The Problem Opportunity

Meet Quinn - a student who entered the program with a background in marketing, excited to explore the world of UX. Now in the final weeks, it's time to wrap up portfolios, prepare for interviews, and plan next steps.

That's when Quinn realizes, at the finish line looking back, it's hard to see where they started. The journey is a bit of a blur, and it's not easy to measure or articulate a blur.

Each cohort, I met students like Quinn. Students who couldn't quite see their transformation, how it translated to future potential, and what they should do next. With this I discovered that my prompt "I learned this much in 12 weeks, imagine what's possible in 1 year" meant very little if this much wasn't visible.

Customer

Visibility into competencies.
Reinforcement of skills and learnings.
Program support and goal setting.

Service

Visibility into competencies.
Scaleable personalized support.
Program and outcome metrics.

The idea

Competency Framework (Past/Current... Future)

In Winter 2020 I first concepted the framework, which later gained traction with feedback and support from Eva our UX TA. The solution was inspired by the existing self-assessment issued in Week 12, as well as radar charts implemented in design teams.

V1 would implement a new assessment in Week 3 as baseline, plotted onto a radar chart. With this, it would be possible to see transformation across UX competencies from Week 3 to Week 12. Taking it one step further, in Week 12, students could visualize their practice development and post program goals.

Embracing Lean, the goal was to build-measure-learn. With iteration and scalability in mind, the initial build would use Google Forms and Sheets. With one cohort, it would be possible to validate with student feedback whether a problem was solved, and how to add value.

Pending release, some assumed next steps:

• UX of assessment and visualization
• Competencies vs curriculum, outcomes, and in demand skills
• Desireability of V2 goals feature (goal setting in Week 3)