disregards the real needs of a teacher and their expectations from a workshop. There is a disconnect between the reality of their classrooms.
Time Crunch & Workload
There is a major issue of time crunch for teachers and training programs expecting teachers to devote all of their time to a single workshop for multiple days is sometimes draining and leads to a lot of back log being created.
Competitor Analysis
There are many digital platforms out there that offer self paced training programs and workshops. There are two platforms that are known widely by teachers. A few teachers even mentioned these platforms as places they go to when they are looking for online content. I wanted to understand what these platforms have to offer.
CENTA is one of the largest community of teachers across the world, and they offer digital platforms for teacher up-skilling.
Features & Content: The platform provides a lot of content that aligns with teachers needs, it gives teachers access to a community as well for their discussions.
Limitations for Teachers: The doesn’t provide teachers with extended support and implementation support later on.
Swayam is a digital platform by the Ministry of Education (India) offering courses from various national education boards.
Content and Enrollment: The platform provides diverse content formats, including webinars and pre-recorded courses, requiring learners to enroll within specific timeframes.
Limitations for Teachers: Teacher education courses are limited, enrollment requires timely website access, and courses lack adaptability and personalization.
Understanding How Adults Learn
Andragogy, refers to the methods and principles used in adult education. I delved deeper into understanding how andragogy impacts the learning process of teachers. While I had enough information about the teachers and their ways of working, I wanted to learn about andragogy to implement these principles into my outcome.
Research Insights
Desire for practical, hands-on training
Teachers express a strong preference for training that is practical, relevant, and directly applicable to their classroom activities and teaching practices.
They want training that provides them with tangible, implementable strategies, tools, and skills rather than just theoretical discussions.
Lack of personalization and relevance
Teachers want training that is personalized and tailored to their specific subject areas, experience levels, and professional development needs.
Generic training programs don't adequately address the diverse needs and requirements of individual teachers.
Time constraints and workload challenges
Teachers often struggle with time constraints and heavy workloads, making it difficult for them to fully engage in and implement what they learn during lengthy training sessions.
There is a need for more efficient and flexible training options that fit within teachers' busy schedules.
Disconnect between training content and classroom realities
Training programs often take a "one-size-fits-all" approach, failing to address teachers' real needs and expectations.
There is a gap between the theoretical content covered in training and the practical, implementable strategies teachers can use in their classrooms.
Need for exteded support and follow-up
Teachers want ongoing support and guidance after training sessions to help them successfully implement and apply the new skills and strategies they have learned.
Lack of follow-up and continuous support often leads to the training content staying within the workshop and not translating to real-world classroom practices.
Redefined Problem/Goal
After a lot of research and synthesis, I understood that the needs of teachers and the education system for a more effective teacher up-skilling program can't be met only by making it personalised and self paced. It needs a few other pieces for it to work.
How might we create an up-skilling program that provides teachers with the option to assess and choose their interests, equip them with strategies and tools that translate to real outcomes in their class and support them with long term implementation and execution.
User Personas
User Stories
As a motivated teacher, I want personalized, application-based training sessions that I can directly implement in my classroom to engage my students better.
As a novice teacher I need a training program that Includes ongoing support and follow-up to help me successfully apply what I've learned.
As an educator I need a program that Includes opportunities for peer learning and sharing of best practices from other teachers in similar contexts to help my students learn better.
User Stories
As a motivated teacher, I want personalized, application-based training sessions that I can directly implement in my classroom to engage my students better.
As a novice teacher I need a training program that Includes ongoing support and follow-up to help me successfully apply what I've learned.
As an educator I need a program that Includes opportunities for peer learning and sharing of best practices from other teachers in similar contexts to help my students learn better.
User Stories
As an experienced teacher, I need a program that clearly demonstrates the tangible benefits and positive impact of the training on my students' learning outcomes so that I feel motivated to up-skill.
As a busy teacher, I need access to self paced training that respects my time and provides practical value without requiring me to set aside a lot of time for up-skilling.
As a veteran teacher, I am looking for a program that provides a supportive environment that encourages and empowers me to try new teaching methods, rather than making me feel inadequate.
User Stories
As an experienced teacher, I need a program that clearly demonstrates the tangible benefits and positive impact of the training on my students' learning outcomes so that I feel motivated to up-skill.
As a busy teacher, I need access to self paced training that respects my time and provides practical value without requiring me to set aside a lot of time for up-skilling.
