Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Understanding what students really need from a ...

Duncan Stephen
September 02, 2019

Understanding what students really need from a virtual learning environment

The University of Edinburgh's User Experience Service has undertaken a comprehensive programme of user research supporting Learn Foundations, a project aimed at improving students' experience accessing course materials digitally. Find out how we developed a programme of multiple user research methods to understand what students really need.

For more detailed blog posts see https://edin.ac/uxlf

Presented at Edinburgh UX Meetup.

Duncan Stephen

September 02, 2019
Tweet

More Decks by Duncan Stephen

Other Decks in Design

Transcript

  1. Duncan Stephen Understanding what students really need from a virtual

    learning environment User Experience Service The University of Edinburgh duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS →
  2. Learn Foundations A project to ensure students and staff find

    Learn easy to use duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  3. Understanding what students really need Understanding how to support staff

    to better meet students’ needs duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  4. A semester in the life of students and staff using

    Learn duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  5. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Students’ experience Frustrations around being made to

    use templates Love using Learn as a comms tool Time consuming to give good feedback Staff members’ experience Lack of trust in existing templates Overwhelmed by notifications Inconsistencies around assignments and feedback
  6. The elements of user experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Conception Completion

    Diagram adapted from Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf User needs and business objectives Functional/content requirements Visual design Content design and interface design IA and interaction design Top tasks surveys with students and staff Card sorting with students Tree testing with students First click testing with students
  7. The elements of user experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Top tasks

    surveys with students and staff Card sorting with students Tree testing with students First click testing with students Conception Completion Diagram adapted from Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf User needs and business objectives Functional/content requirements Visual design Content design and interface design IA and interaction design
  8. Students’ top tasks duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Lecture slides Lecture notes/outlines/handouts

    Lecture recordings Past exam papers Top 3 tasks >25% of votes Next 4 tasks Almost half Next 7 tasks Final 31 tasks 1. Lecture slides 2. Lecture notes / outlines / handouts 3. Lecture recordings 4. Past exam papers 5. Grades 6. Reading lists / study resources 7. Assignment deadlines 8. Assignment feedback / feed forward
  9. The elements of user experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Conception Completion

    Diagram adapted from Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf User needs and business objectives Functional/content requirements Visual design Content design and interface design IA and interaction design Top tasks surveys with students and staff Card sorting with students Tree testing with students First click testing with students Ongoing usability testing
  10. The elements of user experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Conception Completion

    Diagram adapted from Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf User needs and business objectives Functional/content requirements Visual design Content design and interface design IA and interaction design Top tasks surveys with students and staff Card sorting with students Tree testing with students First click testing with students
  11. Gerry McGovern on testing a new structure for the first

    time: “You will have maybe a 60% success rate if you do it really well.” duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  12. Worst performing task You need to contact a teacher. Where

    would you find their email address? 67% success 59% directness duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  13. The elements of user experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Conception Completion

    Diagram adapted from Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf User needs and business objectives Functional/content requirements Visual design Content design and interface design IA and interaction design Top tasks surveys with students and staff Card sorting with students Tree testing with students First click testing with students
  14. Research has suggested that when users get the first click

    right, 87% ultimately succeed in a task Versus 46% who get the first click wrong Jeff Sauro, Getting the first click right: https://measuringu.com/first-click/ duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  15. These results were less positive But we learned some really

    valuable information duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  16. It’s coming up to exam time and you’d like to

    see some mock exam papers. Where will you find them? 30% selected Course materials 21% selected Resource list 42% selected Assessment duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  17. Past papers problem But they were not clearly grouped in

    the card sort duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  18. Past papers problem We placed it in the Assessment section.

    But students were not finding it. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  19. The elements of user experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Conception Completion

    Diagram adapted from Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf User needs and business objectives Functional/content requirements Content design and interface design IA and interaction design Top tasks surveys with students and staff Card sorting with students Tree testing with students First click testing with students Ongoing usability testing
  20. By watching just four students, we understood that they don’t

    look for past papers in Learn They Google for them duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  21. Without using a mixture of research methods, we would never

    have understood this duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
  22. A service design approach duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Illustration by Megan

    Erin Miller: https://blog.practicalservicedesign.com/the-difference-between-a-journey-map-and-a-service-blueprint-31a6e24c4a6c/
  23. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Illustration by Megan Erin Miller: https://blog.practicalservicedesign.com/the-difference-between-a-journey-map-and-a-service-blueprint-31a6e24c4a6c/ Students

    Lecturers School-based learning technologists Learn service, central support We’d like to make it easier to post announcements We’re rolling out enhanced announcements functionality! I have an announcement! Not another announcement…
  24. By conducting research across this entire ecosystem, we are better

    placed to improve students’ experience duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS