In some of our recent newsletters and posts, you may have seen that we are ramping up to make some big improvements to ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity)! The main goal of these improvements is to make the platform more effortless for you and students to use, and we are so grateful to have such an active community of teachers that provides thoughtful feedback to make sure it does just that. We'd like to peel back the curtain on what goes into the platform and how teachers' voices like Julie W., Ericka M., and Dylan M. drive development.

As part of this process of rebuilding and improving ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) for next year, we had the opportunity to work with students from Ironhack Berlin, a UX/UI design course. Students are paired with real businesses looking for help with web design for their final project, and we are grateful to have been selected to work with a group of students. We were paired with an enthusiastic and passionate trio excited by ClassBank's mission to increase economic mobility and make financial literacy accessible to all students.

Over the last few months, Abby and I have been talking to as many teachers as possible to hear from you about what is going well and what you'd like to see changed for next year. If you had a quick call with us, filled out a survey, administered a student survey, or added features to the suggestion board, you have been a valuable part of this process! Having these conversations allows us to see what to prioritize for the first part of rebuilding the site. Sharing these conversations with the Ironhack team also allowed them to get a better idea of your teacher experience than they might have been able to otherwise in their limited time with us.

The Ironhack students interviewed Julie W., Ericka M., and Dylan M., who have been generous enough to have multiple feedback calls with us. These repeated calls allow us to see how teachers use the app over time and spend more time diving further into features and areas of improvement. During this phase, questions are likely to be open-ended so that we can learn from your experience without making assumptions. When Julie spoke to the Ironhack design team, she shared, "It was quick and to the point. They didn't overwhelm me with questions all at once. They asked for clarification a couple of times, but mostly they just listened. It was a great experience." Ericka was also struck by how excited they were for the project and commented that they "asked great questions!"

After the research phase, it was time to start putting pen to paper and thinking through how to incorporate this feedback into the platform. This is where the Ironhack team took over. They made assumptions about what design elements would be best to put your feedback requests into action and solve the pain points you may not have realized you had. From there, they created some beautiful, fully functional designs and tested them yet again with teachers. Dylan shared, "the Ironhack team was very friendly, and it was overall easy to work with them. They were able to quickly implement feedback into the ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) program, which was impressive."

And now, we pass these designs on to the development to make a reality for next year! We don't want to give away too many surprises 😜 but some changes include the ability to add co-teachers to a class and tweaks to the website's layout to make it easier to navigate at the class level. We can't wait for next year to have a shiny new platform to share with you!

Throughout this process, I have been blown away by teachers' willingness to take time out of their INSANELY busy schedules to share feedback about ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity). When I say we are grateful, I really mean it. I was curious what prompted teachers like you and Julie, Ericka, and Dylan to be so generous with their time, and their answers gave me the feels all over again.

I love this platform! I believe it has made a difference in my classroom management. ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) has been a great tool, and you've all been very responsive.

I wanted to give my time as you've all been so generous, and I look forward to seeing the evolution of this platform.

I believed it was the right thing to do. ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) and Ironhack are building a program that provides a valuable service to students, so I wanted to do my part to help them.

Thank you again, Julie, Ericka, Dylan, and all of you out there who have helped and continue to help make ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) better! We can't wait to see what comes next, and thank you for being a part of our journey so far!

‍

It's not too late to get in on the feedback conversation! Fill out our teacher survey in this Google Form, distribute the student survey to give your students a voice, or add the features you'd like to see next to our suggestion board!