Reflection on UX Design for Learning

A Reflection Paper on a Course in UX Design for Learning

One of my childhood dreams and desires is to be in a position where I can help solve problems. I find problem-solving to be challenging and rewarding and has always wanted to pursue a career that involves problem-solving. My desire to be a problem-solver influenced the decision to undertake the course in UX design for learning. The course has given me significant insights into designing learning experiences using digital user interfaces. I believe that this course has equipped me with the necessary skills and competencies that make me a valuable asset to my future employers.

Lessons and Achievements from the Course

The most important thing I learned from this course is how to use digital interfaces to design learning experiences that enable one to learn something. I believe that this is the most important thing I learned from the course because it was the premise for my final project. To demonstrate what I learned from the course, my final project involved the application of the principles and processes of user experience (UX) design to develop a meaningful learning experience. This was based on the idea that the use of images to improve learning is well-documented in learning theories and research. In this regard, concepts are easily understood when verbal and visual elements are combined as shown in Dual-Coding Theory (Clark & Paivio, 1991). By working on a project to promote the use of visual aids in learning, I developed competencies and skills in the use of digital user interfaces to improve learning.

Based on the most important thing I learned in the course, one of my achievements in this educational experience is the successful development of a digital interface to promote learning. Using knowledge obtained from the course, I developed an OER design problem on Unsplash, an image-sharing platform that allows users to use the creative license to utilize pictures for personal and commercial reasons. Through the project, I developed a design that would transform Unsplash from a simple, uncomplicated experience to a platform that supports all 5 R’s of OER activities i.e. retain, reuse, redistribute, remix, and revise (Wiley & Hilton, 2018). Secondly, through the course, I have learned how to transform a user-centered design into a learner-centered design. I can easily apply relevant concepts of UX design to transform user-centered designs into learner-centered ones.

Group-project, Prototype, and User Test

As part of the course, I worked with other team members in designing the group project. While we successfully achieved our goal, designing the group project was characterized by some challenges including the divergence of opinions. Each group member had different views regarding the design elements for the project resulting in collaboration challenges (Devkar, 2020). The other challenges we faced included wireframing and UI prototyping, discrepancies between design and development, interaction design, and visual communication. Despite these challenges, we enjoyed working together in the group. We overcame the challenges through conducting extensive research, consistent contact with each other, and collaboration on our needs, thoughts, concerns, and workload.

Prototype and user tests were critical aspects of the OER project as they enabled us to identify problems and areas requiring improvement before developing the final product. Prototyping enabled us to validate the decisions we made about the product and harmonize our varying ideas regarding design elements. We used the prototype to get preliminary user feedback regarding the design concept and interactions. Therefore, prototyping and user tests enabled us to make necessary changes before developing a final product that would meet the needs and expectations of users.

Peer Interaction, Group Contracts, and Group Evaluation

The completion of the project involved working together throughout the entire process. As a group, we collaborated through peer interaction, which involved weekly discussion, peer review, and group collaboration. Peer interaction was a critical part in working together and maintaining constant contact throughout the project. Peer interaction helped me to learn from others by promoting transparency on our thoughts, needs, concerns, and workload. Through peer interaction, I learned aspects of project design that were not obvious to me. For example, during prototyping group members provided more insights into the design, which I had not seen. In addition, during user testing, group members shared their views based on their personal interactions with the product. Peer interaction enhanced my participation in the collaborative knowledge building process by allowing me to become an active member of the learning community.

Each of the three people in my group signed up a group contract at the end of week 2, which was essential in collaborative learning in the course. The contract served as a guide for our collaboration throughout the semester. It provided guidance on how we shared new ideas, thoughts, and concerns regarding the project. The group contract helped to clarify the roles of each team member and ensured that everyone played a part in the creation of the design. By clarifying the role of each team member, it helped in sharing the workload among the members and ensured that we work as a team.

We carried out group evaluation and peer evaluation in the middle and end of the semester respectively. Group evaluation in the middle of the semester provided a platform to examine individual progress in the collaborative learning process and completion of the project. It was an essential part of assessing the knowledge and skills of each group member and enabled us to identify how to support each other when working on the final project. On the other hand, peer evaluation at the end of the semester improved the collaborative learning experience by demonstrating how each member understood the concepts taught in the classroom. Peer evaluation helped to determine changes in one’s understanding of UX design for learning before and after undertaking the course. It was essentially a platform through which feedback regarding course concepts and the overall learning experience was provided.

Course Assignments and Changes in Understanding

The Sketchy Tool is one of the course assignments that helped me to develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. This assignment helped me to develop these skills by requiring me to develop a sketchy idea and demonstrate how it could be used in the classroom. For instance, when completing this assignment, I had to design and redraw different features and participate in a group discussion. In addition, I participated in a wide range of learning activities such as readings, discussions, reflections, self-paced online tutoring, critical analysis, class presentations, and hands-on activity. These activities helped me to develop critical thinking skills while learning from others in my group and in the class. Through these activities, I learned how to construct and manage my own learning and become a knowledge-generator.

This course has changed my understanding of user experience design for learning. Prior to undertaking the course, my understanding of technological tools in education was primarily limited to user-centered experience. However, the course has enabled me to learn that technological tools can be used to promote learner-centered experiences. I have come to learn that while both user-centered and learner-centered designs are learning approaches, they have inherent differences. User experience design is essentially a platform used by end-users to meet various needs and expectations while learner-centered design supports the skills of the end-users or provides digital experiences with an educational purpose (Peters, 2012). The user-centered design focuses on the usability of the platform by end-users but when applied to learning, it seeks to enhance their skills (Hogle, 2016). For example, learner-centered design is developed in a manner that supports all 5 R’s of OER activities whereas user-centered design is a simple platform that could be intuitive. User experience design for learning incorporates appropriate verbal and visual elements that not only lessen cognitive overload but also promote effective chunking for learning purposes (Tharby, 2019).