For this week’s Moveable Feast, we are diving into the world of Experience Design (UX).
But first, what exactly is Experience Design?
Experience Design (UX) focuses on creating products and environments that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating a product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function. UX design aims to enhance user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product.
On our website, we delve deeper into what Experience Design entails. We also explore UX in the classroom, discuss how UX has evolved and will continue to change, and provide a selection of apps and tools with excellent UX design for you to use in your own classroom. Throughout the website, you will find several collaborative Padlet activities, and we highly encourage your participation. Additionally, we welcome your feedback on your overall user experience either here or on our interactive Menti feedback page. We hope you enjoy learning with us!
Google Site: https://sites.google.com/view/etec523-user-experience-design/home?authuser=0
After you have gone through our OER, we encourage you to engage in the blog discussion by answering one or more of the questions below:
- What skills do educators need to develop to effectively integrate experience design into their teaching practices?
- How does experience design differ from traditional instructional design?
- Can you share an example of a learning experience that was particularly well-designed? What made it effective?
- What are some strategies to ensure that experience design is inclusive and accessible to all students, including those with disabilities?
- How can schools and educators address issues such as screen time, digital distraction, and technology fatigue while implementing these tools?
- How does experience design enhance the learning experience for students in today’s classrooms?
Thank you all,
Momina Abid, Jasmine Chapman, and Olivia Barratt
Thank you Momina, Jasmine, and Olivia,
Your OER was so organized and enjoyable! I can tell you all put a lot of time into your google site. I want to answer the following question: What skills do educators need to develop to effectively integrate experience design into their teaching practices?
Prior to this project, I think I was often confused by UI and UX and the importance of both. When you went into detail about two groups as users I thought that was important to identify as we often only think about one group. The comparison of teacher view VS student view is critical for me. I’ve used Teams, a teacher grading software, Newsela, Kahoot and all of these programs need testing out. I think trial by error, doing test runs, using these programs in real-time, and adapting is absolutely crucial to effectively integrate experience design in all teaching practices.
Another key tip, is to keep researching on new apps and tools that are out there. Just like your guys’ OER, you’ve included a variety of new UX products. Awesome job!
Thanks, Clare!
I think it is so important to consider how the students see the tech we are trying to introduce to them. I often forget about this element myself and am caught off guard when something doesn’t work as expected.
Completing this project and the Teacher vs Student section, really made me realize that seeing the student experience is key because they really are the key users here.
To your other note, researching and staying on top of new technology is crucial. That’s why we felt the need to include the option where others indicate the tech they use in the classroom. We don’t know everything and how will we know more about new technology if we don’t research and we don’t look to each other.
Thanks again for your kind comments!
Jasmine
Hi folks,
I thoroughly enjoyed your OER. I ran into a few little glitches, but I left suggestions and ideas in response to your prompts on the website itself. That was a nice feature, since it prompted me to look at your OER, think about how it could be modified, and reflect on whether or not I had gotten the full experience you were aiming for, and if so, how it could be tweaked. All in all, an excellent job. I spent more time on your OER than any other project presented so far, and the UX was very good.
I have chosen to reflect on the following prompt, which combines two of your suggestions::
.
1. Can you share an example of a learning experience that was particularly well-designed? What made it effective?
AND
What are some strategies to ensure that experience design is inclusive and accessible to all students, including those with disabilities?
A particularly well-designed learning experience I have been part of is a variety of activities I have done using the app/website “Blooket”. I had used Kahoot for a long time, but students were pushing me to give Blooket a try because they had used it in previous years. Like Kahoot, it uses games to quiz students on information and can be used in real time or in the classroom.
When I started doing a bit of research and practice, it became clear that Blooket had far superior UX qualities. Students of all types seemed to really enjoy it! Often one-size-fits-all quiz and review games, alienate some groups. A platform that rewards speed alienates those who read or react more slowly or might still be learning the content. A platform that relies on strategy and problem-solving favours those who have lots of experience with online games. A pressure-filled, timed game alienates kids who are cautious or anxious. The UX with Blooket allows the teacher to circumvent these niches, by providing a wide array of games with customizable features, to allow you to create a product that works for all learners. This is done easily and intuitively, and students quickly recognize ways they can succeed and achieve rewards that are meaningful to them.
