Slides for a masterclass on "Forever User-Centred, The GDS Way" facilitated by Karl Orsborn, Wunder and held at the IWMW 2018 event which took place at the University of York on 11-13 July 2018.
See http://iwmw.org/iwmw2018/talks/forever-user-centred-the-gds-way/
Reimagining Your Website: What are prospective students looking for and how a...Dave Olsen
Review insights from the 2016 Ruffalo Noel Levitz E-expectations Report and discover tips and tools for implementing these strategies across your websites.
These slides use concepts from my (Jeff Funk) course entitled Biz Models for Hi-Tech Products to analyze the business model for Coursera. Coursera offers massive open online courses and thus challenges the current business models of most universities. It offers these online courses to its students and to the students of other universities. By using courses that have been developed by universities and other organizations and by offering these courses to thousands if not millions of potential customers, Coursera has much lower costs per course and per student than do conventional universities. These slides analyze the challenges for Coursera and the potential solutions in the form of customer selection, value proposition, and method of value capture.
Attracting Manufacturing Talent: How the Dream It. Do It. Recruitment Strateg...360mnbsu
In Minnesota, only 2 percent of high school students express an interest in manufacturing careers while Minnesota manufacturing businesses post 27,000 manufacturing job openings every four months. This presentation showed how the nationally organized Dream It. Do It. recruitment strategy is being utilized in Minnesota by 360, a manufacturing-based center of excellence. Strategies and resources will be described and shared to help others consider how they present manufacturing as a career of choice. Best practices from across the national Dream It. Do It. network were also shared.
Presented by Jaimee Meyer, Dream It. Do It. MN Executive Director and Jessica Gehrke, 360 Communications Specialist at the 2015 HI-TEC Conference in Portland, OR
Reimagining Your Website: What are prospective students looking for and how a...Dave Olsen
Review insights from the 2016 Ruffalo Noel Levitz E-expectations Report and discover tips and tools for implementing these strategies across your websites.
These slides use concepts from my (Jeff Funk) course entitled Biz Models for Hi-Tech Products to analyze the business model for Coursera. Coursera offers massive open online courses and thus challenges the current business models of most universities. It offers these online courses to its students and to the students of other universities. By using courses that have been developed by universities and other organizations and by offering these courses to thousands if not millions of potential customers, Coursera has much lower costs per course and per student than do conventional universities. These slides analyze the challenges for Coursera and the potential solutions in the form of customer selection, value proposition, and method of value capture.
Attracting Manufacturing Talent: How the Dream It. Do It. Recruitment Strateg...360mnbsu
In Minnesota, only 2 percent of high school students express an interest in manufacturing careers while Minnesota manufacturing businesses post 27,000 manufacturing job openings every four months. This presentation showed how the nationally organized Dream It. Do It. recruitment strategy is being utilized in Minnesota by 360, a manufacturing-based center of excellence. Strategies and resources will be described and shared to help others consider how they present manufacturing as a career of choice. Best practices from across the national Dream It. Do It. network were also shared.
Presented by Jaimee Meyer, Dream It. Do It. MN Executive Director and Jessica Gehrke, 360 Communications Specialist at the 2015 HI-TEC Conference in Portland, OR
Improving the User Journey with UX Research & PersonalizationAcquia
Personalization is gaining traction with marketers today because it allows companies to better communicate and engage with their target audiences.
However, implementing a content strategy for different audiences, without multiplying your content creation efforts is a huge challenge. So how do you personalize your messaging efficiently?
Join our webinar as we address these challenges. We’ll also highlight a case study that demonstrates how personalized content helped a university communicate with both students & the broader public.
You’ll learn how to:
- Begin defining and prioritizing your audiences
- Create a content strategy that speaks to your audiences
- Identify what content to personalize & strategies needed to create, test, and improve your content over time
International Student Recruitment: Best Practice Website FeaturesBob Johnson, Ph.D.
Review of 19 website features for international student recruitment from colleges and universities in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States.
Majors, degrees and programs – these are the products that colleges and universities offer, and the act of earning a degree is a life-changing experience for most people.
Why, then, are so many major, program and degree pages on .edu sites so long, lackluster or lifeless?
This session – originally presented at HighEdWeb 2014 in Portland – focused on creating a better user experience in a place that matters to almost every prospective student: major, degree and program pages.
Behind the Build: Create a Career Readiness Platform for Any Student, Any WhereEmily Kennelly
Kennelly, E., & Roark, K. (2020, June). Behind the Build: Designing a Low Cost Career Readiness Platform for Any Student, Anywhere. National Association of Colleges and Employers. 2020 Virtual Conference.
Presenting the MDE-UMUC/HBMeU cooperative programsStella Porto
Presentation of the recent dual award degrees result from the cooperation between the Master of Distance Education & E-Learning from UMUC, with the Distance Learning masters programs at HBMeU, Dubai, UAE.
Tnc21: Combining waves of innovation. A superposition for student mobility.Frans Ward
This presentation will address the SURF approach to enhanced flexibility in education. Rather than focus on one particular element or project a better understanding is achieved by looking at the big picture.
Strategic brief published by Adobe. What is digital literacy and how is it useful within the higher education landscape? What should students learn and how are schools preparing them for the 21st century.
Twitter is widely used by undergraduate students, and this presentation offers a case study of its adoption to support students on three undergraduate modules. It considers the use of Twitter in-class to facilitate discussion, feedback and collaboration, particularly in large-group teaching, where discussion can be difficult to initiate and make inclusive. It also shows how Twitter provides great opportunities to extend traditional classroom boundaries, considering two ways in which this is so. First, it offers a replacement to email communication that promotes more collaborative, dialogue-based interaction, closer to that which occurs within the face-to-face classroom environment. Second, in so doing, it provides enhanced opportunities for continuous student feedback and intervention-based support. In short, we will see how Twitter encourages student engagement within and between classes, promoting students’ self-led, peer-supported learning.
Digital student - understanding students' expectations and experience of the ...ELESIGpresentations
Presentation from the JISC Digital Student project team: Helen Beetham, Dave White, Sarah Knight and Paul Bailey.
At ELESIG/JISC Digital Student Symposium, 26 March 2014
How evolving access needs for research is redefining the library role - Jisc ...Jisc
Eduserv has conducted worldwide research into the challenges faced by librarians around management of access to online resources.
The survey carried out with over 500 research librarians covers the academic, healthcare, government and corporate sectors worldwide with the majority of responses being from Europe and North America.
This session set out the findings of the research, showing the challenges and opportunities faced by research librarians around access management.
What Works and What Doesn’t in Online/Hybrid TeachingPhil Hill
Hill slides lms 20160531
This workshop will present an overview of online/hybrid best practices that can promote successful learning experiences, including planning and management, teaching techniques, and assessing and evaluating students.
Improving the User Journey with UX Research & PersonalizationAcquia
Personalization is gaining traction with marketers today because it allows companies to better communicate and engage with their target audiences.
However, implementing a content strategy for different audiences, without multiplying your content creation efforts is a huge challenge. So how do you personalize your messaging efficiently?
Join our webinar as we address these challenges. We’ll also highlight a case study that demonstrates how personalized content helped a university communicate with both students & the broader public.
You’ll learn how to:
- Begin defining and prioritizing your audiences
- Create a content strategy that speaks to your audiences
- Identify what content to personalize & strategies needed to create, test, and improve your content over time
International Student Recruitment: Best Practice Website FeaturesBob Johnson, Ph.D.
Review of 19 website features for international student recruitment from colleges and universities in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States.
Majors, degrees and programs – these are the products that colleges and universities offer, and the act of earning a degree is a life-changing experience for most people.
Why, then, are so many major, program and degree pages on .edu sites so long, lackluster or lifeless?
This session – originally presented at HighEdWeb 2014 in Portland – focused on creating a better user experience in a place that matters to almost every prospective student: major, degree and program pages.
Behind the Build: Create a Career Readiness Platform for Any Student, Any WhereEmily Kennelly
Kennelly, E., & Roark, K. (2020, June). Behind the Build: Designing a Low Cost Career Readiness Platform for Any Student, Anywhere. National Association of Colleges and Employers. 2020 Virtual Conference.
Presenting the MDE-UMUC/HBMeU cooperative programsStella Porto
Presentation of the recent dual award degrees result from the cooperation between the Master of Distance Education & E-Learning from UMUC, with the Distance Learning masters programs at HBMeU, Dubai, UAE.
Tnc21: Combining waves of innovation. A superposition for student mobility.Frans Ward
This presentation will address the SURF approach to enhanced flexibility in education. Rather than focus on one particular element or project a better understanding is achieved by looking at the big picture.
Strategic brief published by Adobe. What is digital literacy and how is it useful within the higher education landscape? What should students learn and how are schools preparing them for the 21st century.
Twitter is widely used by undergraduate students, and this presentation offers a case study of its adoption to support students on three undergraduate modules. It considers the use of Twitter in-class to facilitate discussion, feedback and collaboration, particularly in large-group teaching, where discussion can be difficult to initiate and make inclusive. It also shows how Twitter provides great opportunities to extend traditional classroom boundaries, considering two ways in which this is so. First, it offers a replacement to email communication that promotes more collaborative, dialogue-based interaction, closer to that which occurs within the face-to-face classroom environment. Second, in so doing, it provides enhanced opportunities for continuous student feedback and intervention-based support. In short, we will see how Twitter encourages student engagement within and between classes, promoting students’ self-led, peer-supported learning.
Digital student - understanding students' expectations and experience of the ...ELESIGpresentations
Presentation from the JISC Digital Student project team: Helen Beetham, Dave White, Sarah Knight and Paul Bailey.
At ELESIG/JISC Digital Student Symposium, 26 March 2014
How evolving access needs for research is redefining the library role - Jisc ...Jisc
Eduserv has conducted worldwide research into the challenges faced by librarians around management of access to online resources.
