The challenge
Research uncovered that many new students feel unprepared and overwhelmed before undertaking their online study. RMIT Online had no content accessible without a login for students to orient themselves.
Opportunity
A new section on the marketing website that surfaces and curates bitesize content to set new students up for success with their online study ahead prior to gaining access to their LMS.
Key goals
• Enable students to self-serve
• Reduce enquiries to Student Support team
• Reduce enquiries to Student Support team
My role
As UX Practice Lead I played a key role throughout, from pitching the project to senior leadership, to research and planning, UI design, testing and even storyboarding several video artefacts.
Outcome
Outcome
• 40% reduction in students who contact Student Support pre course start
• Implementation of student feedback loops for ongoing content optimisation
• Implementation of student feedback loops for ongoing content optimisation
1 Planning and research
The process began as a response to a gap uncovered within the student journey.
Methods and activities
1. Student support team workshops
2. Stakeholder engagement
3. Current state analysis of processes
4. Engagement analytics and student survey data review
5. Market scan
6. Co-design sessions
7. Desktop research to define appropriate content formats
1. Student support team workshops
2. Stakeholder engagement
3. Current state analysis of processes
4. Engagement analytics and student survey data review
5. Market scan
6. Co-design sessions
7. Desktop research to define appropriate content formats
Above table: Data snapshot of engagement with student orientation module during May course run
2 Insights and hypothesis
The process began as a response to a gap uncovered within the student journey.
Key insights
On-boarding resources are expected long before the course starts, in particular; what online learning is like, and what it’s like to study with RMITO.
Low engagement with the orientation module is due to unavailable login details at the time the content is most needed.
Hypothesis
Offering pre-study resources on an easily accessible platform will help new students prepare for online study in a convenient way.
Delivering online learning basics as curated bitesize videos will help new students unpack concepts more quickly, increase engagement and better meet accessibility needs. Support team enquiries for new students will be reduced by proxy.
On-boarding resources are expected long before the course starts, in particular; what online learning is like, and what it’s like to study with RMITO.
Low engagement with the orientation module is due to unavailable login details at the time the content is most needed.
Hypothesis
Offering pre-study resources on an easily accessible platform will help new students prepare for online study in a convenient way.
Delivering online learning basics as curated bitesize videos will help new students unpack concepts more quickly, increase engagement and better meet accessibility needs. Support team enquiries for new students will be reduced by proxy.
3 Design and testing
The design went through several rounds of testing and refinement. The approach focussed on allowing students to quickly self-serve relevant information. Videos for the appropriate folio are curated into sections and logically ordered.
Methods and activities
1. Collaborative ideation & card sorting
2. Wire-framing and prototyping
3. User testing and iteration
4. UI design and functional specification
5. Ongoing optimisation
1. Collaborative ideation & card sorting
2. Wire-framing and prototyping
3. User testing and iteration
4. UI design and functional specification
5. Ongoing optimisation
4 Content and planning
Past enquiries were analysed to inform the video requirements to go to market quickly, existing video assets were sourced, assessed and adapted with new voiceovers and scenes to make them current, engaging, helpful and relevant with minimal cost and effort.
Methods and activities
1. Enquiry type analysis
2. Audit asset assessment
3. Content strategy
4. Storyboard workshops
5. Scriptwriting
6. Video creative direction
1. Enquiry type analysis
2. Audit asset assessment
3. Content strategy
4. Storyboard workshops
5. Scriptwriting
6. Video creative direction
5 Impact and learnings
The study tips and resources section MVP successfully launched, achieving both goals of enabling students to self-serve and reduce enquiries. The videos also received high engagement through number of plays.
The MVP was developed in record time using newly developed re-usable UI components. This went on to form the beginnings of RMIT Online’s design system.
The project approach also helped influence a culture of experimentation, leading to a series of collaborative HCD-led initiatives across departments.