The other design element that Blooket uses, which is superior to many others I have seen, is very much related to user/student-focused UX. Rather than the student signing in, playing a game and signing out, the experience is focused on their profile. The game is being presented to them, an online user who has customizable avatars, a playing history, friends and alliances, and other customized, personal elements. When they are given a link to join a game, they see it through their own lens. They can make decisions about who they want to work with, what strategy might work best, what their character will look like, and whether they will be anonymous or “front and center”.
The platform continues to evolve and is becoming more adaptable and versatile all the time. One particular element that I explored with students this year was the very efficient, user-friendly “Make your own Blooket” feature. Students can create their own question sets, and can very easily fact-check them, add images and video, share and play with other students, and lead the activity they’ve created in class. Again, it feels to them like they are the center of the activity and it is so user-friendly that any student (reader, non-reader, EAL, French Immersion, exceptionalities, neurodivergent) can succeed.
Hi Sam,
Thank you for taking time to submit feedback to our website! Those are certainly changes I can look into. Do you think the drop down menus are more confusing than helpful? The goal was to keep things clean and make it easy to find information, but it seems it may not be doing that exactly.
To respond to your question answer:
My high school students love Blooket! Their favourite is crypto hack, where mine is the cafe one.
What I like about Blooket is that it can reinforce content when using it to prepare for a test. It can also be used to teach a bunch of new content depending on the number of questions included. I usually give treats to the students that get highest on the podium and those who get the highest number of questions correct. This helps reinforce game play AND getting questions correct instead of just guessing. Also, students are able to play it at their own pace and are less likely to quit once they get a certain number of questions wrong, which I see often in Kahoot.
I have never had students create Blookets for the class, but I think that would be a great idea! Is it fairly easy to create a quiz for students or do you need to run through a lesson first? Do you usually have a day where students can play all the games at once?
I’d love to hear more.
Thanks again!
Jasmine
Hi Momina, Jasmine, and Olivia,
Great work on the OER! I appreciate seeing the application of user experience design to the OER, particularly with your clear and thoughtful navigation guides throughout the website.
Discussion question: What are some strategies to ensure that experience design is inclusive and accessible to all students, including those with disabilities?
User experience (UX) design is vital to mobile learning because it ensures the learning interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, enhancing user engagement and reducing cognitive load. Good UX design also improves accessibility, making educational content more accessible to diverse learners, including those with disabilities. Additionally, effective UX design can increase information retention by providing a more enjoyable and interactive learning experience.
Within my own context, our goal is to design with ALL users in mind, and one resource which I’ve found to be particularly helpful when designing accessible and inclusive learning experiences are the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines: https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl.
These guidelines offer a framework to enhance and optimize teaching and learning for everyone, based on research into human learning. They ensure that all learners can access and engage in meaningful, challenging educational opportunities. The UDL framework provides guides on the design of instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials to be customized and adapted to meet individual needs, focusing on three main areas: engagement, representation, and action and expression.
Within my work, another helpful strategy is to create user personas during the planning stages and to build designs based on learners’ needs and preferences. If possible, we also have review groups and users with various abilities and learning preferences test the learning content and platform and provide feedback on how to improve the design. Other methods include designing for multiple platforms and devices and organizing content consistently and logically to ensure ease of navigation for users who use various assistive devices.
Another valuable resource which many others have mentioned throughout our MET courses is the WCAG guidelines: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/. These include helpful guides that I’ve incorporated into my usability/accessibility design checklist – guides such how to incorporate accessible fonts and colors, alt text, and transcriptions/subtitles for users with partial hearing and/or partial vision, and how to organize content sections for improved keyboard/assistive device navigations.
I’m also interested in hearing about other resources that the group or others have to share.
Thanks!
Lynn
Hi Lynn,
Thank you for your great response!
1) It was very important to our group to test out our website on various mobile technologies to ensure that everyone could have a great user experience, instead of just through a computer. We even deleted some components because they just didn’t add to the website in a positive way.