As a veteran teacher, I am looking for a program that provides a supportive environment that encourages and empowers me to try new teaching methods, rather than making me feel inadequate.
Ideation
Early Ideas
I came up with a few possible solutions that could address the needs and issues faced by teachers.
An ADP List for teachers
A platform that is powered by teachers for teachers, where they can find a community to discuss new discoveries, challenges, and innovations happening in their classrooms. This will allow teachers to learn from each other. A mentoring section where teachers can seek mentorship from other teachers on specific topics and areas of interest.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Facilitates peer-to-peer learning and support
Creates organic knowledge sharing
Low barrier to entry
Scalable across different school contexts
Supports continuous learning
Cons
May lack structure needed for systematic training
Quality control could be challenging
Might not integrate well with school systems
Could add to teacher workload without clear benefits
Risk of becoming just another social platform
Pros & Cons
Pros
Facilitates peer-to-peer learning and support
Creates organic knowledge sharing
Low barrier to entry
Scalable across different school contexts
Supports continuous learning
Cons
May lack structure needed for systematic training
Quality control could be challenging
Might not integrate well with school systems
Could add to teacher workload without clear benefits
Risk of becoming just another social platform
A Personalised Up-Skilling Partner
A Whatsapp bot that the teachers can interact with on a day to day basis to chat about new things they want to try out or learn where they will be guided by the bot with appropriate resources and tools that can help them achieve their goals or solve the problems they are facing in their classrooms.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Uses familiar platform (WhatsApp)
Highly accessible
Fits into daily routine
Low technical barrier
Immediate support availability
Cons
Limited scope for complex interactions
May oversimplify training needs
Depends on reliable internet connection
Lacks human touch
Limited group learning opportunities
Pros & Cons
Pros
Uses familiar platform (WhatsApp)
Highly accessible
Fits into daily routine
Low technical barrier
Immediate support availability
Cons
Limited scope for complex interactions
May oversimplify training needs
Depends on reliable internet connection
Lacks human touch
Limited group learning opportunities
A Smart Board
A smart board device that has capabilities to keep track of a teachers day-day activities in a classroom and analyze their teaching patterns and outcomes to provide them with a detailed personalized report of areas in which they can work more on to improve their teaching methodologies. (Speculative capabilities to micro analyze a persons behavior) With privacy and surveillance issues ofcourse.
*AI Generated Image
Pros & Cons
Pros
Provides objective data on teaching patterns
Automated feedback and suggestions
Real-time insights
Direct classroom integration
Evidence-based recommendations
Cons
High implementation cost
Complex technology infrastructure required
Privacy concerns
May feel invasive to teachers
Limited accessibility for low-resource schools
Pros & Cons
Pros
Provides objective data on teaching patterns
Automated feedback and suggestions
Real-time insights
Direct classroom integration
Evidence-based recommendations
Cons
High implementation cost
Complex technology infrastructure required
Privacy concerns
May feel invasive to teachers
Limited accessibility for low-resource schools
A Training Needs Analysis Framework
A framework and a toolkit for schools to help them carry out training needs analysis for teachers and also provide them with guidelines and best practices to help create a culture that fosters up-skilling among teachers as a common concept. This framework will contain resources for teachers, management and potential resource persons to help them align on the same page about what the teachers needs are and how they need to be given long term support for right implementation.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Systematic approach to training
Adaptable to different school contexts
Involves all stakeholders
Clear implementation path
Supports long-term development
Cons
Requires significant buy-in from administration
Implementation could be time-consuming
May need regular updates
Success depends on school commitment
Could become too rigid
Pros & Cons
Pros
Systematic approach to training
Adaptable to different school contexts
Involves all stakeholders
Clear implementation path
Supports long-term development
Cons
Requires significant buy-in from administration
Implementation could be time-consuming
May need regular updates
Success depends on school commitment
Could become too rigid
A Teacher Training Organisation
A teacher training organization that provides long term up-skilling support to schools with the fundamentals of good TNA, continued support, long term teach tracking and career enhancement programs, teacher certifications.
