Methods & Tools

Target Users: UCLA Undergraduate Students

Given that this was a class project that required using our peers as participants, our group chose a subject topic that was relevant to all of our classmates. Therefore, our target users are UCLA undergraduate students because all undergraduates use MyUCLA on a near-daily basis.

Contextual Inquiry

• Better understand the process students use to enroll in classes
• Identify the discoverability of features within the process
• Understand the context in which students typically go about enrolling in classes
• Uncover unarticulated aspects of the process by asking questions as they complete tasks

• Allows us to get a more in-depth understanding of the behaviors of our target users through both observation and interview questions
• Gathers more realistic data than in a controlled environment

• Participants: 5 undergraduate UCLA students
• Method:

1. Students were recruited during the enrollment period at UCLA and were asked to enroll in a class while sharing their screen with us.
2. As they were enrolling in their class, we carefully watched their body language and behaviors and asked questions.
3. Notes were taken throughout the process and responses to questions were recorded.

Semi Structured Interviews

• Obtain a more in-depth understanding of student’s individual frustrations with the platform
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the platform to identify the features we should consult and address
• Identify the features for which students typically use and do not use within MyUCLA

• Allows us to get a more in-depth understanding of the perspective from an interviewee through open-ended questions
• Enables us to ask follow-up questions to clarify any queries that we may have during the interview

• Participants: 5 undergraduate UCLA students
• Method: Questions were prepared for the participants before the interviews, and follow-up questions were asked of each participant based on the responses given.
• Analysis: Affinity diagramming was used to uncover themes and insights from the interviews.

Utilizing the data gathered from our user needs research, we created two personas that were used to inform our subsequent research and designs.

Using the personas and the user needs that were drawn from our preliminary research, we created 5 design concepts that we would assess in our subsequent research.

Task Based Focus Group

• Better understand the process students use to enroll in classes
• Identify the desired appearance and layout of the site based on our concepts
• Cumulate suggestions from users for how they would like to see the platform improved

• Allows for a more thorough discussion, as users can build off each other
• Group activities require less time and resources than individual research activities
• Users’ spontaneous reactions can be identified quickly

• Participants: 2 focus groups with 3 undergraduate UCLA students each
• Three Tasks Followed by Discussions:

1. Recall as many features within MyUCLA as possible and write them down
2. Look through each of the concepts that are presented and identify features from each concept that you like and features that you don’t like
3. Utilize the ‘My Features’ tab to design your own ideal menu of features

• Analysis:  Affinity diagramming was used to analyze the notes and quotes that were recorded in the focus group sessions. Artifacts were collected during each task to be included in the analysis.

Closed Card Sorting Activity

• Understand the users’ mental models to determine the best way to organize the features on our site redesign
• Help design the information architecture of the site
• Ensure the site is easier to navigate for users with better organization

• Participants: 5 undergraduate UCLA students
• Method: Questions were prepared for the participants before the interviews, and follow-up questions were asked of each participant based on the responses given.

1. The participant would log into Miro where there would be digital sticky notes that had the names of each feature on MyUCLA.
2. Category names would be given to the participants, and they would be asked to sort the features into the categories that they see fit.

• Analysis: Separate Miro boards were used for each participant so that we could go back and look through each board to identify patterns in the organization of categories.

After conducting extensive research, we found many areas for improvement to the existing MyUCLA platform, but 3 prominent modifications stood out as top priorities to be implemented within the final prototype of MyUCLA.

​Based upon how often users utilized third-party sources, such as Google, to find specific features on MyUCLA, we found it necessary to implement a search bar within the final prototype to ensure that users could easily find any element within the platform. In doing so, we could make the platform more accessible to users.

​Many users expressed interest in a personalized profile on MyUCLA that would give individuals quick access to frequently-used features, degree audit reports, and financial information without having to search through numerous tabs on the site. Likewise, an added ‘recommended’ section allows users to further explore opportunities within their major.

​We found that people liked the placement of the tabs to be on the left side of the screen as it was both aesthetically pleasing and intuitively placed. More importantly, because of the implementation of the search bar, each tab should only include frequently-used features that are relevant to each category, while moving the lesser-used features into a separate location, to reduce the clutter in each of the tabs.