Using Self-determination Theory to Design User Interfaces for Instructor Dashboards

Automated classroom analytics is promising to become one of the most potent tools for instructors to analyze, reflect and change their teaching strategies in the classroom. One of the challenges encountered when implementing automated classroom analytics systems is how to display the data to the instructors in a way that promotes changes in their teaching. A common way to display this data is through an instructor dashboard; however, suitable design heuristics for instructor dashboards are challenging to find in the literature. Hence, a study was conducted using the self-determination theory (SDT) to design an instructor dashboard user interface (UI) to support instructors’ motivation and dashboard usability. This research explores the intersection between instructor dashboard UI design and SDT to discover the practical application of this theory. A set of design heuristics rooted in the SDT was created to guide the design of an instructor dashboard UI. The resulting UI prototype was tested through a usability study at a higher education institution. Results showed that the participants perceived the usability of the instructor dashboard prototype UI as good or excellent. All participants exhibited high intrinsic motivation to use the dashboard. A strong positive relationship between perceived usability and intrinsic motivation was found. An emotion and sentiment analysis revealed that all participants trusted, anticipated, and enjoyed the experience of navigating the instructor dashboard. Consequently, this study shows that using the SDT theoretical constructs in designing instructor dashboards impacts perceived usability and user motivation positively.