User Experience Research

The LOUISA project utilised user experience (UX) research methods and techniques to identify and prioritise improvements to the digital assessment and feedback journey at the University of Edinburgh by focusing on what matters most for students and staff in their online learning experience.

UX research and design methods & techniques have a track record of guiding improvements in the primary virtual learning environment of the University of Edinburgh, Learn. The approach for LOUISA builds on the Learn Foundations approach originally designed in 2019 as part of the Learn Foundations project. 

 

In the LOUISA project, UX work carried out across the 24/25 academic year concentrated on the end-to-end assessment and feedback workflow, commencing at the preparation for assessment phase and concluding when marks were confirmed and feedback provided.  

 

Initial research with staff made use of mapping to visualise the assessment and feedback procedures followed in different Schools, which revealed processes that had been refined, modified and customised over time to suit the needs of specific types of course and related assessments.  

 

To understand the student perspective, semi-structured interviews (whereby a facilitator engages interviewees in a retrospective conversation over an interface to tease out detail of past experiences) were conducted across a group of representative students. Together, these data sets gave an accurate picture of the current state of assessment and feedback, including details of parts of the workflow that worked well and information about areas that could be bettered.   

 

Three student-centred aspects of the assessment and feedback process emerged as priorities to focus on:   

 

  • Finding information they need to prepare for an assessment. 
  • Knowing where to submit their assignments. 
  • Locating their marks and feedback.  

 

With this information, the team worked to develop workflows to address these areas by improving processes within Schools for the most widespread types of assessment, namely: text-based, group and media assignments. 

 

An Early Adopters Programme (EAP), delivered across the 25/26 academic year (AY) tested the workflows to ensure they aligned with real-life courses and assessment contexts, with feedback used to refine further.  

 

Such continuous and iterative improvements to the assessment and feedback workflows are paramount for their success.  

Blogs about the LOUISA User Experience research

As the user research progressed, the team documented their methodology and findings via the below series of blogs:  

This article was published on