2) In my classes I have students try out new technology and I have high hopes but little expectations because I know that sometimes things just don’t work out. So many teachers, will have an all or nothing approach, when it comes to tech, sometimes you have to pivot. In my opinion, if I loose a day because we tried something new, it isn’t a loss of a day, its a learning experience for all, however, if it works, the day is just wonderful. When I started using Genially in my class, it was a lot of running around, but it turned out that everyone liked it and created great projects. The best thing is that students could help students, which in my eyes, is a big plus.
3) I love the idea around an accessibility design checklist! Having something to fully and accurately analyze the application is needed to determine if something is even worth introducing in a classroom setting. Additionally, I think encouraging students to use accessibility features within their assignments is needed to make it accessible to their classmates in a way that is non-judgemental and has a UDL approach.
Hope this makes sense!
Jasmine
Hello Momina, Jasmine, and Olivia,
Thank you for tackling this week’s challenging topic!
Your first question asked what skills educators need to better design educational experiences. What the MET program has promoted is that digital literacy needs to be better defined before it can ever be effectively applied (NLG, 1996). ETEC 511 focused on uses, users and usability and reminds us that usability encompasses human-tool relationships, such as human-computer interaction (HCI) (Issa & Isaias, 2015). I was interested in your integration of Morville’s UXDL honeycomb of user experience design for learning, which considers content, context and users, and more specifically includes categories of being useful, usable, findable, credible, accessible, desirable and valuable, but still am not sure if it encompasses all that is needed to create a smooth operator. Other frameworks (see: Norman’s Mode Of Interaction, Eason’s Causal Framework Of Usability) which aim to standardize computer performance and individual preference measures may or may not be as accessible nor enhance usability. To address your fourth question and to close this gap, a really neat tool I discovered while on campus during the summer of 2022 taking ETEC 565 EDIDA MakerSpaces was Blackboard Ally (Blackboard Ally – Accessible content is better content), which is a tool to ensure equitable access for all users. I wonder if there is a similar tool for Canvas?
Usability in educational terms could be defined as a diagnostic and teaching tool which anticipates novice learners, thus, personalizes student-user experience to react to input and provide feedback in a scaffolded, intuitive manner that implements the affordances of the system itself. When navigating interface (visible system), interaction (social communication) and interactivity (computer communication), educators need to be aware of pre-existing digital literacy skills of novice users compared to the capacity of more adept participants may influence HCI. An efficient system with positive usability will create space for authentic feedback from less experienced users to be received by an open-minded group of designers and engineers to amend. Designers may then try to provide the greatest product satisfaction to the lowest common denominator – including experienced users who may grow impatient with low usability. In other words, the machine teaches the learner and vice versa. This is called ‘configuring,’ both of the user and the machine. Woolgar (1990) deems user configuration by the computer necessary to teach novice learners how to use the device. However, with the major innovations in AI, how has configuration of the user changed?
Reference List
Issa, T., & Isaias, P. (2015) Usability and human computer interaction (HCI). In Sustainable Design (pp. 19-35). Springer.
New London Group (NLG). (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.
Woolgar, S. (1990). Configuring the user: The case of usability trials. The Sociological Review, 38 (1, Suppl.), S58-S99.
Hi Kirsten,
Thank you so much for your comment. When designers create Ed tech of any kind they need to think about configuring the user to make them want to use the product and create a product that grows with the user so they can’t live without it. For example, Genially and Canva are awesome applications that will do such a wide variety of things but it all depends on the user’s knowledge and tech expertise. Even Padlet can be used to create in depth elements and foster a variety of conversations but the level of this depends on the user. I was using Padlet when I taught Grade 2 online and they loved it and were able to learn digital literacy skills and communication skills to a higher level. It was amazing seeing how they did, especially as novice users.
My question for you is: how should teachers choose Ed tech tools in their classroom? Should they anticipate just the novice user or users from all levels? Also, do you think it’s ethically right to start to use tech tools to configure young students?
Thanks again!
Jasmine
Great questions, Jazz!
Your first, ‘how should teachers choose Ed tech tools in their classroom?’requires humanism. 3pm Should they anticipate just the novice user or users from all levels? Also, do you think it’s ethically right to start to use tech tools to configure young students
Great questions, Jazz!