Pros & Cons
Pros
End-to-end solution
Professional expertise
Structured approach
Clear accountability
Comprehensive support system
Cons
High operational costs
Complex to scale
May be expensive for schools
Depends on external resources
Could be inflexible
Pros & Cons
Pros
End-to-end solution
Professional expertise
Structured approach
Clear accountability
Comprehensive support system
Cons
High operational costs
Complex to scale
May be expensive for schools
Depends on external resources
Could be inflexible
A Personalised Adaptive Course for Teachers
Using a technology called “Personalized Adaptive Learning” to create a digital platform were teachers can access courses and resources that provide them with targeted learning paths. These learning paths are tailored to a teachers exact needs based on various factors such as how much they know about a topic, how much experience they have etc.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Highly personalized learning paths
Data-driven approach
Flexible and self-paced
Scalable solution
Progress tracking capabilities
Cons
Technical complexity
Development costs
Requires consistent internet access
May lack human interaction
Initial learning curve
Pros & Cons
Pros
Highly personalized learning paths
Data-driven approach
Flexible and self-paced
Scalable solution
Progress tracking capabilities
Cons
Technical complexity
Development costs
Requires consistent internet access
May lack human interaction
Initial learning curve
Testing Early Ideas
It was clear to me that for any solution to work in the space of Edutech, it has to be really practical and needs to offer as much as possible to a wide range of stake holders, right from teachers, to school administrations, while also creating an end impact on the students. I wanted to take a few ideas and test it with teachers to get their feedback.
PAL Course For Teachers
To test the feasibility of integrating AI into a personalized adaptive learning (PAL) system for teachers, I developed a demo prototype. Unlike traditional PAL systems that rely on rule-based algorithms to evaluate objective inputs like numbers or multiple-choice answers, this prototype aimed to analyze subjective responses—crucial for teacher training. Using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the OpenAI API, I explored whether AI could accurately assess these nuanced inputs and provide meaningful feedback while guiding teachers on personalized learning paths.
Testing the prototype revealed significant challenges. The AI often required specific jargon or textbook definitions to generate accurate feedback, which frustrated many teachers. They felt the system didn’t recognize their understanding of concepts unless expressed in exact terms, making the feedback feel disconnected and rigid. These insights highlighted a critical limitation of the current AI model and prompted me to shift focus toward refining the conceptual framework of the platform for better alignment with teachers’ expectations and real-world needs.
A Framework for Training Needs Analysis
I wanted to work with teachers to understand if the TNA method I had envisioned would work, so I conducted a small workshop with teachers to test with them if they found the assessment matrix helpful and if they felt like the results from the matrix would help them out. Along with the matrix I also provided them with an action plan sheet where they would fill out the areas in which they feel like they wanted to up-skill, it also urged them to come up with a plan to learn those topics.
The teachers had a positive feedback to the matrix and pointed out that it did help them introspect and understand what their interests and skill levels.
Merging Promising Ideas
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The resulting platform would be a service offered to schools and institutes where they will be onboarding their own teachers.
The System
The Journey
Design & Prototype
Information Architecture
User Flows
Interface Ideation & Wireframes
Keeping in mind a teachers day-to-day life and their busy schedule, I wanted to ensure that the mobile application they interact with makes it as easy as possible for them to achieve their goals, this meant not only carrying out the general steps such as optimised flows and clear unhindered journeys, but also introducing new ways of consuming content and multimodal input options for teachers.
Design Patterns
Presenting TeachUp
Unique Self Assessments
The teachers will start their experience with a simple assessment flow where they will be asked to select their experience, then will be presented with specific skills and topics. Teachers will then be prompted to use the sliders to input their familiarity and their passion for topics.
This process allows the platform to curate a list of topics they want to learn and the topics that they are most passionate about. They will be suggested topics that they are most passionate in and slowly progress towards topics that they are not very passionate about if necessary. This process also help teachers introspect and reflect on their skills and priorities.
Personalised Learning Pathways
Each teacher is presented with a unique and personalised learning flow. Every time they choose to sign up to a course, they will be asked their goals for learning the course, this help the platform tailor their upcoming learning path to best suit their needs. Other than that, the goal entry also acts as a way to help teachers reflect later on in their journey if they got to meet their goals.
Every course is structured to provide maximum practical value to teachers, it actively considers their experience, past courses etc to make sure they are not repeating any already familiar topics. The courses also contain multiple formats of content.
Curated Feed
The feed section features short learning snippets that are curated specifically for the teachers interests, the content can be in the form of quick articles, short videos, external resources such as YouTube videos or external articles. The feed section allows teachers to gain insights and learn new things within minutes.
