I introduce my process, methods, and philosophy of
UX Research & Design
Instructional Design
Working with SMEs
(Subject Matter Expert)
What's my UX research and design process?
The adapted Double Diamond model reflects my approach to problem solving with design thinking.
01
RESEARCH
Understand the problem space
I usually start from learning about the business through business model canvas and competitive analysis. Sometimes I'd do some design research on relevant topics through literature review or analogous domain case study. Afterwards, I'd conclude the business goal and design principles to follow. I use rose-bud-thorn to engage the team to evaluate the status quo.
Understand stakeholders
Conducting user research requires a plan for methods and goals. Methods I've used include: log analysis, interview, contextual interview/guided tour, card sorting, design artifact review, and surveys. While conducting research, keep in mind that our goal is to understand the "why" behind behaviors.
02
DEFINE
03
IDEATE
Synthesize
Synthesizing helps a team to draw insights from research and get everyone on the same page. Common methods include: insight statements, user journey map, persona, job stories, models (flow model, concept map), abstract laddering, and affinity mapping etc.
How Might We ... Statement
I see HMW statement as a important transition between research and design. I would specify WHAT and WHO in a HMW statement.
Success Metrics
Success metrics can be defined from a business perspective, user perspective, and design perspective. If it's a client sponsored project, I would invite them for a design sprint, sorting out the most valued criteria (e.g., scalability, novelty).
While ideating, I'd put up all previous result on the wall for reference. Sketching in limited time (Crazy 8), collaborating with other stakeholders (Co-create, Round Robin, Rose-bud-thorn) are all ways to boost creativity.
04
EVALUATE
We can either narrow down by voting, or by initial validation. Involving users (speed dating) at this early stage is also extremely beneficial for deciding on a direction. I see personas as a Job-To-Be-Done statement and see if the proposed ideas narrow the gaps between users' goals and challenges.
05
PROTOTYPE
Lo-fi -> Mid-fi -> Hi-fi -> Working Prototype
I follow the triangle of prototype principles, starting from lo-fi / paper prototype, to mid-fi and hi-fi.
Style & Accessibility
I use mood boards to create style guides for everyone in the team to be on the same page. I usually use Figma for team collaboration on low-fi / mid-fi wireframes, and use Sketch for hi-fi, InVision Studio for animation. I follow accessibility standards like W3C to design for a wider audience base.
Testing
A popular testing method is a/b testing . For early stage products that has not shipped, we also test through wizard of Oz, think aloud, heuristic evaluation, desirability test, 5 second test, cognitive walkthrough, as well as review sessions with PM, development team, and other stakeholders. A structure to organize findings is feedback grid. While testing, we need to constantly review success metrics and universal design principles like error recovery, inclusive design etc.
2. What's my Instruction design process?
01
ANALYZE
Problem Side
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What is the business / performance problem?
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Which skills are needed to close these gaps?
Learner Side
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What are the goals of learners?
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What are the prior knowledge levels of learners?
02
DESIGN
Design the Life Cycle of a Course
I use backward design and UbD framework for the whole process. I do literature review, consult SMEs to determine learning goals, organizing them according to Bloom's taxonomy. Sometimes I use KLI framework to further break them down into knowledge components for more granular assessment of mastery.
When designing assessment, I would first decide acceptable evidence, and then decide if it's formative or summative. After having a draft version of assessment, I would do theoretical (and / or empirical) Cognitive Task Analysis to identify experts' key decision points and students' common misconceptions. I use Cognitive Interview to polish my phrasing. I usually write explanatory feedback or goal-oriented feedback to help learners improve with a growth mindset. Then I create a rubric to interpret the results.
The last step is to create instruction. I write lesson plans, learning activities and instructional content. Depending on the situation, I sometimes ask for people to proofread.
Decide Modalities of Learning
Depending on the constraints I face and the goals I set out to achieve, I choose different modalities of learning:
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Self-paced eLearning
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Pros: Scalability, standardized, data-driven, adaptivity, mastery learning
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Instructor-led learning
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Pros: Learner community, rich & immediate interaction
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Blended learning
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Pros: Adaptivity
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Supporting materials
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Job aids, blogs, supporting articles
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03
DEVELOP
Workflow
Here I describe my process of developing eLearning content.
First, I schedule interviews with SMEs, getting on the same page regarding learning objectives and course content. I usually introduce backward design & alignment to them since not all of them come from an instructional design background.
Next, I use storyboards to visualize the content that's going to be on different slides. I write down audio script and leave space for comments. For some advanced interactions like drag-n-drop, scenario-based dialogues, I find it useful to build an excerpt out so that people could have a more concrete feeling whether they like it or not.
Then, I finalize content and create visual assets at the same time. I write, rehearsal the script, recoding myself or finding a voiceover. I use Sketch to create most visual assets and Camtasia for screen recording. I put everything together in Articulate Storyline, Articulate Rise, or Adobe Captivate.
Usually I work on multiple projects at the same time. While waiting for quality assurance of one project, I begin to work on another project.
04
IMPLEMENT
Before implementation, I would submit it to stakeholders & SMEs for a review. I publish content to LMS (Canvas, SCORM Cloud) using SCORM or xAPI.
05
EVALUATE
I use Kirkpatrick's Model of Evaluation to evaluate the effectiveness of my training design.
Within the learning module
I would look at:
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Reaction
Gather quantitative feedback on how learners react to the learning and qualitative feedback on how learners feel towards the learning.
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Learning
Gather learners' performance data like completion rate, finishing time, correction rate through LMS.
Within the organization
I would look at:
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Behavior
How learners behave in their actual jobs over a slightly longer period of time.
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Results
Did customer / employee satisfaction grow?
Did KPI grow?
3. What are my evidence-proof tips of working with SMEs?
Alignment Sheet
Most SMEs are not from an instructional design background. I find it useful to let them know the alignment principle (Goal-Assessment-Instruction), opening a spreadsheet so that we could collaborate asynchronously. I usually specify when I need what from them.
SME checklist Source