The survey carried out with over 500 research librarians covers the academic, healthcare, government and corporate sectors worldwide with the majority of responses being from Europe and North America.
This session set out the findings of the research, showing the challenges and opportunities faced by research librarians around access management.
What Works and What Doesn’t in Online/Hybrid TeachingPhil Hill
Hill slides lms 20160531
This workshop will present an overview of online/hybrid best practices that can promote successful learning experiences, including planning and management, teaching techniques, and assessing and evaluating students.
Forging Successful Learning Centers: Critical Considerations and Evidence-Bas...Lisa D'Adamo-Weinstein
Forging Successful Learning Centers: Critical Considerations and Evidence-Based Practices for New LC Directors
Presented at NCLCA 2021 Annual Conference
Stepping into an LC leadership role and feeling overwhelmed about how to focus your efforts? Join members of the NCLCA Past Presidents Council for an in-depth exploration of evidence-based best practices that will help you improve the infrastructure and operations of your center.
Breakout groups will allow you to begin forging concrete plans in critical areas, including LC programs and services, utilization of online tools and technology, assessment and evaluation, professional development, and budgets and revenue generation.
Co-presented with NCLCA Past President's Council members Geoff Bailey, Lindy Coleman, Lisa D'Adamo-Weinstein, Jenny Haley, and Laura Sanders as part of the National College Learning Center Association (NCLCA) 47th Annual Conference. Birmingham, AL and online.
Centennial College is presenting this interactive "how to" session for Higher Education Professionals at the 2014 Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) Conference in Ottawa, Canada.
· Gain strategies for planning, promoting and hosting chat events that support recruitment such as: Skype Conferences with High School and University Classrooms Internationally, Virtual College Fairs, Webinars, live chat at in person fairs
· Get ready to solve seating limitations and remove barriers to participation by broadcasting International Student Services workshops online for free (Google Hangouts on Air, Google Classrooms)
· Improve pre-arrival communication procedures and helps welcome, support and engage new and potential international students.
· Design an inclusive live chat program that supports outreach to groups with specific needs.
Online Connections: Successful International Student Recruitment via Virtual ...Marty Bennett
Virtual international student recruitment fairs continue to grow in size and scope. This presentation provides examples of how US institutions maximize online opportunities to engage students throughout the enrollment funnel. Includes best practices & current initiatives of EducationUSA, CollegeWeekLive, Oregon State University, and the University of Colorado-Denver.
Overview of Effective Learning Analytics Using data and analytics to support ...Bart Rienties
Begona Nunez-Herran and Kevin Mayles (Data and Student Analytics), Rebecca Ward (Data Strategy and Governance)
-Move towards centralised LA data infrastructure
-Data governance and lessons learned
Prof Bart Rienties & PhD students (Institute of Educational Technology)
-What is the latest “blue sky” learning analytics research from the OU?
-Rogers Kalissa: Social Learning Analytics to support teaching (University of Oslo)
-Saman Rizvi: Cultural impact of MOOC learning (IET)
-Shi Min Chua: Why does no one reply to my posts (IET/WELS)
-Maina Korir: Ethics and LA (IET)
-Anna Gillespie: Predictive Learning Analytics and role of tutors (EdD)
Prof John Domingue (Knowledge Media Institute) & Dr Thea Herodotou (IET)
-What have we learned from 5 years of large scale implementation of OU Analyse?
-Where is LA/AI going?
Building a Global Community of Connected Students, from Classroom to CareerCognizant
IDP seized the opportunity to support its customers at every stage of the international education journey – from searching for and attending a university, to career services and lifelong learning — with personalized, relevant content.
The application of technology enhanced learning to enhance the ‘student learning journey’, was a presentation to the staff of the University of South Africa on Tuesday 16 September 201
SCUP 2018 Annual Meeting: Ending the Runaround brightspot
Director Adam Griff, Dick Minturn (University of Virginia), and Robert Nalls (Nalls Architecture) presented “Ending the runaround: Creating a one-stop-shop for student advising” at SCUP's 2018 Annual Conference. Using UVA’s vision for Total
Advising as a case study they walked attendees through how to create a more effective and operationally efficient student experience by bringing distinct partners together.
EDUCAUSE Annual Conference 2021: Digital Transformation to Create a Coordinat...brightspot
brightspot worked with Ohio University to answer these questions and helped them better understand and improve their student experience. Our holistic approach considered courses, student services, technology, facilities, community, and campus culture through an engaging and inclusive process.
In our session, Digital Transformation to Create a Coordinated, Compelling Student Experience, Maggie Walsh and Elliot Felix (brightspot) and Chris Ament and Brian Bowe (Ohio University) discuss our work together and share lessons learned that can be applied at your institution.
Presentation given for the National College Learning Center Association
In these unprecedented times, the face of higher education is rapidly changing, and our learning centers must adapt to find ways to help our students (the privileged and underprivileged) engage effectively with technology. The realities of how we support students and the services we offer them must adapt to the current shifts to online learning in their content courses. We must expand upon existing online services and/or develop new ones. We must also support/train our staff members to manage the new ways in which our learning centers must operate.
Learning centers professionals are going to have to think of ways to deliver services 100% online. We need to think about our staff (students and professionals) and how we train them as well as the ways in which we engage our students who might be struggling with the demands of shifting to new modes of learning. Join this evolving conversation in one or both webinars:
Part 1 - Identifying Immediate Needs - this week (3/20/2020)
How we can triage and respond in real time to a rapidly evolving change to our operations?
Part 2 - Planning for the Long-term - next week (3/27/2020)
How do we reflect, assess, resource for sustainability, and plan for future change?
The app is about helping students take the right career decisions by providing advices from industry leaders, senior students and career counselors. It will also keep students updated about upcoming exams, provide information on study resources and guides, help parents track their child's performance real-time.
Debate on "The house believes that the future of Web in UK Higher and Further Education communities lies in the adoption of open source software" at IWMW 2002.
Panel session on “Avoiding Portal Wars” given at the IWMW 2002 event.
See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2002/talks/panel/
This is a presentation by Dada Robert in a Your Skill Boost masterclass organised by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS) on Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th of May 2024.
He discussed the concept of quality improvement, emphasizing its applicability to various aspects of life, including personal, project, and program improvements. He defined quality as doing the right thing at the right time in the right way to achieve the best possible results and discussed the concept of the "gap" between what we know and what we do, and how this gap represents the areas we need to improve. He explained the scientific approach to quality improvement, which involves systematic performance analysis, testing and learning, and implementing change ideas. He also highlighted the importance of client focus and a team approach to quality improvement.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
Synthetic Fiber Construction in lab .pptxPavel ( NSTU)
Synthetic fiber production is a fascinating and complex field that blends chemistry, engineering, and environmental science. By understanding these aspects, students can gain a comprehensive view of synthetic fiber production, its impact on society and the environment, and the potential for future innovations. Synthetic fibers play a crucial role in modern society, impacting various aspects of daily life, industry, and the environment. ynthetic fibers are integral to modern life, offering a range of benefits from cost-effectiveness and versatility to innovative applications and performance characteristics. While they pose environmental challenges, ongoing research and development aim to create more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Understanding the importance of synthetic fibers helps in appreciating their role in the economy, industry, and daily life, while also emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and innovation.
2. ● About Wunder
● The GDS approach
● Challenges universities face
● Challenges students face
● Design challenge
○ User research
○ Creating personas (then a coffee break!)
○ Writing user needs
○ Prototyping
AGENDA
4. WE ARE WUNDER
We are a full service digital agency that
designs, builds and optimises digital
solutions.
With our unique blend of continuous digital
development, user research, and agile
coaching, we have the power to grow,
retain and engage with our clients.
We have over 160 specialists working across
9 offices in 5 countries, including UK,
Germany, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.
https://wunder.io/
5. Digital Consulting
OUR SERVICES
UX & Service
Design
Solutions
Development
Continuous
Improvement
Discovery
Performance Audits
User Research
Digital Consulting
UX Strategy
Content Strategy
UX & Service Design
Interaction &
Content Design
Systems Integrations
Agile Development
Open Source
Agile Project
Management
Performance Analytics
Hosting & Maintenance
Service & Support
Continuous
Development
11. At the core of the GDS approach is the
principle of agile delivery.
Agile provides a method of breaking down
large, complicated projects into small, simple
ones, and working on a bit at a time.
By doing this, we can reduce the levels of risk
in a project, checking the project’s progress at
predefined checkpoints and reassessing and
adjusting budgets and requirements if
necessary.
WHAT IS THE GDS APPROACH? WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN ACTION
● Discovery - working out what your user
needs are, what services already exist to
meet those needs, and how they are
currently performing
● Alpha - building prototype services to
meet the user needs, and testing them
with users
● Beta - building an end-to-end
prototype, testing it in public and
preparing to release it
● Live - releasing and running your
service, and continuously improving it
based on analytics and user feedback
12. SKILLS NEEDED IN AN AGILE
DELIVERY TEAM
AN EXAMPLE OF A TYPICAL GDS
AGILE DELIVERY TEAM SETUP
● Product manager
● Delivery manager or scrum master
● One or more user researchers
● One or more content designers
● One or more UX/UI designers
● A developer
● A technical lead
● An assisted digital lead
● An accessibility lead
● (A digital performance analyst)
● (A technical architect)
● (A web operations engineer)
● (Quality assurance and testing skills)
● Analyse user needs and turn these into
prioritised user stories
● Manage and report to stakeholders and
manage dependencies on other teams
● Procure services from third parties if
needed
● Design, build, test, host and iterate
software
● Test with real users
● Find ways of accrediting, analysing and
handling data
● Support the live running of the service
13. We overhauled food.gov.uk and transformed
their ways of working to become more
user-centred and agile.
We ensured they were building the right thing
for their core users (primarily consumers and
food businesses), helping justify spend and
improve ROI per project phase and beyond.
A phased approach helped with stakeholder
engagement and next phase buy-in.
It offers great benefits for end-users, content
editors, and multiple departments who need
to work collaboratively in order to achieve the
organisation's goals.
FOOD.GOV.UK SUCCESS
14. User feedback has been very positive:
"I'm finding the new website much brighter, clearer and cleaner than the old one. Nice upgrade!"
"As someone who is not confident with computers this is a very easy to use and informative web
site"
Food.gov.uk's Product Owner has enjoyed the experience:
"The Discovery phase was very successful. It identified the four key services that we needed to
really focus on and that gave us a really good undertaking for how to proceed within the next
Alpha and Beta stages.”
At first glance, engagement stats look good but concrete KPIs will be available soon (the site launched
into Beta earlier this year).
16. CHALLENGES UNIVERSITIES FACE
Years of individual departments and faculties having free will to build their own digital services has led
to a vast online library of content, much of which isn’t streamlined and ‘within brand’. Many of these
sites and services are old, have a poor user experience, and lots of legacy content. They can be built on a
range of different CMS’.
There’s a lack of focus, with different websites being spun for all purposes to cover the multitude of
projects, courses and areas of research a single department might cover.
This is caused by the sheer number of faculties and departments, each responsible for their own budget,
and little governance over how they manage their digital resources.
Fragmentation between different departments and research faculties
17. Recruitment of students is a key issue raised by a number of universities we interviewed. There’s
increased competition between different higher education providers for the recruitment of students.
Different institutions target different students (e.g. domestic students, international students,
undergraduates, masters students, students undertaking distance learning).
What are universities doing to attract students?
● Creating an international presence by opening overseas bases or developing partnerships with
universities abroad to tap into the international student market
● Developing tools and resources for distance learning
● Providing virtual open days and tours of university facilities and student accommodation
● Increasing the range of courses on offer to prospective students
CHALLENGES UNIVERSITIES FACE
Student recruitment
18. The current clearing process involves students phoning universities to find suitable courses. University
administrative staff are stretched at this period, fielding calls from students looking to get onto a
university course.
There is currently no one-stop digital solution which helps to simplify the clearing process for
admissions staff, with different institutions employing different methods to help manage the process.
Higher education providers are seeking digital solutions to make this process more efficient and
effective which will also help to free up admissions staff time.
CHALLENGES UNIVERSITIES FACE
Clearing process
19. CHALLENGES UNIVERSITIES FACE
Digitising the student university experience
Much of the university experience requires students to engage with admissions and administrative staff
and many universities are looking to enhance the digital university experience for students.
This is particularly the case during open days, admissions, clearing and student registration when a huge
influx of visitors and enquiries takes place, which puts huge demands on staff and resources.
Universities are looking at digital solutions to help streamline these processes.
20. There has been a recognition that in changing times, students profiles, needs and circumstances have
changed. Students can be of a range of ages, some may decide to study much later in life, some may
live abroad, others may have children or want to study around full-time employment.
By providing more flexibility to students, such as offering online resources, universities can become
more appealing to a broader range of students.
CHALLENGES UNIVERSITIES FACE
The changing profile and needs of students
22. CHALLENGES STUDENTS FACE
Applying to university is a long, drawn-out affair that happens at a very stressful time for students as
they’re studying and preparing for exams.
Lower sixth students are encouraged to start looking at courses and unis as early as April, and by June
they’re actively booking onto open days and engaging with unis directly. By the end of July students are
narrowing down their options and preparing their monster, 4000 word personal statement.
By September students will have their predicted grades and are ready to start applying. Oxbridge
applications have to be made by October and other universities by mid-January the following year. It’s
not until the end of March that students will receive their offers.
That’s almost a year of having to make huge decisions (and waiting).
The application process
23. CHALLENGES STUDENTS FACE
Students that don't get the grades they required and still want to go to university go through clearing.
Emotions are running high during this period. Students leave devastated if results aren’t what they
thought they'd get.
They're advised to start ringing around the universities from home. Students can often be left on hold
for hours and hours because everyone else in the country is going through the same process. Once
they get through to someone on the phone, they're often given a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ there and then.
Once students are through, the clearing process is quite good but this can still take a matter of days at
a time when students can be very upset.
Clearing
24. CHALLENGES STUDENTS FACE
Careers advisors, tutors, and teachers give students as much information as they can to help students
make the right choice, but they can't make the ultimate choice for them.
The majority of students don't know what they want to do (who does at the age of 17 or 18?). They really
struggle when deciding which course to apply for to keep their options open and many lead with the
A-Level subjects they've studied which they enjoy the most.
Many factors influence a students’ course or university choice, including the perceived quality of
universities, peer pressure from parents keen for their sons and daughters to somewhere in particular
(perhaps because of prestige, or cost) and from friends, who want to stick with mates and study in the
same place. Tutors and teachers are also, of course, highly influential.