Your first, ‘how should teachers choose ed tech tools in their classroom?’requires humanism. That is, educators need to be aware of the readiness of their students. While I am sure there are ample APPs and AIs to facilitate this diagnostic,
I would be very curious to see the results of research contrasting the two approaches. Have we reached that stage yet? (Or maybe post-MET PhD research?Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?)
Your next question, ‘do you think it’s ethically right to start to use tech tools to configure young students?’ deserves much more scrutiny. Consider the child who was raised screenless either because technology was not accessible or because their parents/guardians had technophobia or a thousand other situations wherein individual knowledge in informal topics will differ because it is neither regulated nor assessed. Will this child be at a disadvantage in the Ed Tech classroom because of a gap in digital literacy? Probably; but, is it the responsibility of the teachers (schools) or parents (family) to determine what digital exposure is appropriate for young learners? I suspect the answer to that depends on whether technology deemed a human right or a curse for mortals by respective stakeholders. Since it has the potential to ‘save humans on Earth’ if applied correctly, it would be logical to endorse virtual practices through more tech-positive experiences for young learners.
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks so much for your responses.
I think as teachers, we need to trust our instincts more but also just feel free to try out anything new with the understanding that some students are more skilled in the tech world than others. If we create a classroom that cultivates acceptance (which can be difficult in high school) and understanding of students that do not have the same tech experience or the same tech at home as others.
Thanks again for your comments!
Jasmine
Great work this week! What skills do educators need to develop to effectively integrate experience design into their teaching practices?
I wanted to offer this great resource from IBM – https://skillsbuild.org/adult-learners/explore-learning/user-experience-design#sb–adult-learners-journey-courses
I this course some time ago, it’s simple to complete and earn the bagde. Although this could be used to develop skills for UX design training, it’s useful for educators too.
First, the skills learned are directly applicable to improving educational tools and resources. I imagine it would be helpful when assessing user-friendly online learning platforms or educational apps that may be used in the classroom.
I would recommend this resource, especially just the “Basic Priciples of Design” component for anyone interested – It offers a structured learning path, industry-recognized credentials, and practical skills that are directly applicable to improving educational tools and resources.
Hi Nicole,
This is such an awesome resource! Do you mind if we add it to our website?
I will add this to my list of further courses this summer!
Jasmine
Hi Momina, Jasmine and Olivia,
Thanks for the OER! I enjoyed the various examples of tools and the interactivity of the site. Here’s my responses to one of the discussion questions.
2. How does experience design differ from traditional instructional design?
I have heard experience design and instruction design being described as the artist vs. the scientist approach in previous courses, which I would agree with to say it’s largely a matter of perception. Both share characteristics of prioritizing learning outcomes and objectives for the learner, but how they arrive at the result can vary. Instructional design is rooted in learning and approaches the development of learning experiences through a methodical structure. In my work, we often refer to the ADDIE model and despite this model being iterative in its nature, the steps of applying them can often feel quite linear.
Experience design prioritizes just this, the experience for the end user, whether that be the student or the educator, but as was shown in your OER, not every platform has been able to find that balance for their audience. I think it takes much more of an “artistic” approach to developing learning experiences in that the creation of materials can be less linear. It can manifest itself in accounting for the end user by developing visualizations of a concept or striking designs to encourage user interaction.
In the OER for gamification, you noted that the principles of experience design focus on creating meaningful and enjoyable learning experiences, which I would agree with. I also think that those principles overlap with an ID lens and it’s less about choosing one over the other, and rather the task of an educator to find that balance whether it’s individually or collectively in applying their “scientific” and “artistic” sides to achieve those meaningful learning experiences.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your response, I really like your expression of the artist vs scientist when comparing the two different designs. I think many designers forget that there are several different levels of users and different audiences that will use their platform and I think that leaves people to unsubscribe more quickly. Designers should be thinking about the scientific elements and the artistic elements rather than one or the other.
Jasmine
Thank you for the experience! I enjoyed working through your presentation.
Design is everything – both tech-related and non-tech-related. The user experience, the student experience, is what engages and what creates positive or negative memories. Before we were as tech-based as we are, that experience was still crucial to positive student experiences. How many people have a negative impression of Social Studies and History because their teachers were boring, unengaging, and provided an experience that was not life-changing? We have massive responsibilities as teachers to provide that. In that sense, the tech user experience is not that different, just more obvious and immediate.
