Home @ Illinois
A Mentorship Program
Home @ Illinois is a mentorship program for incoming international students, designed to ease their transition to campus life through broadening their campus community and understanding of American cultural norms.
The Prompt
Home at Illinois was created as a semester project in my design thinking class at the University of Illinois. We were given the prompt to develop an app or service that ensures students’ safety on campus during late hours, especially when they’re walking alone or studying late in buildings.
The focus for this project was on research, and building out a solution backed by data, with less focus on the platform or app itself. Throughout the semester, we conducted a total of 12 interviews, 6 surveys, and 2 usability tests to inform our final prototype.
Empathize & Understand
Preliminary Research
Existing Solutions
We began with examining existing solutions that enforce safety on the University of Illinois campus, looking at both University-led resources and common practices.
With these existing safety measures in mind, we wanted to explore the gaps these solutions leave unaddressed.
Popular safety solutions
Journey Map
Heaviest pain point, therefore this is a the area of focus for the project
The group drew up a journey map to better understand at what process in the walk home was the most anxiety-inducing, and brainstormed potential areas for support in each part of the process.
Crime Stats
To gain a better understanding of the likelihood of experiencing crime on campus, we looked at reddit testimonials and crime statistics. In doing so, we found that actual instances of crime on campus weren't so common.
Research Board: Consisting of crime rates, reddit testimonials, campus news repots
Group Discussion
After conducting our preliminary research, the group began to discuss our own experiences with personal safety on campus. As we talked, a pattern began to emerge. Our group consisted of three students from Illinois, and three students from Asia. The three international students all expressed how they felt scared and anxious when they got to campus, due to their cultural perception of America as an unsafe place, unfamiliarity with their environment, and not knowing anyone on campus. Curious as to if this was a common occurrence, we decided to interview international students from all over the world to understand their experience moving to UIUC.
Initial Interviews + Takeaways
We conducted 9 interviews with international students from various countries, and asked about their preconceptions of the campus, emotional journey and pain points, and their use of safety measures and communication when walking alone at night.
We found that most of the interviewees —and the people that they knew on campus— have not experienced actual instances of crime or threats to their safety at UIUC. However, many still had feelings of unease or fear when walking around campus alone at night.
Looking at our initial interviews and supporting research, we were able to identify two key insights:
First, international students commonly felt unsafe when they initially moved to UIUC, but then became accustomed to the campus and feelings of anxiety lessened.
Second, students from China seemed to face the greatest challenges during this transition, which we hypothesize is due to a significant information and cultural gap.
Knowing this information, we decided to narrow our user base to incoming international students from China, as this is the demographic that seems to experience the most distress and discomfort with regard to personal safety, when transitioning to the UIUC campus.
Now that we had our user base defined, we needed to know if our hypothesis (assuming feelings of anxiety around safety is due to a large information/culture gap) was true. We sent a mini survey to the international students we had interviewed, and asked them why their feelings of unease faded from freshman to senior year. Every person reported that it was due to feeling more familiar with the campus, and campus environment. Knowing that this initial anxiety was primarily due to unfamiliarity with the campus, American culture and norms, and the lack of a strong social network, we decided to pivot our problem statement to better reflect this discovery:
How might we mitigate the information gap for international students so they feel more comfortable on campus?
With our new user base and objective in mind, we created two personas to reflect the types of users who would engage with this service.
Bridging the Information Gap
In order to tackle the information gap between Chinese students and American campuses, we brainstormed of areas of knowledge that directly impact how safe a student feels when walking home alone at night.
Areas of the Information Gap
Now with a better understanding of our user base and knowledge gaps within that demographic, we began brainstorming potential solutions to address these three areas. We used paper sketch prototypes to explore ways to bridge the information gap for international students. We selected and combined two ideas which focused on peer-to-peer connection.
Ideas used in our deliverable
Building a Solution
To create an effective mentorship program for international students, we conducted three surveys, three interviews, and user testing. This process uncovered key insights about mentorship relationships, activity preferences, and matching criteria.
Basic:
3-4 Questions
Geared Mostly Towards Willingness/Contact
1 Question with matching preference (Difference vs. Similarity)
Medium:
5-10 Questions
Some Questions asking about Personality, Interests and Values
Matching Preference Questions
Robust:
10-20+ Questions
Personality Quiz Style (Myers-Briggs)
More Intensive Matching
Matching Preference Question
Description of each survey
Webpage where survey participants were able to choose one of three possible survey options
Research Findings/ Design Adjustments
The goal of this lean experiment was to determine what aspects of matching and relationships are important to people. What do people care about? What do people think they connect on?
We analyzed participant responses to questions regarding matching criteria, expectations of the program, and looked at which survey users chose to take.
