EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Facilitating an Intuitive, Supportive & Flexible Experience
The Chang School at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) provides continuing education courses and career-related certificate programs for continuous learners. The aim of this project was to craft an improved not-for-credit course experience and make online learning comfortable for adult learners.
ROLE
Lead UX Designer
SCOPE
UX Research & Strategy,
UX Redesign, Design Thinking
TIMELINE
6 Months
Background
In order to achieve this, it was essential to understand student’s needs, their key interactions with the platform and identify pain points and opportunities. The project was therefore divided into 4 main phases:
Phase 01: Discover
Phase 02: Empathize
Phase 03: Ideate
Phase 04: Design & Evaluate
Goals
Understand
Understand learner’s needs, expectations & motivations within online learning environments.
Analyze
Analyze tools, technologies, best practices, ethical implications and innovation in the space of online education and learning.
Design
Design the solution that caters to the identified needs and pain points.
Evaluate
Evaluate student’s pain points and frustrations with the existing platform interactions
Identify & Prioritize
Identify & Prioritize features to add and obstacles to remove to elevate student’s online learning experience and platform interactions.
Evaluate
Evaluate the design decisions and platform experience for usability issues
Methodology
Phase 01: Online Survey, Interviews, Literature Review, Competitor Analysis.
Phase 02: Empathy Building sessions and methods.
Phase 03: Design Workshops for ideation, brainstorming and prioritization.
Phase 04: Prototyping, Stakeholder Feedback, Heuristic Evaluation, Accessibility Review.
RATIONALE
To align with business timelines, data from existing surveys and interviews (conducted by Research Analysis and Marketing Communications teams) was analyzed to synthesize information.
The designs decisions based on those insights will then be validated by quantitive data from platform’s learner analytics combined with qualitative data from moderated usability testing.
Synthesizing student feedback from course design survey, feedback from interviews with prospective students, and analyzing the platform based on specific student comments.
Survey
n = 355
Location: Canada
Full-time, part-time undergraduate and continuing education students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)
Interview
n = 26
Location: Canada
Prospective students, adult learners, 20 - 34 years
PHASE 01 - DISCOVER
Understanding Learners & Evaluating Platform Experience
“As a student who has been away from school for a while, it was difficult to navigate everything online and not have live guidance."
STUDENT AT TMU
“
Even videos that have the professor discussing the concepts would be incredibly useful."
- Student at TMU
“
There was no live sessions with the instructor, there was no contact with him at all through the semester"
- Student at TMU
“
I was unable to get support for the final assignment worth 30% of the grade."
- Student at TMU
“
I took X courses because of my heavy and tight schedule. Not engaging, it is simply a text book.
- Student at TMU
Analyzing Best Practices,
Technologies & Ethical Implications
Learning Experience Design
(LX) effective practices
User Experience Design
(UX) effective practices,
Learner Point of View Quality Checklist and Quality guidelines
for online learning design.
Analyzing Competitors
Analyzing course experience of competitors like University of Toronto, LinkedIn Learning, York University, Google Certificates and Interaction Design Foundation.
Competitive Audit to assess competitors on specific parameters of interface and module design.
Competitive Map to guide value proposition
Discover
Phase Insights
01.
Unfamiliarity with Online Learning Environment
Some adult learners feel nervous about returning to school after a really long time and are unfamiliar with online learning.
02.
Superficial Assimilation of Knowledge
Students expressed dissatisfaction with text heavy asynchronous courses. Interactive, video based learning with a range of assessment methods and projects with practical application of theoretical concepts is desired.
03.
Limited Interaction and Feeling Disconnected
Quality peer-to-peer interactions, networking, and learning from peers is important for adult learners. Student to instructors interaction is equally important and fully asynchronous courses are perceived as isolating.
