User Experience for Educational Tools

A trial across four universities has worked out when AI feedback helps students, and when it costs them later. Researchers ran a cluster-randomised field experiment with 1,176 first-year science students over 10 weeks. Four conditions: peer feedback only, AI feedback delivered straight away, AI feedback given only after the student had assessed their own work against the rubric, and a hybrid of self-assessment, peer comment and AI critique with a short memo explaining what they accepted and rejected. On the draft in front of them, the AI helped. Straight AI feedback beat peer feedback on argument quality, and the reflective and hybrid designs beat straight AI on the same measure. The gap opened later. Students then sat a supervised argumentation task with no AI and no internet. On that task, the reflective and hybrid designs beat the straight AI condition. The students who had judged their own work first could still do the thinking once the tool was taken away. The penalty for going straight to AI feedback was worst for students with the lowest baseline feedback literacy. The students least equipped to judge a critique were the ones most harmed by receiving it first. What strikes me is how cheap the intervention is. Make the student write down what they think is wrong with their own work before the model says anything. No new licence, no new platform, four minutes of class time. Read the paper for free (open access) here: https://lnkd.in/ew33uv2A #CriticalAILiteracy #HigherEducation #AIinEducation #AILiteracy #SlowAI

Design decisions benefit more from behavioral user experience metrics. Involving your audience in the design process gives you real-time feedback on key aspects of their experience. Tools like Helio can help you capture valuable insights that improve your business KPIs, guided by user experience metrics. Using usability tests and surveys lets you quickly gather qualitative and quantitative user feedback. Behavioral data collected early in the design process helps you understand a design's success. Emotional indicators are usually trailing, as confusion or lack of clarity can lead to drops in sentiment and feelings. Here’s the user feedback you can collect to help refine your design decisions with stakeholders: Usability → Makes sure users can easily and quickly use the product to do what they want. Comprehension → Ensures users understand the product, how it works, and what it can do for them. Engagement → Tracks how often and how long users interact with the product, showing their interest and involvement. Desirability → Checks how attractive and appealing the product is to users, affecting their initial and ongoing interest. Viability → This examines whether the design is practical, sustainable, and aligned with business goals for long-term success. Completion → Measures how often users successfully finish tasks or reach goals, showing how effective the product is. Sentiment → Collects overall feelings and attitudes about the product to understand user satisfaction and loyalty. Feeling → Describes users' emotions when using the product, which can affect their overall experience and willingness to stick around. Response Time → Measures how quickly users responds, affecting user satisfaction and perceived performance. Reaction → Captures users' immediate emotional responses, providing quick insights into their first impressions and perceptions. Considering user experience in each design decision offers many benefits: It makes decisions clearer for stakeholders, speeds up decision-making, quickly identifies user pain points, and establishes a baseline for ongoing improvement. We use these metrics to help us improve business results using iterative design and continuous research. What are your thoughts? #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

🧵 FEEDBACK! Feedback should guide students toward improvement, be clear and specific, and encourage action. Here's a breakdown of key strategies to make the feedback process more impactful and move students forward! 🎯 **Make Feedback Specific**: Avoid generic comments like "good work" or "needs improvement." Be precise and clear. For example, “Your analysis is strong because you used…” This approach helps students understand exactly what they did well or need to improve. 🔍 **Make Feedback Understandable, Helpful, and Actionable**: Kate Jones explains that teacher must ensure students grasp the feedback and know how to improve. 1. Understandable: Do pupils understand the feedback? Do they understand what they need to do to improve? 2. Helpful: If the feedback isn't helping the learner move forwards and progress with their learning, then the feedback is not effective. 3. Actionable: Can pupils act on the feedback? Teachers should provide a task and time to respond and act on all feedback provided. ✍️ **Give Formative Feedback**: Focus on providing feedback that guides learning rather than just grading. Use Michael Chiles FCCT Goldilocks method—provide just enough feedback to be helpful without overwhelming students. Encourage them to think about how they can apply the feedback. 👥 **Provide Whole Class Feedback**: Analyse common patterns in student work and address them with the entire class. This helps tackle widespread issues and provides all students with actionable steps for improvement. 🕵️ **Turn Feedback into a Detective Work**: Challenge students to engage with their feedback by turning it into a puzzle or what Dylan Wiliam calls ‘detective work’. This approach challenges students to fix errors in their work and helps them internalise the feedback more effectively. 🙇 **Ensure Feedback is Actionable**: Feedback should encourage students to “think hard” (Robert Coe) Use Tom Sherrington’s 5 R's approach. These steps help students take concrete actions to improve their learning. 1. Redraft or Redo: Go back and edit specific areas. 2. Rehearse or Repeat: Go back and practise to master specific skills. 3. Revisit or Respond: Go back and answer similar practice questions. 4. Relearn or Retest: Go back to consolidate understanding of previous content. 5. Research or Record: Go back to develop work further with extensive research. ⚖️ **Reduce Workload with Dylan Wiliam’s 4 Quarters Marking Method**: Split your feedback time into four equal parts: 25% Mark in Detail: Provide specific, actionable feedback. 25% Peer Assess: Students assess each other’s work under supervision. 25% Skim Mark: Look for common errors and patterns (WCF). 25% Self Assess: Students evaluate their own work, building independence. 🤝 **Peer Feedback**: Teach and scaffold how to ‘Kind’, ‘Specific’ and ‘Helpful’ language to support students with delivering formative feedback to their peers. Provide examples of effective feedback and model the process.

