Forming an Opportunity Belief

The Opportunity

I believe that there lies an opportunity in improving the test-taking experience by improving Scantron sheets, and I believe that this opportunity will benefit both students and teachers. I propose that Scantron sheets can be improved by the addition of a feedback loop that lets the user know which questions he/she got right/wrong by category. The feedback loop will also provide basic statistics, such as class average and standard deviation, as well as more in-depth statistics, such as accuracy percentage per question type. The feedback loop is useful for students because it immediately shows them their areas of strengths and weaknesses as well as any areas they should improve on in preparation for future cumulative tests. My hope is that this feedback loop will motivate students to take a second-look and review their answer choices instead of dumping the information from their brains after test completion. On the other hand, teachers will benefit from a feedback loop as they can take advantage of the overall statistics that it provides. Teachers can see which subject categories they may need to place more focus on in teaching future semesters. Currently, I am over 90% confident that this opportunity exists.

Customer Research

Customer 1 - UF Student/Sophomore/Finance Major

How often do you go back to check your test answers after a professor uploads the answer key?

           I'll sometimes go back to match my answers with the answer key. Other times I'll just wait                   until the score comes out on Canvas, but that's about it....

Do you ever visit office hours to review the questions with a TA/Professor?

            No never. I probably should though….

Why not?

Sometimes the timing of office hours is inconvenient. Other times I feel intimated to go, especially with the large classes like the Financial Accounting class that I’m in

If your Scantron sent you an email after your completed your test, would you be more inclined to review the test you just took?

I think so…I mean, when I submit a Scantron I typically never hear back about it until my score shows up on canvas. A lot of times I don’t even know what I got right or wrong

What kind of information or statistics would you want to see on that email?

A breakdown of right/wrong areas by category type would be nice. Class average, curves, history from past semesters, etc…

Reflections

            This interview aligned perfectly with the problems that I see surrounding the current test-taking methods used in schools across the US. Students won’t typically hear back about the details of their exam results unless they seek out help from their instructors. However, with their busy schedules, some students don’t have the time to go to professor office hours. Other students feel intimated to reach out, and therefore never do.

Customer 2 – UF Entrepreneurship Professor

What are your thoughts on this opportunity?

            It’s interesting! As far as I know, we’ve been using Scantron for years. I’m not sure how much they’ve upgraded their product over the years, but I can definitely see the value that your feedback loop idea presents to students and teachers alike. I would first look into Scantron some more and see if they haven’t implemented this already…

Who do you think should be my target audience?

You can potentially pitch this product to high schools and colleges across the nation

What challenges do you see in my business idea?

            Let’s see…Scantron is already well-implemented in high schools and colleges across the nation, as I’ve mentioned before. Although your idea is good, the problem you’re going to face is convincing these schools that your product creates enough value for them to consider taking the switching costs. The teachers are already used to using Scantron, and if your product’s system is a nuisance to learn and implement, then schools may think that its not worth it.

Reflections

This professor gave me great insight of the overall business plan, and we discussed who the target customer is and the potential strengths/weaknesses of the opportunity. I still felt really confident in my idea after my discussion with this professor; however, I wish I asked more questions regarding his own experience with Scantron and the specific feedback he would like to see as an instructor.

Customer 3 – UF/MIB Graduate Student

What are your thoughts on my opportunity?

It’s one of the better ideas that I’ve seen for sure. I’ve got a question though … is it going to be bothersome for teachers to switch over to this from Scantron? Also, how does your feedback loop know how to categorize questions? Is it something that the teacher has to enter in themselves?

I haven’t thought about it in detail, but yes…the teachers would create question categories and select which category each of their questions fall under. Any other problems that you see?

That may be a little bothersome… it’s gotta be as smooth as possible. Also, a lot of professors don’t use Scantron and opt instead for written answers. This idea would only work for multiple choice questions. Additionally, I think this idea would work better for studying for standardized tests such as the GRE/GMAT since a lot of tests in college are not cumulative

Would you personally utilize the feedback emails? Do you think it would inspire you to reach out and review the answers with your professor more?

Definitely. That’s the main value I see in your idea as well

Review

This was my favorite interview out of the three. This student presented issues that I’ve never thought of. Specifically, I can see how the feedback loop is more useful for those studying for standardized tests because those tests utilize the same types of questions, and it's important for those test takers to know which areas they need to focus on. Again, this interview emphasized that implementation in schools will have to be as smooth as possible.

Summary

After conducting the interviews, I still have over 90% confidence in my opportunity. Every person that I’ve interviewed saw the immediate value that a feedback loop presents to students and teachers alike. However, I will have to consider the switching costs for schools to use my system. I think this assignment helped me narrow down my target audience base as well as expose the cracks in my original business plan.