Key Takeaways from Adult Learner’s Persona, Empathy Maps and Journey Maps:
Needs
-
Flexibility
-
Support
-
Engagement, interactivity
-
Comfortable learning environment
-
Relevant content
Pain Points
-
Overwhelming information & cognitive load
-
Work overload
-
Nervousness
-
Unfamiliarity with learning platform
-
Superficial learning
PHASE 02 - EMPATHIZE
Uncovering Adult Learner’s
Needs & Pain Points
Defining Learner’s Persona
Empathy Map
Learner Journey Map
Mapping out key steps of our learner's journey and defining what they do, see, think and feel at each touchpoint. The objective here is to identify pain points in the path and ways we can address them.
Scenario 01: First Time Access
Anita just got access to D2L. She wants to review the overall course, familiarize herself with the platform and finish Module 1 in the limited time she has blocked in her calendar before she goes home to her kids.
Scenario 02: Returning User
Anita just finished work and before running home to her family and kids, she wants to catch up on coursework, check upcoming due dates, and go over necessary information.
Empathize
Phase Insights
01.
Cognitive load & Lack of Flexibility
The majority of prospective students are working full-time and balancing childcare/ family. Need to design course materials & learning platform with a focus on learner’s cognitive experience and flexibility.
02.
Unclear Navigation, Structure & Flow
The survey suggested that students found the existing platform difficult to navigate and not well structured. They found it frustrating to juggle between LMS and CMS.
03.
Feel Unsupported, Isolated or Confused
Students requested for technical support and clear instructions. They require the ability to request for accommodations, deadline, and extensions.
The Problem
Continuous learners feel overwhelmed with information and workload in an unfamiliar online learning environment with superficial assimilation and assessment of knowledge with limited interaction.
The Goal
Chang School’s not-for-credit courses are designed to provide students the flexibility and continuous support they need within a comfortable and intuitive environment to undertake learning that is relevant, inclusive and engaging.
PHASE 03 - IDEATE
Defining the Scope &
Identifying Opportunities
How might we provide a comfortable, flexible, supportive & intuitive learning experience for continuous learners so they can practically apply knowledge and interact meaningfully?
Task Flows
The learner's journey is divided into 3 main phases:
01. Orientation: Familiarize learners with the platform and non-learning related aspects of their course.
02. Onboarding: Familiarize learners with the course schedule, support options, guidelines & processes.
03. Course Content Review: Learners start reviewing the course content.
Collaborative Design Workshops
Ideation Session:
Brainstorm features to add and obstacles to remove to elevate students’ online learning experience and platform interactions.
Affinity Mapping:
Organizing ideas into 6 main themes: Flexibility, Comfortable, Intuitive, Supportive, Practical Application, Meaningful Interaction.
Dot Voting & Prioritization: Prioritizing ideas and outlining next steps and tasks.
Two main prototype versions were created and iterated based on feedback before the solution was finalized.
Prototype Version 01.
The Version 01 of the course templates were sketched to be built on the Content Management System (CMS).
Prototype Version 02.
The Version 02 of the course templates was built on the Learning Management System (LMS).
PHASE 04 - DESIGN
Initial Wireframes
& Prototypes
Feedback on Wireframes
Due to technological constraints of the CMS, stakeholder misalignments and change in scope, it was decided to utilize the LMS instead to redesign and streamline processes.
The Re-envisioned
Course Experience Design
Intuitive.
Interactive.
Supportive.
Onboarding Learners: Conceptualized an onboarding section to guide students through their next steps and familiarizing them with the learning environment.
Intuitive Interactions: Using descriptive labels for navigation, adding “Quick Access: Course Material” Widget to Home screen and renaming Course labels to “Week 01, Week 02..” for clear comprehension of weekly workload.
Onboarding Students
& Facilitating an Intuitive Experience
User Challenges: Unfamiliarity with Online Learning Environment and Difficulty Navigating
Fostering a Holistic, classroom-like Learning Environment. Peer-to-Peer Interaction: Improving student interactions by providing 3 distinct communication channels for networking, course-related questions, and non-course-related discussions.
Student-to-Instructor Interaction: Instructor contact cards on the course home designed to provide relevant information. and communication expectations. General Q&A forum designed to ask course related questions.
Improving Interactions
with Peers & Instructor
User Challenges: Limited Interactions and Feel Disconnected
Leveraging the University’s existing support & services resources and centralizing them to ensure they’re visible & easily accessible to online adult learners.
