Jackie Miller
Persona ResearchPrimary research

A real interview, turned into a friction map.

This is a real interview with a real Edovo user — conducted by someone he knows, relayed faithfully. What's public here is a de-identified composite, labeled everywhere as “based on real interviews with Edovo users.” No name, no identifying detail — the honesty is about the method, not his identity.

MarcusComposite · based on real interviews with Edovo users
  • 27 years inside
  • Tablet only
  • On-call prison job
  • Recently denied parole
  • Attempting: crypto, personal finance

“You can't learn something you've never touched just by watching it.”

Environmental FrictionThe environment he learns in

What's outside him — the device, the room, the interruptions — that most course design never accounts for.

Course assumes a laptop; he has a tabletDesign for the device he actually holds — tablet-first, touch-first
Pulled out by an on-call work order mid-lesson; loses his placeResume where he left off — save state, no penalty for the interruption
No desk — hunched on a bunk or toilet, TV and dominoes loud, no AC in Texas heatRespect the body and the room — short segments, no forced sit-throughs
A finance course with no built-in calculatorThe right tool, in context — an on-screen calculator where the math happens
Internal & Cognitive FrictionWhat's happening in his head

Working memory, motivation, and how a losing streak with a parole board reframes whether finishing means anything at all.

Fails a quiz → forced to rewatch the entire video, no pause or rewindVideo as a resource, not a gate — scrub, rewind, review one part
Has pen and paper, but no pause — can't stop to grasp a concept and write it downPausable playback that makes room for note-taking
Quizzes are multiple-choice / summary only — passable without understandingAssessment that teaches, checks comprehension, not just recall
An abstract, unfamiliar concept (crypto) taught by passive video + a quizScaffolding to build a mental model — analogy, worked examples, interactive models
Small frictions stack until putting the tablet down is the easiest thing in the roomLower the cost of continuing at every step — the pile is the enemy, not any one piece
Effort feels disconnected from any payoff (a parole denial made finishing feel pointless)Visible progress + intrinsic competence — the motivation the system can't supply

No single row here stops him. Together, every time, the path of least resistance wins. That's the real design problem — not one barrier, but the way small ones compound.

The Research ConversationSimulated, not scripted-for-marketing
A simulated research session — grounded in a real interview
The Refinement It DroveDigital Literacy Fundamentals

Built for interruption

Progress saves automatically; he resumes exactly where he was pulled away, with no penalty.

Content broken into short segments

Learnable in the fragments of time and comfort he actually gets, instead of one forced sit-through.

Video became a resource, not a gate

Pause / rewind / scrub so a concept can be written down before the video moves on; a failed check returns you to the relevant moment, not the top.

Scaffolding for abstract, unfamiliar concepts

Analogy, visual worked examples, and interactive models build a mental picture for a topic with no real-world anchor.

The right tool, in context

An on-screen calculator inside the finance material.

Tablet-first, touch-first layout

Designed for the device he actually holds.

See it live in the case study →

Grounded in
  • Primary Research
  • Trauma-Informed
  • Learner Autonomy
  • UDL
  • Cognitive Load
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