Do you have any experience trying the same methods? If yes, describe a situation when you used a similar method and what were the results/outcome?

Do you have any experience trying the same methods? If yes, describe a situation when you used a similar method and what were the results/outcome?

Yes, I have experience using many of the methods mentioned in the week 3 presentation. In my work, I’m often required to create pattern libraries, flows, defensible criteria, and have many stakeholders to answer to. While I may use some of the methods differently from the presenters, I think they have a great start to integrating UX into ISU’s IT department.

What factors researchers must consider when planning a UX study?

What factors researchers must consider when planning a UX study?

When researchers are planning a UX study they must consider factors like budget, stakeholders, design/development/project management methodology, the timeline, stakeholder feedback, business need, business requirements, user needs, user feedback, availability of users for testing, legislation, restrictions, organizational policies, team members, training skill sets, existing knowledge base (analytics, past studies, known standards, an existing site), and criteria.

FEDEX Customer Compliant

Dear Fedex,

I went into a Fedex office this afternoon to make a shipment and prepay for a return envelope. I was told it would cost $8 to ship the envelope one way, but HAD to create an account if I wanted to prepay for it to be returned to me.

So I setup an account. After the account was setup the cost to ship the envelope was $18 and to return it to me was going to be $22-32. I chose to just ship the envelope without paying to have it returned and almost left to go to the post office or UPS instead. This process is illogical. I signed up, for convenience, which *should* make me want to use your service more often. I get, that over time the idea is that eventually I am suppose to save money. However, you should realize that you immediately just lost business from me.

I opted not to purchase that one envelope and nearly left altogether. Then, I asked if - in the future - I showed up to ship a package if someone would be asked to show their ID before using me account. The customer service representative reassured me, that NO ID would be needed. I was not assured. So I asked if he could add a note to my account to make an ID be checked, he said he could not and no password was needed. WHAT?! How is this a useful service?

So I asked if he could just CANCEL the account, he said no but it's okay because when my card expires the account would no longer work. WELL GREAT you just added a card I got this week. It's good for YEARS from now. I'm writing this message, not to file a complaint against the branch but to corporate.

Your processes are corrupt and you need to hire a user experience professional to professionally evaluate this workflow. How did anyone think this was a good idea or a good way to attract customers?

I eagerly await your response to determine if I should just take my business elsewhere permanently.

-- Confused and unsatisfied customer

How UX can be measured/evaluated?

How UX can be measured/evaluated?

There are many ways the UX can be measured and evaluated. The presenters only mentioned a few tools and did not dive too deeply into their actual implementation, outside of the presented case studies. A few tools shown where card sorting, interviews, surveys, and analytics. The implementation of these tools is the key missing component of this presentation.

How do you see academia benefiting from UX? Do you perceive any changes in near future? Why?

How do you see academia benefiting from UX? Do you perceive any changes in near future? Why?

Many academic websites are extremely cumbersome, with lean budgets for design, and a high ratio of users. It is important that users are able to efficiently find and use applications for educational purposes, registration, activities (sports, clubs, band, career fairs), and to further promote the institution as a leader in their field.

Any company or organization with an online presence may have that online presence be their first impression to potential backers, future students, other institutions, grant foundations and leading organizations.

If a user has issues signing up for classes or registering because of poor UX, other resources may be wasted trying to help that student locate registration or the student may not believe in the quality of a program. For example, if a web design company promotes their services on a 2-3 page table website that is not responsive and has broken code that only works well on the IE7 browser, how confident would you be in giving them your business? This is an extreme example, but the same can be said for a site that is not user friendly or accessibility friendly. Think of how much more Harvard Review or Carnegie Mellon’s published articles and podcasts are promoted and easy to find than colleges like DMACC or the University of Phoenix. Is this because they are IVY League schools or because the school is also better at promoting important materials, simplifying usability, and optimizing content?

UX, with the right implementation, will give academia a better foot forward for education, branding, partnerships, accessibility, and search engine optimization.