SkillBlox in Practice: Usability & Feasibility

Integrating new technologies or curricula into adult education settings rarely begins with a blank slate or in a predictable environment. More often, it starts in the middle of instruction, in an ongoing class, a lesson already in motion, and with a group of learners who have immediate goals and uneven access to technology. In this context, teachers are constantly making decisions about what to prioritize, what to adapt, and how to build skills into instruction without losing momentum. This reality has long shaped our SkillBlox design studies. 

It certainly informed what our team at World Education and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) learned through a usability and feasibility study. In that phase of our shared Teaching Skills That Matter-SkillBlox development research, we examined what happened when our new SkillBlox features were introduced into everyday instructional settings. We focused on how teachers incorporated SkillBlox in their instruction and how useful it was for supporting alignment with the TSTM framework (read more about TSTM and SkillBlox working in tandem here). This phase of the design research occurred just after our iterative feature testing described here.

In the usability/feasibility study, we spoke with six adult educators who had begun using the platform in their own settings. What they shared was less about whether the tool ‘worked’ and more about how they made it work. They described where it fit naturally, where it created friction, and how they adapted it along the way.

Beginning with Discovery, Not Delivery

What we noticed first was how teachers approached SkillBlox not as a place to deliver instruction, but as a place to find materials to support it. Several emphasized “search” as they described their use: looking for materials, scanning “Blox” others had built, and gathering ideas they could shape into something of their own.

One teacher explained:

“I like to look around and get those ideas…
these ready-to-go things…
but it’s not a cookie-cutter lesson—
you make it fit your class.”

The value wasn’t just in the resources themselves, but in how those resources were organized and made visible; that is, how the Blox were put together. You can see an example of that in Figure 1.  SkillBlox became a kind of workspace for thinking through instruction. It was less a finished product, more a starting point.

Building and Adapting Instruction

While teachers had a library of existing Blox available to use (via the "Explore SkillBlox" library), most chose to create their own, often using these existing Blox as models.

One teacher described looking at the public Blox “to see how they [other SkillBlox users] organized theirs… then did my own thing.” Another teacher talked about reshaping what she found:

“I changed it to be more student-oriented,
less structured… I turned it into an activity
instead of me leading the discussion.”

SkillBlox supported this kind of adaptation, allowing teachers to pull pieces together in ways that aligned with their learners and their teaching style. For some, this process became surprisingly efficient over time.

One teacher noted:

“For me, very easy… super quick…
I could create a Blox for the next day
in about 15 minutes.”

When It Clicks—and When It Doesn’t

At the same time, getting to that point wasn’t always straightforward. While some teachers found the platform intuitive from the start, others described a more uncertain beginning.

One teacher reflected on the difficulty:

“I did not know what the end product
was going to look like… I had no idea
if what I was doing was right.”

Her uncertainty was also due to being unfamiliar with the platform; she noted:

“The instructions [from a brief training]
were not clear enough… I had to
write everything down step by step.”

What these experiences suggested is that usability depended not only on the ease of navigating the platform but also on whether teachers clearly saw the goal for what they were building and how it fit into their instruction.

Alignment with the Content Teachers Needed

Where SkillBlox felt most promising was in its alignment with what teachers felt they were expected to teach, but had lacked the resources to do so. The TSTM Blox available in the platform focused on TSTM topic areas like workforce preparation, civics, and financial literacy, and integrated activities to build TSTM skills like communication, problem solving, and self-awareness. One teacher reflected:

“It’s a good reminder of what we should be teaching…
not just getting them to pass the test.”

In this sense, SkillBlox did not introduce a new agenda. It gave teachers a way to organize and surface work that was perhaps already a goal in their practice.

The Reality of Learners’ Digital Literacy

There were certainly challenges with the tool itself, but also challenges due to the conditions in which it was used. Across every interview, teachers returned to the same issue: student digital literacy.

“My students are not tech savvy… I’m lucky
if they are even joining the class by a computer.”

The same teacher also described how this played out in practice:

“It took a full 3 hours just to get everyone logged on… 

we didn’t even get to the lesson.”

Even though teacher and student participants had devices and internet access, these barriers persisted. The challenge was not access alone, but familiarity, confidence, and the ability to move through a digital environment independently.

Learners’ expectations, shaped by their prior online learning experiences, introduced an additional layer of complexity, not ease. Many assumed SkillBlox would function like familiar platforms, influencing how they engaged with and interpreted the tool.

“They expected it to be like Google Classroom… and it wasn’t.”

When those expectations didn’t hold, student digital literacy gaps made it difficult for them to understand and complete tasks.

Adapting in Real Time

In response, teachers adjusted. Rather than abandoning the tool, they changed how they used it. One teacher described pulling resources from SkillBlox and guiding students through them directly by sharing her screen, rather than assigning the Blox to students and asking them to work independently. In these moments, SkillBlox became less of a student-facing platform and more of a teacher-controlled instructional resource. This flexibility was not how we had expected teachers to benefit from SkillBlox, but we observed that it had become a useful strategy for teachers as they made it work for their context.

What Makes the Content Work

The content itself was viewed favorably. Teachers appreciated that materials were appropriate for adult learners and clearly organized to TSTM skills and topics. They described logically built activities that offered opportunities for learners to engage, practice, and reflect.

“I was satisfied with it… to get the skills that matter 

and being able to find materials that related to those skills.”

At the same time, teachers expressed interest in more interactive, customizable content. Some highlighted the need for activities able to provide immediate feedback to learners, while others pointed to videos or game-based elements that could be adapted to meet specific learner needs. 

Looking Ahead

Despite the challenges, teachers were consistently positive about the potential of SkillBlox.

One teacher described sharing it with colleagues:

“Showing them my SkillBlox and how they can create… 

I’m excited to say, ‘Hey, look at this new big thing that is out there.’”

She saw it as a way to organize and share instructional materials over time, bringing more structure to her work and making it easier to collaborate.

Next Steps

What this phase of the research made clear was that SkillBlox is best considered a dynamic tool. To some extent, it becomes what teachers make of it: how they shape and adapt content and integrate it in their varied and complex classrooms. In practice, SkillBlox is largely succeeding as a resource hub, a helpful planning tool, and a way to organize instruction. At the same time, the challenges are real, particularly when it comes to onboarding and supporting learners with varying levels of digital access and experience.

These insights directly informed the phase of development research that followed; we learned from the usability/feasibility and refined features and supports for the pilot study led by AIR. Just as important, this phase surfaced the creativity and persistence of teachers, who navigated the constraints of their settings to make meaningful use of the platform.

In adult education, flexibility is not a bonus, but essential. Tools need to bend to the realities of learners’ lives and the conditions of instruction. SkillBlox shows promise not because it works in a single, prescribed way, but because teachers are finding ways to make it work where it matters most.