Course and university choices
25. CHALLENGES STUDENTS FACE
UCAS is pivotal when it comes to applying to universities. Not only does it manage the entire
application process, from storing and sharing personal statements, references, and course and university
choices, but it also offers the most comprehensive list of courses available at all unis in the UK.
Searching for courses on the UCAS website yields vast numbers of results with students needing to
click into each one to find out more about that specific course.
Searches can be narrowed down by filtering based on type of qualification, location and (finally!) entry
requirements, but this often still results in a bewildering array of courses and subject combinations.
The role of UCAS
27. The problems universities face
are huge, and it may seem like
a monumental effort to even
begin to tackle them, but the
GDS proved it can be done
when they built GOV.UK
WHAT DID THEY ACHIEVE?
● Hundreds of separate department and
agency websites were gradually
brought under the single GOV.UK
domain
● 667 user needs were highlighted and
addressed during the design and
development of the new site
● GOV.UK running costs are less than a
quarter of the sites it replaced
● The processes GDS used to build
GOV.UK set the benchmark for best
practice in user-centred design
● These processes led to the creation of
the Government’s Digital Service
Standard, which all new public facing
transactional services must meet
44. User research helps us learn about our users and create a service that meets their needs. Without it, we
don't know what problems we’re trying to solve, what to build, or whether the service we design will
work for users.
The aim of user research is to find out:
● who your likely users are and what they’re trying to do
● how they do it currently (for example, what services or channels they use)
● the problems or frustrations they experience
● what users need from your service to achieve their goal
DISCOVERY
User research
45. ● Ethnography - observing how people do things and what problems or barriers they
encounter
● Interviews - one-on-one discussions with end-users, exploring what they do and
how they do it
● Workshops - facilitated group exercises with internal and external users
● Surveys - quantitative research with large numbers of participants
● Existing data analysis - researching data such as analytics, workflows and data logs
● Journey mapping - map out the existing journey a user takes to complete a specific
task
DISCOVERY
User research activities
46. DISCOVERY
In the world of government, it's important not only to demonstrate to GDS that you’ve attempted to
address real-world problems, but it also builds empathy for users within the whole team and fosters a
'team sport' ethic to user research.
For universities it will help to demonstrate to key internal stakeholders that there you’ve highlighted a
problem and have done the research to back it up, and consequently get buy-in to continue to the next
phase of the project.
It’s also a good checkpoint for universities to ensure that what happens next is grounded in solid
evidence before investing more time and money.
Why user research is important
47. DISCOVERY
After carrying out your discovery activities you should typically get:
● Descriptions of different types of users (for example, personas)
● An understanding of the barriers that users face
● A journey map that describes your users’ current experience
● Sets of needs for different types of users
User research outputs
50. I'm doing psychology, biology and sociology but don't know
what to study at university. I think I am going to get 3 B's,
hopefully at A2.
At the time, I chose my current course because I was planning
to originally do photography however I'm really
spontaneous/impulsive and wanted to push myself to try
something new and maybe more useful or more difficult so I
changed it at the last minute. I have enjoyed the time I've
spent in this course, I just don't enjoy it enough to pursue a
career out of it.
I really want to go to uni. I have always wanted to do
something in writing, such as journalism/politics or even
teaching, I just don't know. I mean, I even looked at Nursing. I
basically can't seem to make a choice, my grades are a
restriction too. I mean if my careers adviser at my college
couldn't help me decide on something, I don't know who can.
WHAT DOES THIS TELL US?
● Subjects
● Grades
● Spontaneity
● Indecisiveness
● Interests
51. I currently have absolutely no idea what I want to study at uni
or what I want to do with my life so can’t narrow it down to
something specific like dentistry.
I did very well in my A levels and took a gap year as I had the
same dilemma, thought I finally figured it out, applied, went to
uni briefly, hated my course, dropped out and am now back
to square one.
There’s no one subject that really stands out to me and having
been out of education for a while I seem to have lost the
motivation to study and it’s gonna take something super
inspiring to pull me back in. I would also like to be within an
hour of home as I do get very homesick so that narrows
things down slightly… which may or may not be a good thing?
● Subjects
● Grades
● Spontaneity
● Indecisiveness
● Interests
● Motivation
● Inspiration
● Location
WHAT DOES THIS TELL US?
52. ● Subjects
● Grades
● Spontaneity
● Indecisiveness
● Interests
● Motivation
● Inspiration
● Location
● Enjoyment
● Job prospects
● Risk
WHAT DOES THIS TELL US?Before my gap year I was set on doing engineering or physics,
but I have found out that I just won't enjoy doing them
either as a career, or just for study. I used to want to do them
because I had this stupid mentality that what I enjoy is not
important and that I should only study something at uni that
will increase "job prospects".
I am much more inclined to study psychology, chemistry, law
or neuroscience, but I scratched psychology and law off my list
because I have read a lot about how competitive it is, which
put me off. And I was worried that job prospects for
psychology/law would be no better either.
