User Experience Research on UMN Academic Technology Tools

Since 2015, OIT Academic Technology staff, including members of the Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS), Academic Technology Tools, and Video and Conferencing Services teams have collaborated with Usability Services and the academic technology community to conduct User Experience (UX) research to understand how students and instructors interact with learning technologies and the impact of these technologies on teaching and learning at the University of Minnesota.

For the purposes of our work, UX research is the process of gathering data to select, implement, and evaluate learning technologies that support student learning and instructor effectiveness. By understanding how students and instructors use learning technologies, we can identify areas for improvement to ensure the learning technologies meet their needs.

Our goal in conducting this research is twofold:

• identify gaps in the UMN learning technology ecosystem
• evaluate the implementation of new learning technologies

We conduct UX research using a variety of methods, such as:

• Focus groups: Group discussions with 4-6 students and/or instructors to learn about their needs, goals, and pain points when using learning technologies
• Usability evaluation: Testing our learning technologies with students and instructors to understand their ease of use and to identify any problems

UX research provides the UMN academic technology community with actionable data to improve our learning technologies and create more intuitive, engaging, and impactful experiences for students and faculty. We work closely with stakeholders across the University of Minnesota system to share our findings, and as a community, we work together to develop solutions to improve learning effectiveness.

Get Involved

We welcome partnerships with UMN researchers who seek to evaluate the effectiveness of learning technologies in their classrooms/teaching environments. Contact us to set up a consultation.