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 Rs 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,...…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 Rs 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).

In conclusion, this course in UX design for learning has enhanced my skills in the use of technological tools in the field of education. I currently do not have any suggestions for improvements to the course. I believe that the course promotes the development of necessary skills and competencies to improve the use of technological platforms in education. However, more focus could be given to the relevance of the 5 Rs of the OER design platform to enhance the overall learning experience. By giving more focus to…