How can schools and educators address issues such as screen time, digital distraction, and technology fatigue while implementing these tools? I think it is crucial to consider WHY tech is being used, whether a student is better served using a pencil or going offline, and if there is a clear reason for tech excelling in the experience. We had a discussion at work about this a while back, and I showed my own son’s screen time report that revealed a LOT of hours on his laptop. I think an awareness of the minutes adding up for students is important. Tech is great and can add so much, but a clear assessment of the value of using the tech is critical.
Thank you!
Steve
Hey Steve,
Thanks for your comments!! You’re absolutely right. Design—both tech-related and non-tech-related—is fundamental to creating engaging and memorable student experiences. Addressing screen time, digital distraction, and technology fatigue is crucial. I am seeing it constantly in my classroom and it can be distressing and daunting. Balancing tech use with offline activities and ensuring that technology genuinely enhances learning are essential considerations. Reflecting on the purpose and value of tech integration can help mitigate these issues. What strategies have you found effective in balancing technology use and offline activities in your own teaching practice?
Thanks 🙂
Olivia
Hi Momina, Jasmine and Olivia,
Thank you for a great OER. I really appreciate all of the apps, sites, and tools that I can now use in my teaching practice. I would like to chime in to answer question one: “What skills do educators need to develop to effectively integrate experience design into their teaching practices?”
I feel educators need to be very reflective and flexible so that they can promote positive change using experience design. I envision many teachers who become comfortable in their teaching practices, doing the same lessons with the same medium, simply because it has worked in the past, not because it works now. As you illustrated across your site, especially across your “Changing Classrooms” section, the needs of students are changing; they are becoming harder to engage with practices of the past because of the whirlwind of media influence form things like social media and games.
So, teachers need to be able to be reflective and flexible in order to try something new. To take a minute and realize, “Hmm… This activity is not working as well as it did in the past. What can I introduce in order to make it better?” while also accepting that with change comes unknown outcomes, often times failures, but that these moments are learning opportunities for teachers (and for students!) in order to make the learning better for next time. With these two skills, I feel teachers would be willing to take the risk in experimenting with experience design in their classrooms, accepting that some changes will work, some will not, but in all it will lead to learning opportunities which better teacher practice and learning experiences for students.
Kevin
Hey Kevin!
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I completely agree that being reflective and flexible are crucial skills for educators in integrating experience design into their teaching practices. As you mentioned, the ability to adapt and experiment with new methods is vital in addressing the evolving needs of students influenced by modern media. Your point about viewing failures as learning opportunities is particularly insightful (and something I’m still learning as a teacher!!) and essential for growth in teaching.
Given your perspective, I’d love to know: What specific strategies or tools have you found effective in maintaining this flexibility and reflection in your own teaching practice?
Thanks again,
Olivia
Hello Momina, Jasmine & Olivia,
Thank you for the work on the OER. I enjoyed the practical examples seen throughout the website that I could implement into my teaching. I recently attended a professional learning session, and many of the applications were mentioned, so it was a great refresher.
One of the strategies I’ve used in designing materials is to review and analyze the materials created through a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) viewpoint to see if any guidelines and checkpoints could be implemented further. Another suggestion is to show the material to colleagues and professional learning teams to get feedback and input that could be further used to facilitate information, especially if it will be used department-wide. Working as a team to create usable materials is a great way to optimize teacher preparation time.
Another thing that I did throughout my teaching career was to allow students to create products or showcase their learning in different methods. Giving students the ability to produce alternatives to writing can be beneficial in enabling them to showcase where they are learning, as some of them are challenged or unmotivated by writing. Explicit instructions and diagrams, graphics and visuals can also help learners understand what they need to do. Another suggestion is to digitize materials so students can access them on their own devices and utilize the built-in assistive technology or tools.
Hi Joel,
Thank you for your comments! I think having a strong PLC is vital for Ed tech to determine if a tool is worth while, especially when looking at school wide implementation.
Your example of student work above, is the reason why teachers need to think about what tools they can offer their students to use for their assignments that is more than an essay. Tools need to follow the honeycomb for the variety of users in our classroom before we could ever consider it as an option… because there’s always one student that wants to bite off more than they can chew.
