Solvedout
Mobile application design
The academic doubt solving app
Solvedout is a mobile doubt solving platform designed to help students from a registered institutes in classes 9th to 12th get their doubts solved by their own teachers any time they want.
TIMELINE
May 2020 - June 2021
TEAM
Nachiket Nanoty
(Product design, Android development)

Anukul Narkhede
(Android development)
ROLE
I was responsible for identifying the core problem, conducting user research, designing the user interface and experience and collecting user feedback. I also contributed in android app development.
View application on Play Store
JOURNEY SO FAR
Identified the problem while teaching on 9th and 10th classes.
Developed the platform (3-app-bundle) for android.
Tested the applications with 350+ students and 40+ teachers over the period of 6 months.
Improved the design and experience of the applications as I learned more about interaction and experience design.
Encountered some issues in testing.
Designed solutions to solve the issues encountered in testing & further improve user engagement.
MOTIVATION
How did the project start?
During my second year of engineering, I worked as a freelance teacher at a coaching institute for 9th and 10th classes. It was during this time that I observed the recurring issue among students - they struggled with getting their doubts resolved. Equipped with my newly acquired knowledge of product design and coding, I was inspired to take action and develop a solution to address this problem.
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
Students struggle with getting their doubts solved.
During my time as a freelance teacher, I found that a standard practice across educational institutes is to allocate a fixed number of hours for each topic to be taught. However, many teachers struggle to address all students’ doubts and queries within the allotted lecture time, which negatively impacts their academic performance.
HOW MIGHT WE
Students
How might we help students with getting their doubts cleared by their teachers?
Teachers
How might we help teachers save the lecture time going in doubt solving?
CURRENT SOLUTION
I conducted informal interviews with 30+ students from class 9th to 12th & 15 teachers from three different institutes  to get insights into the current state of doubt solving practices both during and outside the lectures.
30+
Students
15+
Teachers
3
Institutes
WHAT DID THE USERS SAY?
Following are some of the frustrations expressed by the participants when asked about their experiences with doubt solving.
Sometimes we have to wait for over 3 to 4 days just to get our doubts cleared.
- Student
Teachers don’t stay after the class to clear our doubts.
- Student
Our doubts don’t get solved a lot of times even after asking them on Whatsapp.
- Student
Clearing doubts after class isn't always feasible as our schedule is packed with other lectures.
- Teacher
Students ask the same doubts over and over again.
- Teacher
There is no communication between us after the lectures.
- Teacher
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Lack of confidence among students
Students struggle with lack of confidence to ask their doubts in class setting or to some teachers.
Can’t focus on individual student & basic doubts
Teachers are unable to give individual attention to each student in class and do not have time to address very basic doubts, as they must complete the syllabus in allocated time.
A lot of waiting to get the doubts cleared
Students often have to wait for days until the next lecture of the teacher to get their doubts solved, affecting their self study and understanding of the topic.
Lack of communication
Students have no way of reaching out to their teachers outside of class hours, leaving them with little to no support for self-studying or when they face doubts outside the classroom.
CURRENT SOLUTIONS
What are the solutions being used to address these problems?
Currently, two commonly used solutions exist to address the problem of doubt solving. By observing how students and teachers use these solutions, I was able to understand their limitations and address them in my solution.
1. WhatsApp Groups (Institute's solution)
  • Institutes have adopted the practice of creating WhatsApp groups with both students and teachers to help students get their doubts solved.
Over 50% of the doubts went unresolved or were lost in shuffle due to the addition of new doubts and chats in the groups.
Teachers began ignoring notifications from groups, as they were frequently getting notified for other subjects and mistaking them for unimportant messages.
Inability to revisit previously asked doubts makes it difficult to monitor students performance & leads to repeating doubts.
The group often got sidetracked with off-topic and irrelevant discussions, making it difficult for students to find the solutions for their doubts.
2. Doubtnut (Student's solution)
  • At an individual level, students use Doubtnut to search explanations to their doubts and queries.
Teachers do not have access to doubts asked on Doubtnut limiting their ability to understand students' difficulties.
The app provides generalised solutions that do not take into account the specific needs and understanding level of individual students.
The authenticity and quality of answers may not always be accurate which can lead to confusion among students.
Does not allow revisiting previously asked doubts which can hinder students’ ability to track their own progress.
OUR SOLUTION
Taking doubt-solving out of the classroom
A platform consisting of 3 applications - one each for students, teachers and administration. This platform allows students to ask their doubts, which then will be answered by their respective teachers while the institute admins can manage the whole process.
01
Solvedout (Student)
Students can get personalised explanation for their doubts from their own teachers & view previously asked doubts.
02
Solvedout Teacher
Teachers are immediately notified when a student asks a doubt in their subject and can reply with explanations.
03
Solvedout Admin
Admins have the ability to view and manage user accounts and data related to doubt solving activity.
APP INTERACTIONS
1. Asking a doubt.
2. Solving a doubt.
3. Searching for a doubt.
USER FLOW (Student's app)
USER TESTING & STATISTICS
We conducted a 6 month real-world testing run of the platform. During which, Solvedout was actively used by 345 students from class 10th of SSC, CBSE and ICSE boards and 44 teachers covering 12 subjects.
345
Students
44
Teachers
6
Institutes
USER FEEDBACK
Students used the app for revision
Over the course of the testing period, students began utilising Solvedout as a revision tool for their exams, as most of their difficulties and questions were already addressed on the app.
A lot less ‘repeating doubts’
Students showed a tendency to search for previously asked doubts before posting a new ones, which eliminated the problem of repeating doubt.
Current login process is a lot of hassle to go through
Simplified the login flow to minimize the number of screens.
What if students upload inappropriate content?
Adding a feature to report a doubt
Teachers can report a doubt that they deem inappropriate or irrelevant. These doubts will not be visible to other students until they are reviewed and approved by administrators.
It takes too much effort to type long explanations.
Adding audio and ‘voice to text’ input methods to solve the doubts.
Teachers can use audio or ‘voice to text’ input methods to solve the doubts reducing the time and effort compared to typing out the responses.
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