Turning Behavior Into Actionable Insight: Designing a Calm, AI-Powered Behavior Tracking Tool for Teachers and BCBAs
The ABC Data Collection Tool provides special education teams and BCBAs a calming, AI-powered platform that transforms behavior data into actionable insight while integrating seamlessly with existing IEP workflows. It offers the support to save time, improve decision-making, and strengthen collaboration across classrooms and families.
My role:
Product Designer
Time frame:
40 hours
Industry:
Education, B2B
92%
successfully logged an ABC event within 10 seconds
$720
estimated recovered time value per teacher, per year
85/100
System Usability Scale (SUS) Score
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Design Sprint Ideation
Over a focused 10-day design sprint, I consolidated research, ideation, and prototyping into a single process to rapidly shape the ABC Data Collection Tool. The sprint aligned on core user needs, translated behavior management challenges into clear design opportunities, and produced a tested prototype that demonstrated faster data capture, reduced user stress, and meaningful insights for teachers and BCBAs.
Contraints
40 hour
design sprint
$100
research buget
40 hour
design sprint
$100
research buget
Method
Looking
SUS, interviews and surveys, What's on your radar?
Understanding
stakeholder mapping, J2BD diagramming, scoping the MVP, Why waterfall
Making
design sprint
Business Rationale: Objectives & Goals
Understanding The Why
Business Objective
Build a lightweight, AI-powered ABC data collection tool that reduces time, error, and ambiguity in behavior tracking while and proving value to districts and BCBAs through survey scores and usability metrics.
Business Goals
⏱️ Time Savings → Reduce average data entry time from minutes to seconds.
✅ Accuracy & Clarity → Improve data quality for faster, higher-quality interventions.
📊 District Value → Demonstrate efficiency and compliance benefits that translate into cost savings.
🧩 Adoption & Usability → Deliver a calm, intuitive design that teachers and paraprofessionals will actually use.
🔗 Scalability → Position the product for integration into existing IEP and SIS platforms.
SOLUTION
Real-time ABC capture + structured synthesis + suggestive AI for intervention scaffolding
IDEAS for screens:
onboarding
mobile logging
visibility and comprehension
brand recognition
Analytics that makes it easy to get answers, make decisions, and show the impact of your tiered support initiatives
PROJECT STRATEGY & CHALLENGES
How Did We Get Here?
Constraints: time, budget, IRB/consent, classroom access windows.
Field learning (bullets):
Paper/Docs → delayed insights; “Friday synthesis” is too late.
100%
Inaccuracy → Staff variance in language → noisy data and relying on memory
High-stress moments → partial or missing logs,
Add two subsections you can reference later:
Standardization moves: controlled vocab, event templates, required fields by function.
Speed moves: quick-log presets, recent-event recall, autosave/offline.
“I’ve never been super confident with computers, and honestly, I used to get really nervous trying to enter data. But Mela Mela is set up in a way that just makes sense. It’s simple, clear, and easy to use. Now, I can finish my notes without second-guessing inputs on Excel. It’s now a much quicker process.”
— Vivian (Paraprofessional, 3 years experience)
KEY INSIGHT #1: SURVEYS THAT TELL STORIES
Method:
Multi-persona Surveys
Takeaway: Administrative overload is a daily reality for teachers. Survey insights show workload is unsatisfactory: too much time on paperwork, concerns with data accuracy, low confidence in meeting duties, and working beyond contracted hours.
100% of participants
rated in-the-moment logging as either ‘Extremely important’ or ‘Very important"
2+ hours
average time spent per week on data collection related paperwork
80% of teachers
somewhat or strongly agree, "I am unable to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of my role within contractual hours."
On a scale of 1–7, based on how much time do you currently spend on consuming raw data, how manageable does it feel?
1 = Very Unmanageable, 4 = Manageable, 7 = Very Manageable
On a scale of 1–7, how satisfied are you with the current data collection system in your classroom in terms of:
1 = Very Dissatisfied, 4 = Neutral, 7 = Very Satisfied
Accuracy
2.0 average rating
How well the system ensures that data is recorded correctly and consistently.
Time Efficiency
2.3 average rating
How much time the system saves (or consumes) in collecting, logging, and reviewing data.
Data Accessibility
3.7 average rating
How easy it is to retrieve, review, and share collected data when needed (e.g., for IEP meetings or parent communication).
Support for Decision-Making
3.7 average rating
How effectively the system helps in making instructional decisions or identifying trends in student progress.
going further
Agile UX & Co-creation
Charting A Path Forward
Methods you ran: 15-min teacher/para interview; Wizard-of-Oz for AI suggestions, 30-min BCBA co-designs.
Problem-space discovery: JTBD snapshots (below).
User needs & requirements: map to acceptance criteria.
Persona quotes (plug & play):
Teacher: “If I can’t log in 10 seconds, it won’t get logged.”
Paraprofessional: “Give me three plain-English choices—I’ll pick and move.”
BCBA: “I need consistent language and fast pattern signals, not paragraphs.”
