Client

The University Of Sydney Business School

Agency

Designit, 2023

Role

Senior Experience Designer

Overview

The University of Sydney Business School is one of the world’s top business schools. The Univeristy has witnessed a decline in the demand for traditional full-time on-campus study among domestic postgraduates. 

Increasingly, postgraduates are opting for shorter, more focused alternatives, such as non-award programs and micro-credentials.

In response to this, the University has developed a new educational offering called the Adaptive Learning Ecosystem (ALE). Its vision is to empower prospective students to enhance their skills and advance their careers in a more flexible and cost-effective manner through the use of micro-credentials.

Sydney University collaborated with Designit to transform the vision for the ALE into a clearly defined product offering, and to validate market fit for operationalisation.

Impact

Clear product vision

By establishing a clear vision for the ALE experience, the University can move forward with confidence and momentum.

Connected user experience

The research provides valuable insights into the target market and what prospective students truly value. Addressing barriers and aligning the experience with expectations and needs further emphasise the importance of taking a human centric approach to design. 

Increased engagement

Delivering an experience that matters to the target audience and effectively marketing the ALE leads to greater engagement and enrolment rates. This not only attracts more students but also improves their satisfaction with the learning experience. 

The Approach

We took a human-centred design approach to uncover the key barriers and opportunities of the ALE.

The first six weeks were spent envisioning and designing the ALE learning experience. We engaged 12 University stakeholders, ran six in- person workshops, and co-created 18 concepts that we used to test comprehension and desirability with 11 end users in 60-minute one-on-one qualitative interviews.

The insights informed the product concept and design of a prototype, and used as stimuli in 15 one-on-one qualitative interviews to test consumer engagement, expectations as well as elements required to successfully operationalise the ALE model in-market.

Total duration of engagement was 10 weeks.

I joined the project after the first 6 weeks and led research and delivery for the next 4 weeks. The ask from the client for the remaining 4 weeks was to:

‘Test the consumer engagement with the ALE in order to provide further insights into prospective student expectations and elements required to successfully operationalise the model in-market.’

Qualitative research served as the foundation for this study and the findings in the report. Alongside the conversation guide, we used the ALE prototype as a stimulus during one-on-one interviews, enabling us to observe participants' comprehension of the offering.

Additionally, open-ended questions were employed to encourage participants to express themselves in their own words, providing a deeper understanding of their experiences and perspectives not only with the prototype but with their broader purchasing journey .

Outcomes

A market-fit analysis and product vision anchored in qualitative insights. 

A comprehensive research report detailing desirability and comprehension of the ALE as well as prospective students' educational, emotional, functional and social needs provided key stakeholders a solid foundation to make decisions and progress with the ALE – specifically in relation to gain funding and to communicate with teams across the University. 

Three distinct opportunities were uncovered as well as three key impact areas that specifically target the [increased] likelihood of purchase and return purchase.

Key Learnings

Challenging the research approach

The client initially proposed conducting focus groups involving 30 participants. As a team, we thoroughly discussed the advantages and disadvantages of this approach, considering factors such as the benefits of unmoderated testing versus 1:1 interviews. Our discussions were robust, with a healthy exchange of ideas, but ultimately, we relied on our intuition and opted for interviews. We articulated our rationale to the client, who approved our decision. Additionally, it's valuable to respectfully challenge the team; I felt it was necessary to express concerns about conducting more than 15 interviews in a week, especially since we were operating as a two-person team.

Navigating ambiguity

During a critical phase of synthesis, after delivering the first part of the report, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data and post-it notes. It was a moment where diving deep into the details felt like drowning. However, the solution wasn't to avoid the challenge but to confront it head-on. The advice that proved invaluable was to step back, move away from the post-it notes, and revisit the ideation phase. This shift in approach was a game-changer for us at that moment, and it taught me the importance of breaking free from rigid frameworks and matrices when faced with obstacles.

Diversity of perspective

When our team encountered divergent ideas or uncertainties in problem-solving, we adopted a strategy of time-boxing the task and stress-testing it. Afterwards, we reconvened to discuss our respective approaches and determine the best path forward. This method proved highly effective because it allowed us to flesh out our individual ideas on paper and delve into them, while also gaining insight into each other's perspectives. Embracing friction and diverse approaches as inevitable not only fosters innovation but also encourages us to think outside the box.