Wellbeing Resources: Providing services and support for health, wellbeing, and accommodations.
Support Hub: Enhancing student to platform interaction by providing platform, tech and other supports & services.
Providing a Supportive
Learning Environment
User Challenges: Feel Unsupported, Lost or Confused
Flexible Learning: Content flexibility, time flexibility, assessment flexibility and personalized learning through learning calendar, progress tracking and self evaluation.
Practical Application: Knowledge check-in, self evaluation and projects that allow practical application of theoretical knowledge.
Flexible Learning
& Practical Application
User Challenges: Overwhelmed with Workload & Superficial Knowledge Assimilation.
The Design decisions were evaluated on the parameters of Platform Environment, Learner Experience, Instructor Experience, and Module Structure. This evaluation was conducted through stakeholder feedback, heuristic evaluation, team feedback and accessibility review.
PHASE 05 - EVALUATE
Feedback & Evaluation
Stakeholder Feedback: Reviewed by the program director, program specialist, program manager and design director.
Heuristic Evaluation:
Based on Usability Heuristics and best practices
Team Feedback:
Assessed by learning experience designers, developer, instructional designer and eLearning manager.
Accessibility Review:
Conducted by the Accessibility Specialist.
"Is it possible to have the home page feature or link to the active weeks module and the learner's to-do for the week?"
STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK
Results
The re-envisioned Course Experience Design addressed student challenges and provided value in the following ways:
4x
Fewer clicks to access course materials, streamlining navigation and reducing user friction
20K+
learners annually benefit from an enhanced, intuitive digital learning experience
$60K
to 170K+ estimated savings by optimizing the existing LMS
instead of investing in a full redesign or platform migration
25%
estimated increase in course interactivity, driven by videos,
knowledge checks, and self-evaluation activities
Results
The re-envisioned Course Experience Design addressed student challenges and provided value in the following ways:
25%
higher interactivity. Courses are now structured to incorporate more videos, knowledge check-ins and self evaluation activities
01
Single Platform, simpler experience. Students no longer have juggle between 2 platforms to view content and complete tasks.
3x
More options for content assimilation. Content flexibility allows students to choose between reading (text), listening (audio), and/or watching (video).
12+
Support options on the home screen, ranging from Support hub, Mental health & wellbeing-related support and support from chat bot.
Next Steps &
Action Items
01.
Proposing a Data Analytics Collection Plan
Creating a proposal to guide data collection. This is to understand student decision points & interactions with the interface design, course materials & support options. Analysis will help identify behaviours/points of friction.
02.
Mix Methods Research & Testing with Students
After Fall2024 Soft Launch, data from various sources will be collected to access the new design. This includes platform analytics to track decision points, survey & feedback form to expand on collected data, tree testing to evaluate the navigation efficiency and moderated usability testing.
03.
Investigating Learning Platforms with broader Capabilities
The current learning platform has limited capabilities, unable to allow for higher customization, personalization and data collection. The learner journey use cases created for this project will help in this investigation.
Final Takeaways
Frequent interactions, consistent check-ins and collaboration with a diverse team & stakeholders bring in varied perspectives and fresh ideas at every stage. This can be both extremely insightful and challenging, depending upon the context.
To showcase the Link between Design Decisions & Business Impact helps bring stakeholders on board. Presenting design findings/ ideas in a manner which is impactful for stakeholders is crucial for project’s success
Data can Provide Valuable Insights for Further Study or qualitative analysis but solely relying on data make design decisions can be presumptuous. .
Limitations
The inability to conduct user testing pre-launch of the updated design with learners/students due to time/ budget constraints did not provide validation of design decisions from the target user.
Limited capabilities of the learning platform did not allow for higher customization, personalization, and data collection. Because of this, couple of design recommendations and proposed features such as personal dashboard, learning playlist, progress tracking or content saving for offline usage were disregarded without implementation.
View More Projects
Toronto Metropolitan University
SERIOUS GAME DESIGN
Zest
LIFESTYLE ENHANCEMENT APP