Complementary features such as listening to an article as a podcast and quick links to access the original content. Teachers can also choose to journal about a post or even save it in their resources folder.
TeachUp will work with prominent content providers such as CENTA, YouTube etc to ensure that content shown on the platform is given due credit while clearly highlighting the source. The algorithm that will power the feed will be fine tuned to pick up relevant and genuine content from the internet.
Learning Journal
One of the biggest features of the platform is the journal section, the journal is a part of multiple aspects of the app while also being available as a standalone option. The journal is a tool that is built to help teachers frequently document and reflect on their up-skilling journey. This is where teachers will be able to save their plans to implement a topic that they learnt about recently.
Teachers can make their entries multimodal, it doesnt just have to be text, they can click images, record audios and annotate each of these media types to create rich journals.
When teachers save an entry about their efforts at implementing something or facing challenges in any manner, the built in AI model will prepare a list of next steps and resources that can help them move ahead.
Community & Social
Teachers have access to a great community of teachers and experts, they can choose to follow their peers if they wish to. Teachers can use this space to ask a question they have or can share a story about how they tried something new in their class.
Through community the teachers can come together to support each other in their up-skilling journey.
Testing & Feedback
User Testing
I created a high fidelity prototype and took it to 6 teachers to ask them to test the application and provide feedback in terms of usability and the features.
8.5/10
Feedback From Teachers
The teachers said the the app was really easy to navigate, and user friendly, but they stumbled upon a few issues:
The Social Tab - Teachers had an issue correctly understanding what the social tab meant, they suggested renaming it to "Community" or "Mentoring"
AI Generation - 3 out of the 6 teachers expressed concerns about AI and how they are not comfortable with AI helping them to write and giving them auto complete suggestions.
Text Input - Teachers highlighted the issue they faced with the distractions they faced when interacting with the journal input section, they didn't want to the upcoming questions or promtps while answering the first question, they wanted a distraction free entry view.
Feedback From Teacher Trainers
Teacher trainers to whom I presented the application platform were happy about the overall tone and approach to the solution. In addition to the solution I looked for some input from them about the kind of metrics and insights they would like to see on the digital dashboard, and if they will even need the digital dashboard.
Creating The Dashboard
Key Considerations & Assumptions
The idea of creating and dashboard for the school administration and the trainers was something I had to critically analyse, If I provided too much control to the administration or the trainers it would again create a system that would take away the freedom and control teachers have with what they choose, this is why I made it a very clear goal to ensure that the dashboard merely acts as a portal to access metric about teachers training activity and not a way for them to control what they get to train in. This meant making conscious decisions to leave out features such as course preferences, information about the units teachers signup for etc.
To create the dashboard, I did not have the space to conduct in depth stake holder interviews to understand what kind of data points they wish to see. This is why I relied on the quick response and feedback from the 2 teachers trainers to whom I presented the mobile platform to. They suggested that they want to see basic details such as the number of hours a teacher has spent taking courses, the number of certificates they have and the courses and workshops they have enrolled in. Along with this they also wanted to see the teachers assessment outcomes if possible.
Wireframes
TeachUp Dashboard
A dashboard with a snapshot of the training activity in the whole school
A detailed teacher view to find reports on individual teachers
Interactive Protptype
I created a mockup interactive prototype to test it with the teachers. The current prototype is built with specific flows in mind, please feel free to reach out if you are looking for a walk through of the prototype.
Interact With Prototype
My Reflection
The journey of conceptualizing and building the teacher upskilling platform has been an immensely rewarding and transformative experience. Starting with a blank slate, the process of nurturing an idea into a viable product that could meaningfully impact the education sector has taught me the value of persistence, empathy, and structured design thinking.
One of the most significant ways this project has shaped me as a designer is by instilling a profound respect for the design process itself. This project has highlighted how integral immersion in a context is to building meaningful solutions. Spending time understanding teachers’ lived experiences, motivations, and constraints gave me invaluable insights into their world. Observing training sessions, interviewing educators, and co-creating solutions were pivotal in shaping a product grounded in real-world needs rather than theoretical assumptions.
This project also reinforced the importance of collaboration and co-creation. Engaging with teachers, trainers, and school administrators was not only enlightening but also humbling. Their openness to sharing their challenges and their creativity in suggesting solutions showcased the power of designing with users rather than for them. Each workshop, interview, and testing session was a reminder of the diversity of perspectives that contribute to robust, inclusive design.
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