Flikshop.Me: Bridging the reentry gap

for people returning to Society with career resources on Tablet-based LMS.

"Education has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities -- Edward St. John"

*A University of Maryland, HCIM capstone project

Client's Current State

Flikshop's mission is to help the incarcerated people connect with families and gain access to better education.

The ongoing FlikshopMe product is a tablet education app for facilities to provide educational access to the prison population.

Flikshop has existing designs, but are seeking ways to:
1. Bridge educational learning to job landing, and
2. Help facility operators understand learner's progress
‍
We help Flikshop scale their LMS's functionality by designing, prototyping, and testing each feature.

Timeline
Oct - April, 2023

Services
UX research & Design
Visual Design
Developer Handoff
Documentation

Client
‍Flikshop

Project Summary

In this sprint, we designed a resume building flow that employs the power of GenAI to help users transform their learning outcome on the Flikshop.Me LMS into a job resume for career and probation use.

There are nearly 2 Million Individuals in prison or jail in the United States.
25,000 youths are detained, incarcerated, or both, in a year -- Prison Policy Initiate

Background: Pressing needs of the incarcerated population

According to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons annually, with another 9 million people cycled through local jails (Reentry | CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Maryland, prisons release about 7,408 people every year. After they were released, 78.3% of returning citizens are rearrested in five years. (Recidivism Rates: What You Need to Know Council on Criminal Justice)

Current Needs

Flikshop.Me, the Learning platform, provides educational programs that helps incarcerated people prepare for reentry. However, they are still facing a harsh job market with limited experience and knowledge.

As a result, we need to help FlikshopMe:

1

Help people translate current educational progress and skills into useful material for probation officers or recruiters

2

Learn how GenAI can play a role in the platform to assist learners in prison

Mixed Method Research:
Defining the population and Landscape

None of us have ever been incarcerated. Our first step, then, is to look into the justice system and prison scenes.
‍First, to gain general and basic knowledge, and second, to back our assumptions.

Correctional facilities are highly regulated space that are not easy for the general public to access. As a result, we applied mixed research methods to gather data.

Initial Hypothesis

  • Diverse Educational Backgrounds: Users will have varied educational levels and work experience. The resume builder should accommodate a wide range of skills, including informal or prison-acquired skills.
  • Limited Digital Literacy: Users may have limited experience with digital tools. The interface should be simple, intuitive, and easy to navigate with minimal training. Users wants the process to be as easy as possible, and will prioritize ease of use over flexibility.
  • Guidance and Examples: Many users may have never created a resume before. The platform should include templates, examples, and step-by-step guidance tailored to different job types.

Desktop Research

‍

Paper references on incarceration and information access in the United States
Literature Review scraping on mass incarceration, GenAI, competitors, business model analysis, etc. Deliverables include a Research Report.

Field Research

‍

Targeted user group sharing his program experience.

User Interview

‍

Conducting user interview and testing at a local library
Participant sharing thoughts, challenges, and experience of learning in correctional facilities.

Expert Interview

‍

Me and my teammate consulting a facility expert
A semi-structured remote interview with a director of educational programs in correctional facilities with 10+ years of experience.
💡 Insights: prison and education
  1. Employment experience in the prison help reduce recidivism: 6.9% increase in the likelihood of employment and an extra $131 in quarterly wages. (Schuster, S. S., & Stickle, B. (2023). Are Education Programs in Prison Worth It?. Policy Brief.)
  2. Incarcerated people who participated in correctional education programs had a 43% lower chance of recidivating than those who did not.
  3. The presence or absence of technologies in correctional facilities impacts how librarians assist inmates in accessing information and digital literacy (San Francisco Public Library, 2023).
  4. One of the scholars described that the ChatGPT was like his “Personal Tutor”. It helps him navigate frustrations and confusions while coping with new skills and knowledge. (User Interview)

💡 How did research inform our design & assumptions?

  • Our research confirmed our first hypothesis. Some people, equipped with less education, take educational programs to prepare for probational or reentry package. These program often include job search plans, resume building, or interview practices.
  • Our research also backed and emphasized our second and third hypothesis. Many people have limited tech literacy. Hence, our design solution needs to be intuitive, easy to use, and guiding for users to complete tasks without frustration.
  • Research on AI also indicates opportunities and challenges of integrating AI in our product.

Mapping out the flow

After we gathered insights and understood the process, we use stakeholder mapping to identify focus areas that matches with the client's business goals.

Reflection: What I learned

What comes after this: Ending Notes

After graduation, the project continued as I joined the client's startup company as a contract product designer and continue working on the same project, moving the design towards development.

What Went well

  • Our client communication went smooth starting from the beginning. As the first communicator with the client, I ensure communication channels are set up, expectations are documented, and requirements from our side was conveyed clearly.
  • Collaboration within the group remained great throughout the 8 months we've worked together, and I was thankful for my teammates. I believed open communication of our rationale, active listening to others, and planning discussions ahead of time all played part in our successful working together.

What could be better

  • As this is a capstone project, we have expected to follow a structured design process. As a result, little flexibility is given that allowed us to explore more ideas and dive deeper into one feature. We recognize this as a constraint, and I made sure to communicate priorities within group and with the client.
  • It is also difficult to set KPI and quantify our impact on this project, since we were not working with developers and the product is not on the market yet. However, I tracked our impact through designed screens, user testing results, and client's reaction.
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