1. Foundational Research (Understanding the problem & users) User Interviews – Talking to potential or existing users to learn about their needs, challenges, and habits. Surveys & Questionnaires – Collecting quantitative and qualitative insights from a larger audience. Contextual Inquiry – Observing users in their natural environment while they use similar products or perform relevant tasks. Stakeholder Interviews – Understanding business goals, constraints, and expectations from the project. --- 2. Exploratory Research (Discovering opportunities) Market & Competitor Analysis – Studying similar products to identify gaps and best practices. Persona Creation – Summarizing different user types with their goals, frustrations, and preferences. Customer Journey Mapping – Visualizing a user’s end-to-end interaction with the product. --- 3. Generative Research (Shaping ideas) Brainstorming & Co‑Creation Workshops – Collaborating with stakeholders and users to ideate solutions. Task Analysis – Breaking down how users accomplish key tasks to find pain points. --- 4. Evaluative Research (Testing and improving designs) Usability Testing – Asking users to perform tasks on a prototype or live product to spot friction points. A/B Testing – Comparing two design variations to see which performs better. Card Sorting – Understanding how users group information to improve navigation and information architecture. Tree Testing – Testing the hierarchy and structure of menus before final design. Eye-Tracking Studies – Observing where users visually focus to optimize layout and hierarchy. --- 5. Continuous Feedback & Analytics (Post-launch improvement) Heatmaps & Click Tracking – Seeing where users interact most. Analytics Review – Studying user behavior data (bounce rates, session times, funnels). Feedback Forms & Support Tickets – Gathering ongoing user feedback to refine the product.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 🗣️ Ever feel like your Learning and Development (L&D) programs are missing the mark? You're not alone. One of the biggest pitfalls in L&D is the lack of mechanisms for collecting and acting on employee feedback. Without this crucial component, your initiatives may fail to address the real needs and preferences of your team, leaving them disengaged and underprepared. 📌 And here's the kicker—if you ignore this, your L&D efforts risk becoming irrelevant, wasting valuable resources, and ultimately failing to develop the skills your workforce truly needs. But don't worry—there’s a straightforward fix: integrate feedback loops into your L&D programs. Here’s a clear plan to get started: 📝 Surveys and Questionnaires: Regularly distribute surveys and questionnaires to gather insights on what’s working and what isn’t. Keep them short and focused to maximize response rates and actionable feedback. 📝 Focus Groups: Organize small focus groups to dive deeper into specific issues. This setting allows for more detailed discussions and nuanced understanding of employee needs and preferences. 📝 Real-Time Polling: Use real-time polling tools during training sessions to gauge immediate reactions and make on-the-fly adjustments. This keeps the learning experience dynamic and responsive. 📝 One-on-One Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews with a diverse cross-section of employees to get a more personal and detailed perspective. This can uncover insights that broader surveys might miss. 📝 Anonymous Feedback Channels: Ensure there are anonymous ways for employees to provide feedback. This encourages honesty and helps identify issues that employees might be hesitant to discuss openly. 📝 Feedback Integration: Don’t just collect feedback—act on it. Regularly review the feedback and make necessary adjustments to your L&D programs. Communicate these changes to employees to show that their input is valued and acted upon. 📝 Continuous Monitoring: Use analytics tools to continuously monitor engagement and performance metrics. This provides ongoing data to help refine and improve your L&D initiatives. Integrating these feedback mechanisms will not only enhance the effectiveness of your L&D programs but also boost employee engagement and satisfaction. When employees see that their feedback leads to tangible changes, they are more likely to be invested in the learning process. Have any innovative ways to incorporate feedback into L&D? Drop your tips in the comments! ⬇️ #LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #ContinuousImprovement #FeedbackLoop #ProfessionalDevelopment #TrainingInnovation