Admin (future buyer): “Show me risk reduction and time saved at the district level.”
TEACHER: "As a teacher, my focus is on providing the best possible education for my students. I need tools that streamline my workload, support collaboration with colleagues, and help me track student progress effectively to personalize their learning journey."
PARAPROFESSIONAL: "As a paraprofessional, I’m here to support my lead teacher and help students work toward independence. I need tools that are easy to use, clearly show me what to work on, and make it simple to track what’s happening with each student."
Impact of Paraprofessional-First Strategy
Classroom Impact
Business impact
Engaging staff who spend the most time with students
Strengthens our value proposition by supporting the backbone of instruction
Expanding participation in data collection beyond lead teachers
Broadens our total addressable market
Providing accessible tools that are simple, clear, and aligned with daily workflows
Increases platform adoption across the entire classroom team, not just teachers
Problem Statement
Reimagining Data Collection Workflows
Special education teams struggle to collect and synthesize ABC behavior data, leading to wasted staff time, unreliable insights, and interventions that fail to address root causes.
Design Challenge
Innovation Lab - Getting Back Inside the Classroom
We had a functional MVP. It was in the hands of our early adopters but we knew we had to get back inside real classrooms. This is why we created the Mela Mela Innovation Lab. This initiative served two purposes: first, it gave us access to interview, observe, and learn directly from classroom teams in a district setting; second, it opened the door to securing our first district partnership.
*Note: pilot research was implemented before platform onboarding
5
teacher interviews
6
paraprofessional interviews
5
teacher surveys
26
paraprofessional surveys
20+
hours of observations
5
different classrooms
2 day
ideation workshop with pilot participants
(5 teachers, 6 paraprofessionals)
KEY INSIGHT #1: SURVEYS THAT TELL STORIES
Method:
Teacher Survey
Takeaway: Administrative overload is a daily reality for teachers. Survey insights show workload is unsatisfactory: too much time on paperwork, concerns with data accuracy, low confidence in meeting duties, and working beyond contracted hours.
2+ hours
average time spent per week on data collection related paperwork
80% of teachers
somewhat or strongly agree, "I am unable to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of my role within contractual hours."
On a scale of 1–7, based on how much time do you currently spend on consuming raw data, how manageable does it feel?
1 = Very Unmanageable, 4 = Manageable, 7 = Very Manageable
On a scale of 1–7, how satisfied are you with the current data collection system in your classroom in terms of:
1 = Very Dissatisfied, 4 = Neutral, 7 = Very Satisfied
Accuracy
2.0 average rating
How well the system ensures that data is recorded correctly and consistently.
Time Efficiency
2.3 average rating
How much time the system saves (or consumes) in collecting, logging, and reviewing data.
Data Accessibility
3.7 average rating
How easy it is to retrieve, review, and share collected data when needed (e.g., for IEP meetings or parent communication).
Support for Decision-Making
3.7 average rating
How effectively the system helps in making instructional decisions or identifying trends in student progress.
KEY INSIGHT #2: THE BLACK BOX OF DATA
Method:
Paraprofessional Survey
Interviews
Contextual Inquiry
Takeaway: Paraprofessionals collect most of the data, but rarely see how it’s being used.
Are you interested in having more visibility into specific reports that summarize student goal progress and behavior data?
*Paraprofessional pre pilot survey
“Just seeing even the smallest sign that we’re on the right path…even if it’s slow progress. If one student takes three months and another takes one…I'd like to see how the data is being used.”
— JoJo (Paraprofessional, 2 years experience)
"Graphs would be cool because you could see whether the child is truly making progress... that is one thing I would like to see... if it used to be gestural, now it’s higher up [the hierarchy]. Sometimes my prompting levels are different than another paras. Are they doing something different?"
— Gabe (Paraprofessional, 4 years experience)
“I don't know what happens after that or how it goes into the plan that they're on.”
— Grace (Paraprofessional, 2 years experience)
supporting evidence
KEY INSIGHT #3: POST-DATA COLLECTION PAIN POINTS
Method:
Teacher Interviews
Decision Tree Diagramming + Survey
Takeaway: The biggest bottleneck happens in the post data submission phase. Teachers spend a lot of time and energy synthesizing raw data.
“Doing this manually is what is slowing me down and making it inaccurate.”
— Sam (Teacher, 3 years experience)
"It's always that transfer that's hard. Is that a seven, is that a two? Is that a...you know..."
— Courtney (Teacher, 2 years experience)
Post-Pilot SWOT Research Retrospective
Strengths
Surveys: strong participation, especially from paraprofessionals
Fly-on-the-Wall Observation: time spent in classrooms is where true classroom learnings happen
Interviews: rich qualitative insights
Ideation session: participant-driven roadmap ideas generated in workshops
Weakness
Opportunities
Threats
EXECUTION
Lifting the Blackbox of Data
Teachers and paraprofessionals are navigating a system that make continuous and meaningful data-driven insights difficult to to come by. This isn't anyone's fault. Synthesizing raw data takes time, and most educators simply don't have it.