Jasmine
Hi Momina, Jasmine and Olivia,
Thanks for the hard work on the OER. I’m glad we’re generally seeing a greater emphasis on user experience; moving from adapting the user to the application towards adapting the application to the user is a welcome philosophical shift.
Although this program really focuses on the technical side of things, I think the more holistic view of user experience is helpful, in education as elsewhere. When I worked in finance, the “client experience” was a massive focal point. As with many concepts in the corporate world, this one had a useful core before it became an overused buzzword. The best insight was someone pointing out that client experience wasn’t just using a product, but the total of all interactions: the account opening process, customer service, the on hold music and wait times, documents sent in the mail to clients…
In education, we tend to talk a lot about the instructional techniques used but not the other parts of the experience. (NB, I’m generalizing about teacher conversations, inspired by your OER but not directly commenting on it…) Many aspects remain static: class rotations, end of semester exams, bells, attendance. At least some of these can be varied to improve the UX. For example, I visited a school in Australia that played music instead of a using a bell to signal the change of periods, with students having some choice in the songs used. Gave the day a much more sedate and enjoyable feeling, while still doing the intended function of coordinating schedules. Simple change, great results.
Devon
Hi Devon,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. It’s great to see your appreciation for the shift towards a more user-centric approach in education.
Your analogy with the finance sector is very interesting – especially since this is a foreign world for myself and many teachers! Like you said, just as client experience in finance includes all interactions, the user experience in education covers much more than just teaching methods. The example of the Australian school using music instead of bells is a perfect illustration of how small changes can enhance the overall experience. What a cool idea!
I’m curious, based on your experiences in finance and your observations in education, what other changes do you think could improve the user experience in schools? Are there specific practices or ideas from the corporate world that you believe could be successfully adapted to the educational environment?
Thanks again for you thoughtful comments,
Olivia
Hi Olivia,
While finance and the corporate world are justifiably viewed with suspicion, there are definitely positive trends and ideas as well. The best of these are when the interests of the business and the customer are aligned; these mutually beneficial situations are not as rare as some people think. An example that relates to education is the idea of customer choice, especially in how they interact with a company. In the financial sector, options can include going into a physical bank branch, ATM machines, online or telephone based. ATMs may have been viewed critically as a low cost alternative to human staff in bank (likely true) but has benefits for both sides: if I’m doing a simple transaction I prefer the speed of an ATM, but that also leaves staff free to deal with people who want or need a human interaction. Similarly for online or telephone options: some people want the conversational element, others want the visual presentation.
In many ways this echoes the move towards multimodal instruction in education that has driven past the conception of teaching being all about lecturing and note taking. But a key difference is I don’t think we (teachers as a profession) put nearly as much choice in the hands of students. There are select examples, such as choosing a topic for a task, but not the large scale interactions. We may vary between whole class, small group and individual tasks but it’s usually the teacher deciding that. It would be interesting if students could have choices on either taking part in a whole class lecture/discussion or independently reading and working on the same task.
Assessments are an area I’d most like to see this change implemented in. Especially in the higher grades, traditional assessments like exams, essays and lab reports remain dominant for high stakes summatives. Unfortunately many barriers come up besides the students’ understanding of the material: stress and anxiety during tests, working in a second language, time management and distractions at home… Although there cases of teachers using alternative methods, these are often fighting the traditional approaches. Sometimes its locked in habits (my last school insisted on exams from grade 9 and up, regardless of the teacher’s opinion), but not always. During my BEd course one of my (relatively young) colleagues challenged alternative assessments because “that’s not what they’ll see in university.”
As with other questions in education, we’re still sorting out between the pragmatic and the ideal…
Devon
Hi Devon,
Thank you for your insights, again. I am so stuck in the world of education so your perspective is particularly refreshing. Aligning business and customer interests in the financial sector highlights how education could benefit from offering more student choices. Providing options in learning methods and assessments could accommodate diverse preferences and reduce stress. Although traditional practices and university expectations pose challenges, fostering dialogue between educational levels could drive meaningful change. Thank you!