So now I feel like I should study a "reliable" undergrad like
chemistry or neuroscience? But I'm not sure if I am that
interested in chemistry in the first place? I didn't enjoy
studying chemistry much, from my experiences at A level, and I
would hate to repeat the experiences. Since the modules are
quite similar to A level.
53. WHAT DOES THIS TELL US?
I still don't know what to study at uni and my personal
statement first draft is due on Tuesday. I currently study
biology, chemistry and psychology.
I wanted to do pharmacy after I visited Portsmouth uni open
day but I have read so much online about how bad it is… My
other options are biochemistry which I was thinking of doing
and then doing a Masters in forensics as that really interests
me. However, it’s very hard to get a job in forensics.
I was also considering biomedicine, anatomy, chemistry and
biology. But I really don't know what to do anymore. And I
don't particularly want a job in a lab doing research.
I also really want to go to Portsmouth uni as it’s fairly cheap
to live there and I won't get much of a maintenance loan and
my parents don't have much to help me.
● Subjects
● Grades
● Spontaneity
● Indecisiveness
● Interests
● Motivation
● Inspiration
● Location
● Enjoyment
● Job prospects
● Risk
● Money
54. WHAT DOES THIS TELL US?
If you know 100% that’s where you wish to go then look at
the uni website and work your way through all the
possible courses, ticking off the ones you aren’t interested
in until you narrow it down.
● Subjects
● Grades
● Spontaneity
● Indecisiveness
● Interests
● Motivation
● Inspiration
● Location
● Enjoyment
● Job prospects
● Risk
● Money
55. WHAT DOES THIS TELL US?
● Subjects
● Grades
● Spontaneity
● Indecisiveness
● Interests
● Motivation
● Inspiration
● Location
● Enjoyment
● Job prospects
● Risk
● Money
Engineering is an extensive subject, and with so many types of
engineering to choose from, it can be difficult to narrow down
which one is for you. To help you to decide, you should try and
identify what you’re passionate about. What gets you excited,
and what do you spend your free time on?
All types of engineering include some form of problem-solving
(and generally focus on making life easier), but what
engineering-related solution gives you the most buzz? If you
choose a subject you’re naturally interested in, you’ll find it
easier to stay motivated during your course, and stay involved
with the subject whilst pursuing an engineering career.
57. PERSONAS
● Personas are hypothetical, archetypal
representations of real users
● They can be used to help identify the
motivations, expectations, and goals
that influence online behaviour
● We use these fictitious personas to
describe user characteristics such as
age, goals, skills, attitudes, concerns,
and behaviour patterns
● These can then help guide the decisions
we make for the design of our service
Personas can be very useful if they
are developed based on sufficient
research data and rigorous analysis
63. WHAT PERSONAS LEAD TO
A step on from a user persona, an empathy map is a collaborative tool teams can use to gain a deeper
insight into their users. Much like persona, an empathy map can also represent a group of users.
Empathy maps allow us to visualising user attitudes and behaviors and they help UX teams align on a
deep understanding of end users. The mapping process also reveals any holes in existing user data.
Traditional empathy maps are split into 4 quadrants (Say, Think, Hear, and See), with the user or persona
in the middle. Empathy maps provide a glance into who a user is as a whole.
Empathy maps
64.
65. WHAT PERSONAS LEAD TO
Experience maps provide a visual representation of what users do, think and feel over time, from the
point they start needing a service to when they stop using it.
Speaking to a range of users will help you understand all the events, transactions and related services
they may experience throughout their journey. Consolidating these into a single map will help you to
understand:
● how users experience the current service
● how things work (or don’t)
● interdependencies - for example, between different departments or services
● pain points and where things are broken
Experience maps
68. USER NEEDS
People and businesses use online services to help them get something done (for example, pay a bill,
check a their bank balance, buy a plane ticket). ‘User needs’ are the needs that a user has of a service,
and that the service must satisfy for the user to get the right outcome for them.
Services designed around users and their needs:
● are more likely to be used
● help more people get the right outcome for them
● cost less to operate by reducing time and money spent on resolving problems
To create content or services, you must start with the user need. It’s a simple concept, but is sometimes
a bit harder to put into practice.
Understanding user needs
69. As a… [who is the user?]
I need to… [what
does the user want to do?]
So that… [why does
the user want to do this?]
They’re written from the
user’s perspective and in
language that a user would
recognise and use
themselves.
70. As a prospective student
I need to get help and advice
So that I can find a course that meets my
requirements
This is a valid user need because it doesn’t
suggest a specific solution. You might need to
produce a combination of features and
content to make sure the user need is met.
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A USER
NEED
A BAD EXAMPLE OF A USER NEED
As a prospective student
I need to use an online search
So that I can see courses that will accept
me based on my predicted grades
This is not a valid user need because it creates
a ‘need’ to justify an existing service, and
suggests a specific solution that may or may
not be right.
Assumptions we make when designing
content or a service can often be wrong. We
need to find the best solution to meet each
user need.
71. As a prospective student
I need to study a course
that I find enjoyable and
fulfilling
So that I stand the best
chance of succeeding
72. USER JOURNEYS
The goal of the discovery phase is to be able to map out the ideal process a user will go through based
entirely on their needs.
