Eight Schools Association: Understanding Users

1brightspot strategy Eight Schools Association©2016. All Rights Reserved.
Understanding Users
How to gather needs, synthesize
insights, and co-create solutions
Elliot Felix
Founder, brightspot strategy

hello!

about brightspot
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to their future.

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today’s agenda:
Need
ﬁnding
Creating
with users
Guiding
Principles
Practice Activity and Q&A
Introduction
Sense
making

Principles

What principles should
guide the design of a user
research project?

guiding principles
1.  Integrate spaces, services and
staffing
2.  Combine internal and external
perspectives
3.  Ask (directly) and uncover
(indirectly)
4.  Mix quantitative and qualitative
5.  Participate to co-create

reference: Learning Space Toolkit
design as delivery
Process Needs Assessment Space Types
Services Technology Integration
More info: www.learningspacetoolkit.org
brightspot partnered with
NC State and AECOM to
developed the Learning
Space Toolkit to help
institutions and designers
create and sustain
exemplary, technology-rich
informal learning spaces.

Needﬁnding

How can you gather
information about expressed
and unexpressed needs?

workshops
Workshops enable you to
engage selected
participants in depth
through activities and
discussions.
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/data-gathering-tools-2/focus-groups/
Problem Tree Analysis
[Cause – Problem – Effects]
https://www.odi.org/publications/5258-
problem-tree-analysis

interviews
Interviews enable you to
engage selected
participants in the most
depth. There are different
types:
•  Intercept
•  Contextual
•  Conversational
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/data-gathering-tools-2/interviews/
“Peers know the ins and outs of
the university. For example, a
fellow PP major told me to
declare PPL before Philosophy
because it would look better on
my transcript. A professor would
never tell you that.”
“Students wish advising were
more intensive earlier on in their
college careers. That the
relationship was deeper or at
least more than just getting a
schedule signed.”
“One of the things I’m most thankful for is when my Dean told me to be
cautious about jumping into the education school because she didn’t think it
would be a good fit for me. She recognized that I didn’t really know what I
was getting in to and encouraged me to take some classes just to test the
waters. She was right: it was not what I wanted to do.”
Public Research University

surveys
Surveys enable you to get
broad feedback about the
current state and
potential future needs
with a larger number of
participants.
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/data-gathering-tools-2/surveys/

shadowing
Shadowing users enables
you to observe them in
action and in-context. You
can also ask follow-up
questions about what you
observed.
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/data-gathering-tools-2/observation/

photo journaling
Photo journals enable you
to see the world through
your users’ eyes (and to
focus their view with
specific prompts like
questions or missions).
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/data-gathering-tools-2/photo-interviews/

Discussion

Sensemaking

How can you synthesize what
you’ve gathered and turn it into
actionable insights?

afﬁnity mapping
Synthesizing findings with
users enables you to
validate in real-time as
you make sense of the
information collected.
reference: http://gamestorming.com/core-games/affinity-map/

prioritizing
Prioritizing with users
enables you to gain a
more nuanced
understanding of what
matters and why – and
then focus on what
counts.
reference: http://www.innovationgames.com/impact-effort-matrix/

storyboard
Storyboards describe a
current or future situation,
including the people,
places, activities, and
tools. They can be
created by, with, or for
users.
related reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/needs-assessment/working-with-data/use-case-tool/

Discussion

Co-creating

How can you understand
needs by co-creating
solutions?

prototyping
Prototyping enables co-
creating future concepts
with users and validating
them through walk-
throughs, role play, and
use in real-time.
reference: http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/prototyping.html

personas
Personas are data-driven
portraits of hypothetical
users that describe their
motivations, behaviors,
and expectations.
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/services-and-support/personas-overview/

journey map
Journey maps evaluate
current experiences or
envision future ones,
across the 5Es: entice,
enter, engage, exit, and
extend.
reference: http://learningspacetoolkit.org/services-and-support/journey-map-overview/

Activity:
Journey Map Test Drive

scenarios
Complete a journey map
for one of the following
(or create your own):
1.  Student creating project
video on voting rights
2.  Student conducting research
for group project on water
quality
3.  Faculty putting course
content online (blog, LMS,
other other platform)
4.  Faculty multi-site
videoconference with
research team

questions?

thank you!
elliot@brightspotstrategy.com
@elliotfelix
www.brightspotstrategy.com
@brightspotter

Eight Schools Association: Understanding Users

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