We continually strive to improve Portflow. We do this not only by adding new features to facilitate additional use cases, but also by continuing to pay attention to the impact of these additions on the user experience (UX), especially for new users. Therefore, we continue to conduct regular research on the UX of Portflow. In our latest research in summer 2024, we have identified various areas for improvement, which we since then have addressed in Portflow.
Key Areas for Improvement
Our research highlighted four main areas to enhance Portflow:
- Navigation & Context: Users sometimes felt lost or unsure what they were viewing (e.g., collection vs. evidence context).
- Feedback Clarity: Learners wanted a simpler way to view all feedback. Teachers and coaches needed clearer paths for giving it.
- Template Content: Learners were requesting better insights into what template content gets imported and where it would end up in their portfolio.
- General UX Enhancements: Improvements to streamline and refine the overall experience.
Based on our findings, we have been implementing various minor and major improvements. While the improvements listed below may not completely address each single area, they represent our continuous commitment to delivering an easy, accessible, and understandable user experience.
Improvements
Navigation & Context
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs have been introduced on evidence and collection pages to help users understand how they navigated to a particular point. This addition provides better context and clarity regarding the hierarchy of the item they are viewing.
Better visual distinction
Collection and evidence pages previously looked quite similar, which caused some users to confuse one for the other. To address this, we have given each page a distinctive header, making them easier to differentiate.
Clarified Terminology
Ambiguous terms have been replaced with clearer, more explicit labels. For example, “Comments” is now referred to as “Collection Feedback”.
User Preferences
Users can now choose whether evidence and collection descriptions are expanded or collapsed by default. They can also set their preferred default view—either the evidence overview or activity overview—when opening a collection. This gives users greater control over how content is displayed. Additionally, users can now easily find and control all their settings via the new ‘My settings’ screen, found in the user menu.
Review Mode Improvements
Reviewers now have access to an expanded view, making it easier to complete reviews and navigate through goals and sub-goals. They can switch between the regular and expanded mode based on their preferred context.
Sub-goals on ‘My Evidence’ page
Previously, students couldn’t see which sub-goals their evidence was linked to on the ‘My Evidence’ page. Now, sub-goals are visible and students can filter by them. This makes it easier to view which evidence is linked to each sub-goal.
Template Content
Preview
Before importing a template, students are able to view a hierarchical preview that includes all template content, such as sections, collections, (sub-)goals, and activities.
Visual Marker
After importing a template, newly added content will be highlighted with a bright purple marker displaying the text “Newly Imported.” This helps students quickly identify what has been recently imported and where it appears in their portfolio. The marker will remain visible for 24 hours.
General
Easier Mentions
A mention button is now available in the text editor. Previously, users had to know the shortcut ‘@’ to mention a goal or piece of evidence.
Dismissible and Retrievable Explanations
Several information boxes can be collapsed or expanded.
Drag & Drop
We have introduced drag-and-drop functionality in multiple areas of Portflow to reduce clicks and make content organization easier and more intuitive.
Minimize Banner
Users can now minimize or expand the homepage banner to view more or less portfolio content, depending on their screen size.
Concealable details
Users can fold in and out details (including descriptions) of collections and evidence. This prevents unnecessary distraction from the content of the collection or evidence itself.
Next steps
We are committed to introducing more UX-related improvements to address the areas we previously defined. In addition to recurring small-scale user testing, we have made these improvements a central part of our development process. We will keep you updated through blogs and release notes whenever we have new updates!
About the Author: Elise Claassen
