CREATING AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM: UX RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Whiteboard exercise from “How might we...?” workshop performed with pilot team.
I served as UX Strategist for a pilot experiential learning program connecting human-centered design students with nonprofits. My goal was to deploy a double diamond approach to design a program charter maximizing benefits to three stakeholder groups, with guidance from an industry mentor. This project is an ongoing part-time paid internship position at Harrisburg University which began in September of 2023.
Background
Discovery
Research design included stakeholder interviews, surveys, and workshops with students, university faculty, nonprofit staff, and pilot program participants (67 total participants.) IRB approval was received for this project. My team also performed a comparative analysis to understand similar programs.
Problem Identification
I used thematic analysis and descriptive statistics to synthesize data from five sources, and points of view to understand user groups. Triangulation revealed that program priorities should center on team collaboration and mutual learning, resource constraints, and vetting and other measures to optimize for program success. Notably, 80% of students indicated interest for participating in an experiential program.
I created design opportunities and cautions for a program charter, outlining insights for program mission, administration, and structure. In an iterative process of workshops with different user groups, I gathered feedback and iterated the program design and presented findings to stakeholders.
Design Recommendations
Survey results dissemination prepared for stakeholders.
There is a possibility that this project will be adopted as an ongoing program at Harrisburg University, which would benefit students looking for experience, nonprofits in need of design support, and faculty seeking to participate in mission-driven projects. Student data gathered for this project also helped to inform educational design for the human-centered design program. A submission of this research to an industry conference is currrently under review.