Olivia
Hey Momina, Jasmine & Olivia,
Thank you for this post on UX design. It was deifnitely very comprehensive and included such a variety of digital tools that we use in the classroom. Sometimes I do feel like simplicity is the best, as if we go back in time and continue to use iClickers in all classrooms at UBC, and that we systematize and use something as simple as Plickers with the QR code sheets for classrooms with less availability to technology tools.
I especially enjoyed the component of Teacher vs. Student view, which also mimics in a sense of having a backend versus a frontend, where the layering of UX is so vital for how we operate platforms that are for educational purposes. I feel like this market is always so lacking and that we do need more platforms that can mimic the capabilities of Google Sites, but meet the diverse educational needs of learning.
On an ending note, I wanted to connect this question for thought to a personal anecdote. I always found a distaste for Apple ecoystem OS and UX because of the lack of customisations I was able to make in comparison to Android or Windows. I wonder if, throughout your investigations, were there any issues in conflict with function/choice vs. aesthetics? And ultimately how do the two fronts affect creative thinking or critical thinking? What exactly did you see in some of your research on how these two (often conflicting) objectives of function or aesthetics are best balanced to achieve the greatest learning outcomes?
Hi Alan!
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! Your points on simplicity and tools like iClickers and Plickers highlight the balance between technological accessibility and functionality. We’re glad you found the Teacher vs. Student view discussion was valuable, we were hoping it would!
Regarding function vs. aesthetics – great questions. From the research we did for the OER, we found that customization options empower users, enhancing creativity, while aesthetically pleasing designs boost engagement. For instance, while Apple’s ecosystem is known for its clean design, some users, like yourself, prefer the flexibility and customization options available in other systems like Android or Windows. Nonetheless, a balance is crucial; overemphasis on aesthetics can hinder usability. For educational outcomes, a balanced approach ensures users aren’t distracted by complex interfaces or limited by lack of customization, thus supporting both creative and critical thinking. I’m curious to know which specific features or tools have you found most effective in supporting both creative and critical thinking in the classroom?
Olivia
Hi Momina, Jasmine & Olivia,
Thanks for this week’s OER on User Experience Design.
I believe UX design has always been important, and with the exponential increase in apps and competition, it is even more critical. If an app has poor UX design, users (whether educators or learners) can easily become frustrated, and it is easy for us as users to switch to a competitor that offers a similar product. The number of alternatives is high, and the switching costs are low.
On the topic of costs, would you consider the cost of access (i.e. the dollar value) part of the overall user experience? I bring this up because often with apps, I opt for the free version, but then this often comes with things that negatively impact my user experience such as limited features / functionality or constant ads to upgrade for premium / paid versions. I can only imagine the amount of resources needed to optimize the user experience of an app and it is something that companies should not overlook as a positive user experience is something I believe we have grown to expect. However, are we willing to pay for it? And when talking about educational apps specifically, how does the cost of ensuring a positive user experience affect accessibility?
Hi Shannon,
Thank you for your thoughts!
Cost is definitely a huge attribute to the overall experience of the product. Due to a variety of reasons.
1) Paid versions offer a better UI and UX with the goal of increasing their sales. Which from a business perspective is great.
2) When the trial is great for a product and extremely usable and beneficial, the sudden cost will cause for re-evaluation of the product’s usefulness. For example, I used Quizizz a lot for a week and then found out I had to pay almost $200 to continue to use it because they only have a yearly subscription. So I cancelled it because at the time I was extremely low on cash. As you said, there are so many products that do similar things and sometimes cost is a huge attribute that can either enhance or hinder the user experience.
Jazz
Hi Jazz,
Right, exactly. So in your case, after opting not to pay for the yearly subscription, were you able to find a different app that had a similar product offering?
The challenge seems to be around ensuring a good user experience which is costly, without always passing those costs onto consumers, as this can result in a bad user experience or a loss of a customer altogether. So how do companies do it – maintain or improve the user experience, while offering a cost-effective and accessible product to consumers?
Hi Shannon,
To be honest, I didn’t replace it with anything right away. I just adjusted what I was doing. However, there are several different applications that can build quizzes from videos and documents. I am still debating what to use next year.
Cost is really up to the user, whether they think the application can help them to a high enough degree that it is worth the cost. But again, how do companies determine the cost of their product and determine what people can’t live without in order to attribute a cost to it? I am sure each website/application has their own reasoning…
Jazz