Our surveys revealed a high willingness (100%) among participants to engage in mentorship but a drop to 70% for structured commitments like weekly contact. This emphasized the need for clear expectations and flexible scheduling. Additionally, many participants thought of mentorship as a formal service rather than a casual relationship, which suggested the importance of structured interactions.
Mentorship Relationships
Design Insights
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Mentors need a framework for effective communication and relationship building
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A structured schedule (e.g. bi-weekly meetings) and flexibility in interaction methods are essential
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High need for simplified communication tools and clear, streamlined scheduling processes
Preferred Communication: Email and social media were favored channels.
Matching Priorities: Interests, hobbies, and cultures ranked highest, while personality traits like introversion or extroversion received less focus. Most users also preferred their partner had the same gender identity as them.
Commitment Levels: Most mentors preferred flexible time commitments, with a maximum of three hours per week.
Matching Criteria
Design Insights
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Provide options for mentors to customize their level of engagement and provide regular feedback
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Matching criteria should account for major, cultural background, hobbies, and shared interests
Structured activities ensure regular engagement and meaningful interactions between mentors and mentees. Participants highlighted the importance of both campus orientation and social bonding. These activities help mentees become familiar with their new environment and foster trust and connection with their mentors. The most preferred activities (with over 30% interest) include:
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Cafe Discovery: Visiting mentors’ favorite campus coffee spots.
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Study Spots Exploration: Guided tours of study environments tailored to mentees’ preferences.
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Campus Tour: A detailed walkthrough of campus landmarks.
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Night Walks: Exploring campus at night with a mentor for familiarity and safety tips.
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Campus Events: Attending student organization meetings or events together.
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Public Transportation Orientation: Learning to navigate campus transportation.
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Picnic in the Park: Casual outdoor bonding activity.
Engaging Activities
Design Insights
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Provide the activities with over 30% interest as options, and allow the mentees to choose which activities they would like to participate in
How would this product work?
Wireframes
In addition to collecting responses in our previous surveys, we also collected information about the device that the user was accessing the survey on. We found that the majority of participants were using an iPhone to complete the survey. So, we decided to design our product as a mobile application.
* Note: This is where the class project concludes. By the end of the semester, we had developed a strong framework for a mentorship program, supported by thorough research. The remaining work on this project was completed independently by me after the course ended. Since we ran out of time during the semester, the prototype does not include usability testing.
App Walkthrough
The Home @ Illinois mentorship program establishes a structured relationship where mentors serve as cultural guides for incoming international students, helping to ease feelings of anxiety as they transition to campus life. Mentors will regularly check in with their partners, answer questions, and provide a support system, helping mentees gain an understanding of the campus environment and social norms of the community.
Users begin by logging in with their university credentials and entering basic personal and contact information.
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Mentors will reach out to their mentee via the mentee's @illinois email during the Summer.
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Mentors will be expected to check in a few times throughout the summer, answer questions, and establish a relationship as students prepare to transition onto campus
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Mentors will use their @illinois email address.
Then, users complete a six question survey to find their match.
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Questions will ask for the user's gender identity, mentor/mentee's preferred gender identity, major, interests, and hobbies and activities they enjoy.
Once users submit the survey, they will be matched with a partner based on shared interests and hobbies.
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If there are not exact matches, pairs will be matched based on similarity of interests
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If there are too many outliers in the answer pool, the remainder will be matched based on similarity of majors.
After matching, the app is used for scheduling meet-ups geared towards campus exploration.
The app also includes examples and suggestions. For instance, a coffee shop exploration task allows mentors to either select their favorite coffee spot on campus, or choose from suggested locations provided within the app.
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Pairs will be given a list of possible activities to complete on campus, and the mentee may choose from the list provided.
The shared calendar feature allows pairs to view each other's availability and schedule meetings easily.
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A bi-weekly meeting for the first 2 months of the semester is mandatory. Extra communication time of up to an hour is ad hoc.
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After two months, the meetings may be conducted once a month.
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Clear expectations, instructions, and deadlines help mentors stay organized and accountable, ensuring they fulfill their role.
Reflection
Throughout this project, our primary focus was on research to develop the most effective program, rather than on designing the app itself. We aimed to identify the key aspects of a mentoring program that would offer the greatest support for incoming freshmen.
In the future, I would love to...
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Conduct user testing to identify pain points
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Implement check-ins to act as safeguards against absent mentors
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Set up resources to contact higher-ups in the program if situations occur
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Create a clear app flow and homepage, with the ability to navigate to scheduling, tasks, edit profiles
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Implement opportunities for mentors to receive credit for their work, and to motivate their participation.
Thanks for reading!