Recently, I conducted user testing for some exciting projects at Stanford, and decided to share some insights. This post feels especially personal because it’s not just about design—it’s about my journey as both a student and a designer. When I first came to Stanford as an international student, I struggled with navigating its complex academic systems. It was frustrating, and I remember wishing for tools that could make things simpler and more intuitive. Fast forward to today, and I have the incredible opportunity to work on improving those very systems—side by side with current students. Listening to their frustrations during user testing brings back so many of my own memories. It’s a full-circle moment, where my past experiences fuel my passion to make these tools better for everyone. Here are some interesting insights: • 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Users often approach academic tools with mental models shaped by other apps or systems they use. Identifying and aligning with these expectations can significantly reduce confusion and improve engagement. • 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿: Academic tools are often used in high-pressure moments (e.g., enrollment deadlines). Testing revealed that reducing friction in the interface during these times significantly improves the overall experience. • 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Today’s students expect tools to adapt to their preferences, like saving search filters or suggesting classes based on their academic history. • 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: Students value clear, visual representations of information, such as progress bars for degree completion or graphs showing their weekly workload distribution. • 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Designing for inclusivity means accounting for diverse backgrounds, from non-traditional students to those who are the first in their family to attend college. • 𝗜𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱: Even after a design seems polished, user testing consistently uncovers areas for refinement, proving that the design process is never truly finished. User testing can be really challenging but truly rewarding in the end. I decided to share these moments to contribute to a community that’s all about learning and growing together. If you’ve got user testing stories or tips, I’d love to hear them—let’s inspire each other! #UXDesign #UIDesign #UserTesting #HumanCenteredDesign #DesignForEducation

My approach to addressing user experience challenges involves several steps ⤵️ 1. Understanding User Needs: Conduct user research to understand the goals and pain points of the target audience. Utilize interviews, surveys, and usability testing to gather insights. 2. Collaboration and Alignment: Work closely with cross-functional teams such as product management, engineering, and customer support to align on user goals and prioritize UX issues. 3. Data Analysis: Analyze user data to understand behavior patterns. Look at analytics, feedback, and support tickets to identify areas where users are struggling. 4. Ideation and Sketching: Encourage brainstorming sessions and sketching to come up with creative solutions. Focus on solving the real problems and not just the symptoms. 5. Creating User Journeys and Wireframes: Develop user flows to understand how users will interact with the product. Create wireframes to visualize the structure of the interface. 6. Prototyping and Testing: Create high-fidelity prototypes that simulate the final product. Conduct usability testing to validate design decisions and uncover issues. 7. Iterative Design: Use feedback from usability testing to refine the design. UX is an ongoing process; be prepared to iterate based on user feedback and changing needs. 8. Implementation Support: Assist the development team during implementation to ensure that the design is translated accurately into the final product. 9. Post-Release Analysis: Once the product is released, continue to monitor user feedback and analytics. Be proactive in identifying new challenges and opportunities for improvement. 10. Educate and Advocate: Constantly educate stakeholders on the importance of UX and advocate for resources and prioritization of UX initiatives. This cyclical approach helps in creating a product that not only meets user needs but also adapts to changes and continuously improves over time. #ux #strategy #userexperience #innovations

