The Learning Lab experience is supported by both asynchronous and synchronous components. Each part includes a set of resources, an asynchronous discussion, and an interactive live session, all of which culminate in the development of a project to apply learning to local and specific contexts in support of the learning objectives.
Schedule
Part 1: Understanding Student Needs
March 11, 2024 | 1:00–2:30 p.m. ET
In Part 1, we’ll orient everyone to the course and our shared digital workspace (Miro), and begin work on a student persona. Participants will conduct an interview with a user or colleague to better understand student needs.
Part 2: Student Experience Assessment and Pain Points
March 14, 2024 | 1:00–2:30 p.m. ET
In Part 2, participants will focus on how to assess the student experience and common pain points. We’ll continue work on their Student Experience canvas, evaluating their persona’s current journey with in-session work time and real-time feedback and coaching. Following the session, participants will complete the remainder of their Student Experience canvas, including any remaining portions of their persona's journey and their reflections and outstanding questions.
Part 3: Student Experience Solutions and Prototyping
March 20, 2024 | 1:00–2:30 p.m. ET
In Part 3, we’ll build on participants’ completed Student Experience canvases and include discussion about common solutions and strategies for improving student experience. These will be drawn from the instructor’s work with 100+ institutions and his book "How to Get the Most Out of College," a compilation of hundreds of studies on student success. Then we’ll cover how to embrace design thinking and prototype potential solutions in order to accelerate learning and stakeholder buy-in.
Part 4: Review and Reflect
March 27, 2024 | 1:00–2:30 p.m. ET
In Part 4, participants will implement a small prototype, which might be a storyboard, mock-up, consultant, event, or other idea, to answer one of the outstanding questions on their Student Experience canvases. They’ll also make targeted revisions to their canvases based on lessons learned from prototyping and will discuss questions, and potential next steps. The session will focus on advice and examples for how to move forward, as well as real-time implementation coaching.
Lab Project
This lab will be taught in a studio format within a shared digital workspace so that participants can see and learn from others’ work and make peer connections along the way. The Student Experience canvas will provide a way to apply lessons to their institution about trends, user research, solutions, and prototyping. It will be refined throughout the lab based on participants’ interviews, reflections, and prototyping. Participants will come away with an understanding of the highlights and pain points for their personas. They will have acquired an understanding of potential ways to sustain and improve their experience by using a process they can repeat for other personas, working with colleagues at their institutions to holistically improve the process.