User journeys are the step-by-step journey that a user takes to reach their goal. This journey will often
consist of a number of key decision points that carry the user from one step to another.
Experience maps (mentioned earlier) often represent the current user journey, with all of its various
problems and pains. Once user research has been carried out and a list of user needs has been
established, the existing journey can then be redesigned to form an ‘ideal’ user journey free from
frustration.
The ultimate discovery outcome
73.
74.
75. ENDING DISCOVERY
In the discovery phase we understand, and map out, the user journey. We aim to find out:
● Who our users are
● Our users’ needs, and if and how they are currently met
● How we could start developing a new service (if our discovery finds there’s a user need for one)
● The people we need for the alpha phase
● What the user journey for someone using our proposed service might look like
● What we could name our proposed service
● How we can meet accessibility requirements
● How we might build a technical solution given the constraints of legacy systems
● Any policies that relate to our service and how they might affect our service
What we hope to achieve
76. ENDING DISCOVERY
Our discovery phase (according to GDS) should generate three things:
● a prioritised list of user needs
● a prioritised list of user stories
● a list of stakeholders, and information you’ve got from them about existing services
Most importantly, ending discovery gives the project team a chance to take stock of what they’ve learnt
and present their findings back to senior stakeholders.
This gives everyone an opportunity to assess the importance of ongoing work and any related risk, and
for additional budget to be released so the project can continue (if appropriate).
What we hope to achieve
77. ENTERING ALPHA
In the alpha phase we should build wireframes and test prototypes with users, and demonstrate that
the service we want to build is technically possible.
We do this to find problems with our service design and decide how to solve them, and make some
estimates about how much the service will cost. Doing this also helps us learn about the risks for the
beta stage as early as possible.
By the end of alpha we should know whether to move the service into the beta phase (like the end of
discovery, the end of alpha is an opportunity to 'cut our losses'), and what we need to build in beta.
Goals of the alpha phase
78. The wireframes are the
floor plan for your website,
creating a vessel for which
design and content can
flow into.
A wireframe is a visual representation of a user
interface, stripped of any visual design or
branding elements. It’s used by UX Designers
to define the hierarchy of items on a screen
and communicate what the items on that
page should be based on user needs.
WIREFRAMES
79. WIREFRAMES
● Give visual designers a basis to begin
creating screens
● Used as a reference point for functional
specifications
● Communicate the functionality you’re
going to build with stakeholders
without muddying the waters with
visual design elements or branding
● Explore ideas without the difficulty of
change inherent in Photoshop mockups
● Used as a basis for prototyping and for
user testing ideas early on
Why they’re important
The wireframes are the
floor plan for your website,
creating a vessel for which
design and content can
flow into.
83. PROTOTYPES
A prototype is a quasi-realistic representation of what you’re building that can be interacted with and
tested on users in order to help validate your design.
They’re useful for a number of reasons:
● Help identify usability issues before going to code
● Get early user feedback
● Observe how users want to interact with your design
● To work out complex functionality or screen flows
● To help begin to define the interaction design
● Faster to create than fully coded solutions (front and back end)
What is a prototype?
84. PROTOTYPES
Prototypes can come in many forms and fidelity. They can range from paper based sketches, clickable
wireframes and even fully coded HTML.
Typically prototyping was seen as one of the later stages of the UX design process, conducted after you
had finished a full set of wireframes.
With techniques such as paper prototyping it can be done much sooner and emerging techniques like
browser-based prototyping can even give you a springboard to begin the actual build process.
What is a prototype?
88. ● Our objective in the beta phase is to build a working version of the service
based on our alpha prototypes
● The version we build must be able to handle real usage and work at scale
● We also keep improving the service and replace (or integrate with) existing
legacy services
ENTERING BETA
What is beta?
89. ENTERING BETA
By the end of the beta phase we aim to:
● Improve our service by testing it with users, based on the user stories you created in the alpha
phase
● Solve any technical or process-related challenges
● Get the service accredited (a government requirement)
● Make a plan for the launch of your service (including getting an ac.uk domain name, start and end
pages, and arrange SSL certificates)
● Release updates and improvements into the development environment
● Measure the effect of any changes to KPIs
● Carry out regular accessibility testing and get an accessibility audit
● Test our assisted digital support model
Goals of the beta phase
90. MOVING TO LIVE
The live phase is the time to keep improving
your service based on:
● User feedback
● Analytics
● Your ongoing user research
Launching your new service
91. MOVING TO LIVE
Before you go live, you should make sure:
● The service meets the user needs you found in your discovery, alpha and beta phases
● You’ve set up your analytics to accurately measure the success of your service
● You’ve got a plan for the transition or integration of any existing services that meet a similar user
need to yours
● The service meets accessibility requirements
● You can support the service and you’ll be able to keep iterating it and improving it until it’s retired
Keep finding things that need improvement, do research to get the best solutions, iterate, then
release.
Launching your new service