User researcher: Ade Oladimeji
For context, first read the post on the naming workshops.
After the workshops and some further discussion the decision was taken to take five name options into research with users:
- DfE Connect
- Get help with school management
- My School Gateway
- Education Link
- View my school actions
The objective of the user research was to understand:
- the user response to the different proposed names
- their perception of what the service does and who the service is for.
We used a mixed method approach that included 14 qualitative user research sessions with school leaders and school business professionals (SBPs), and a survey sent out via the DfE email comms.
Outcomes
The majority of respondents came from local authority maintained schools and academies within academy trusts. Half of all respondents worked in primary education, with just over another quarter from secondary schools. Most people had been in their role for more than 2 years.
DfE Connect
- Trusted, memorable, simple, snappy
- Positive idea of ‘connection’
- Name is very similar to ‘Collect’ service
Get help with school management
- Familiar, identifiable, describes the service
- Known format – ‘Get help’ known
- Sounds like a guide to get all the answers
- Business and finance not just school management
My School Gateway
- Typical
- Entrance to something
- Overfocussed on schools
- Forgettable, ordinary
- Already the name of a third party service in the education sector
Education Link
- Relevant to schools and MATs
- Link – feedback loop
- Too simplistic
- Seems curriculum based
- Too focussed on education
View my school actions
- Clear it’s for schools
- Trusted, simple
- Too school based
- Sounds like a standard service
- Focussed on actions
Terminology feedback
The “get help…” naming pattern is something SBPs feel familiar with as a DfE service naming.
Users didn’t respond as well to:
- school - this alienated trust-level users
- education - this was seen as being about curriculum and pedagogy, not the wider areas of school running.
When users were asked to generate their own names, most were a combination of “DfE” and either hub or portal.
Considerations for the name
It is clear from the user research that, of these choices, DfE Connect is the preference among users. 60% chose it as their preferred name.
There are still some things to take into consideration if this is used however.
- Not all users said they were clear what a service named DfE Connect would provide
- Some users pointed out it had a similar name to DfE COLLECT
- Some users thought it could mean connecting to people in the DfE, which could raise expectations of what the service could do for them.
- The team are confident that these issues are minor and can be addressed in communications around the service.
🚨 After consultation, the Chief Digital Officer and Minister signed off on the service being called DfE Connect. 🎉