The master's thesis presents the realization of the idea of digitalizing the promotion process of teachers to titles. The need for such a solution arose from a real case of a teacher’s promotion process, where the teacher recognized the current procedures as time-consuming and insufficiently transparent. The solution was developed using the Design Thinking approach. The thesis also aimed to verify whether Design Thinking represents an appropriate approach for the development of web applications.
Since the initial problems originated from the experience of a single teacher, we first aimed to expand our understanding of the promotion process and verify the identified problems with a larger sample of teachers. This was achieved in the first stage of Design Thinking, the empathy phase, where interviews were conducted. Based on these interviews, user journey maps were created and personas were defined. Solutions for the identified problems were then conceptualized and transformed into an interactive wireframe.
The interactive wireframe was evaluated with ten users. The users were required to complete six scenarios (tasks). After each scenario, they completed the validated SUS questionnaire. After completing all scenarios, the participants also filled in the validated UEQ, VisAWI, and NPS questionnaires, which referred to the overall experience with the tested solution. Based on the findings, the prototype was improved and further developed.
The interactive prototype was created with Figma application and equipped with a visual design. The same ten users again completed the same six scenarios. Participants filled in the same questionnaires as in the wireframe evaluation phase. The findings were then incorporated into the final implementation of the web application.
The implemented web application included a landing page with login and registration options. During registration and the first login, users entered information about their current title and employment and selected the title they wished to achieve. The user interface was then automatically adjusted to display the user’s current status and the conditions required for promotion. Users could plan activities necessary to meet these requirements. In addition to planning, users were able to record completed activities and upload images or files of certificates. The main added value for users was generated when the system produced a printed list of correctly numbered certificates and a completed promotion form titled Proposal for the Promotion of Employees in Education to Titles.
For the implementation, technologies of both the frontend and backend were used (CSS, Laravel, MySQL), as well as partially Vue and Tailwind, which were later abandoned as we aimed to simplify the development process and improve the efficiency of using the GPT-4o model for generating program code. The program code was largely generated using a personalized GPT model, a customized artificial intelligence chatbot based on ChatGPT version GPT-4o. The use of GPT reduced development time but also resulted in repeated generation of similar code, a higher risk of critical errors, and reduced security.
The completed web application was published online and evaluated with the same ten users. Participants completed the same six scenarios as in the previous phases, but this time adapted to their real situations rather than fictional ones. The same questionnaires were used and administered in the same way as in the previous phases.
The results of all phases were compared, and it was concluded that Design Thinking is a suitable approach for developing web applications, as the graphs clearly show improvements in user experience after each interaction with users. It was also observed that the stages of empathy, problem definition, and ideation were effective, since high evaluation scores were already recorded during the wireframe testing phase.
After comparing the results of the different questionnaires, UEQ was identified as the most useful instrument because its questions cover a wider range of aspects of the solution compared to SUS, VisAWI, or NPS, which focus on more specific aspects.
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