We saw an opportunity to flip that dynamic. By automatically synthesizing imported data into teacher-centered graphs and tables, we shifted the burden off educators and onto the system. What once took hours or was never done at all became available instantly. Insight was no longer a occasional event. It was now accessible any day of the week.
18
new users
Ship 2
additional data visualization features
Reports - Prompt table
I led the design of the Prompting Hierarchies Table, creating a clear, visual way to see student's progress toward independence. By collaborating closely with engineering, we introduced a vertical scrollbar on the left side, giving teachers quicker access to the exact insights they needed.
Submitted Sessions
Direct feedback from our paraprofessionals made it clear. They wanted more insight into student progress. With comprehensive filtering and goal management tailored to their workload, paraprofessionals gain clarity and flexibility.
"I can see the progress as the teacher. What my students are understanding, what they’re not, and it’s easier to talk to parents about it. You know, a month from now to sit down and be like how did this happen? When did this happen? Where did this happen?"
— Courtney (Teacher, 2 years experience)
PRE AND POST-PILOT SURVEY
Method:
Survey
Overview: Teachers participating in the HBIC pilot were asked to rate their satisfaction and confidence with their classroom’s data collection system in January (prior to the pilot) and again in June (after using the Mela Mela tool). Below are the average responses across all classrooms involved.
Survey Scale:
1 = Very Dissatisfied | 4 = Neutral | 7 = Very Satisfied
Time Efficiency – How satisfied are you with the current data collection system in your classroom in terms of:
How much time the system saves (or consumes) in collecting, logging, and reviewing data.
Time point
January
June
Average rating
2.0
5.7
Change
—
+3.7
Data Accuracy – How confident are you with the current data collection system in your classroom in terms of:
The accuracy and completeness of the IEP data collected using your current system.
Time point
January
June
Average rating
3.5
6.3
Change
—
+2.8
Data Accessibility – How satisfied are you with the current data collection system in your classroom in terms of:
How easy it is to retrieve, review, and share collected data when needed (e.g., for IEP meetings or parent communication).
Time point
January
June
Average rating
3.7
6.0
Change
—
+2.3
Support for Decision-Making – How satisfied are you with the current data collection system in your classroom in terms of:
How effectively the system helps in making instructional decisions or identifying trends in student progress.
Time point
January
June
Average rating
3.7
5.7
Change
—
+2.0
HOW MIGHT WE…
Reimagine a digital experience that solves data collection pain points and aligns with current classroom workflows and mental models?
HOW MIGHT WE…
How might we strengthen paraprofessional roles with simple, accessible tools that make their contributions consistent and meaningful?
RESULTS
Clear Impact = Real Classroom Value
Communicating gains in time savings, teacher satisfaction, and paraprofessional engagement while driving ROI for districts and revenue growth for our product.
95%
reduction in time spent synthesizing data
$720
estimated recovered time value per teacher, per year
600
average submitted data collection events per month
100%
data collection is paraprofessional driven
+3.7
teacher satisfaction with time efficiency
+2.8
confidence in data accuracy
communicate and sell
District ROI
Tangible returns in time savings, efficiency, and adoption rates
resulted in
Increased revenue
Converted early users into 1st paying customers
REFLECTION
What This Project Taught Me
This was my first real design project. It changed my life. What began as a conceptual design assignment turned into a live product, a real mission, and a crash course in what it means to be a leader and design for impact. It marked the beginning of my career in product design. Here are my high-level reflections I will take with me into my next role:
Impact on me: I stepped into product management alongside design, learning to align user needs and product metrics with business goals and communicate clearly across my team sharpened my ability to drive strategy while keeping everyone on the same page.
Impact on my process: Explicitly documenting user needs gave me confidence when collaborating with my engineers. Involving them early led to our most innovative work. Design is just pixels in Figma until engineers bring it to life. I saw firsthand how clear, early collaboration directly improved outcomes and user experience.
Beyond the Status Quo
Data collection is one of those tasks that quietly piles up until it becomes overwhelming. There’s no signal or red flag warning. It wears teachers down silently, leaving gaps in communication and is a factor that slowly pushes them toward burnout.
In special education, this is part of a larger, more troubling pattern — what some describe as a million paper cuts. No single task breaks a teacher. It’s the accumulation of responsibilities that feel minor in isolation but unmanageable in total: tracking goals, managing behavior, managing staff, writing reports, preparing lesson plans — all while teaching, caring, and responding in real time to high-needs students.
When systems don’t support this complexity, teachers are forced to choose between staying afloat or staying compliant. Most choose survival. Essential duties slip by. And who could blame them?
These slow-burning stressors lead to burnout, anxiety around their role, and ultimately, early exits from the profession. The consequences ripple outward to students, families, and schools, compounding year after year.
This is the gap Mela Mela is working to address. Not to “fix” teaching, but to ease the weight where it’s heaviest. To support educators with product decisions grounded in empathy and efficiency.