What users say isn't always what they think. This gap can mess up your design decisions. Here's why it happens: → Social desirability bias. → Fear of judgment. → Cognitive dissonance. → Lack of self-awareness. → Simple politeness. These factors lead to misinterpretation of user needs. Designers might miss critical usability issues. Products could fail to meet user expectations. Accurate feedback becomes hard to get. Biased data affects design choices. To overcome this, try these strategies: 1. Create a comfortable environment: Make users feel at ease. Comfort encourages honesty. 2. Encourage thinking aloud: Ask users to verbalize thoughts. This reveals their true feelings. 3. Use indirect questions: Avoid direct queries. Indirect questions uncover hidden truths. 4. Observe non-verbal cues: Watch body language. It often tells more than words. 5. Triangulate data: Use multiple data sources. This ensures a complete picture. 6. Foster honest feedback: Build trust with users. Trust leads to genuine responses. 7. Analyze discrepancies: Compare what users say and do. Identify and understand the gaps. 8. Iterate based on findings: Refine your design. Continuous improvement is key. 9. Stay aware of biases: Recognize potential biases. Work to minimize their impact. 10. Keep testing: Regular testing ensures alignment. Stay connected with user needs. By following these steps, designers can bridge the gap between user thoughts and statements. This leads to better products and happier users.

We don’t guess what users want we ask… That’s how we build digital products users rely on. Here’s how we make feedback the superpower behind great UX 👇  Step 1: Listen Deeply We run: ‣ 1:1 user interviews ‣ In-app surveys & session recordings ‣ Live usability testing  Step 2: Turn Chaos into Clarity We map raw feedback into themes: ‣ Usability issues (e.g. confusing navigation) ‣ Feature gaps (e.g. missing integrations) ‣ Friction points (e.g. slow checkout) Step 3: Design, Test, Validate We co-create with your team: ‣ Interactive prototypes (Figma) ‣ Real user validation before dev ‣ Accessibility & performance checks  Step 4: Ship Fast, Measure Faster Every improvement is: ✔️ A/B tested ✔️ Backed by analytics ✔️ Tied to measurable ROI Who This Helps ‣ SaaS & Tech → Reduce churn, improve onboarding ‣ Fintech → Simplify UX, boost adoption ‣ Healthcare → Design for clarity & trust ‣ Enterprise tools → Optimize internal workflows What You Get ✅ UX audit + feedback dashboard ✅ High-fidelity mockups & tested flows ✅ Real user insights + recordings ✅ Optional: Monthly UX performance reports 💡 User feedback is the fastest way to build what people love. Let’s make it part of your product growth strategy.

I’m obsessed with effective eLearning. But when I started, I didn't know how crucial user testing was. Learn from my journey. 11 essential steps to apply user testing for eLearning: 1. Define Clear Objectives Know what you want to achieve with user testing. Set specific goals to measure success. Without clear objectives, you can't track progress. 2. Identify Your Target Audience Understand who will use your eLearning content. Gather information about their needs and preferences. This helps tailor the user testing process. 3. Create Realistic Scenarios Develop scenarios that mimic real-life situations. Test users should face challenges similar to what they will encounter. Realistic scenarios provide valuable insights. 4. Select the Right Users Choose a diverse group of users for testing. Include users with different skill levels and backgrounds. Diverse feedback leads to comprehensive improvements. 5. Prepare Test Materials Ensure all necessary materials are ready for testing. This includes instructions, tasks, and any required resources. Well-prepared materials streamline the testing process. 6. Conduct a Pilot Test Run a small-scale test before the main session. Identify and fix any issues in the testing process. Pilot tests save time and improve accuracy. 7. Observe and Record Watch users as they interact with your eLearning content. Take detailed notes and record their actions. Observation reveals usability issues and user behavior. 8. Collect User Feedback Ask users for their thoughts and opinions. Use surveys, interviews, or feedback forms. User feedback highlights areas for improvement. 9. Analyze the Data Review all collected data thoroughly. Look for patterns and common issues. Data analysis guides the refinement process. 10. Implement Changes Make necessary adjustments based on user feedback. Prioritize changes that enhance user experience. Continuous improvement is key to effective eLearning. 11. Iterate and Test Again User testing is an ongoing process. Repeat the steps to refine your content further. Iterative testing ensures optimal eLearning performance. Do you perform user testing? What would you add to my list?