UX of EdTech

Alicia Quan chats with two members from the Khanmigo team at Khan Academy: Karen Shapiro, Sr. UX Researcher, former teacher of 16 years Jonah Goldsaito, Principal Product Designer They discuss: The story of how Khanmigo was developed and their early partnership with OpenAI on its GPT4 LLM launch The most challenging parts of the journey so far Balancing excitement and optimism with caution and foresight when it comes to AI developments What’s next for Khanmigo ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter UX Job Openings in EdTech ——  🔸 Show Mentions: Khanmigo ——  Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with several members from the team at ETS AI Labs: Lisa Ferrara, Sr. Director, Product Development  Narmeen Makhani, Executive Director of Technology  Erin Scully, Sr. Director of Learning Science and Design  They discuss: 1. Cross-functional approaches to product development  2. The role of LX Design 3. Educational contexts and use cases for AI 4. Designing with explainable AI in mind ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter UX Job Openings in EdTech ——  🔸 Show Mentions: ETS AI Labs ——  Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Dr. Rachel Schechter, who founded Learning Experience Design (LXD) Research at Charles River Media Group, acting as Principal Investigator and Chief Research Advisor to companies large and small. Rachel helps guide the use of data and evaluation to support product improvements, build evidence of efficacy, and strengthen customer implementations. They discuss: Ensuring educator-leaders choose literacy programs that work LXD Research Research certifications of products and why is it important The relationship between UX research and these certifications Advice for education/EdTech researchers of all kinds ——  🔸 Connect:  Dr. Rachel Schechter Alicia Quan 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn & UX Job Opportunities 🔸 Show Mentions: LXD Research ——  Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with two members from Duolingo about their work as an early launch partner with OpenAI’s GPT-4 model: Edwin Bodge, Principal Product Manager Megan Bednarczyk, Senior Product Designer  They discuss how they launched Duolingo Max, including: The story of how Duolingo Max came to be Biggest challenges of that journey and process Balancing optimism with caution when it comes to recent developments in AI Advice for teams currently exploring and building with GPT4 and generative AI ——  🔸 Connect:  Edwin Bodge Megan Bednarczyk Alicia Quan ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter Job postings and resources in UX and EdTech ——  🔸 Show Mentions: Duolingo Max ——  Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Yuan Wang, the Head of Design at Maven, aka the university of the future. She is also a leadership coach (CPC) and an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts. She previously led design at Airbnb, Twitter, and Mozilla. They discuss: Maven’s mission How the Founding Product Designer role influenced the business Best timing for hiring design support at a startup What’s next for leading design at Maven Maven is currently hiring a product designer Advice for those working in UX and also education Learning communities  ——  🔸 Connect:  Yuan Wang Alicia Quan ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter Support for those hiring and job seeking in UX and EdTech on LinkedIn ——  🔸 Show Mentions: Maven ——  Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with a few members of the team who worked on Quizlet’s Q-Chat, the world’s first AI tutor built with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It is modeled on research demonstrating that the most effective form of learning is one-on-one tutoring. Eli Kariv, Sr. Product Manager, Pranavi Javangula, Product Designer, Ling Cheng, Director of Machine Learning They discuss: What problem is Q-Chat solving for? What user outcomes were you working towards? A common question being asked is whether ChatGPT is a threat to education. What is your take on the topic? What were some of the concerns you worked through as a team? What feedback have you received since the release from educators and students? What have you observed? It’s March, 2023. Will we still be talking about ChatGPT next year? Thoughts on the anticipated release of GPT-4? Advice for product designers, UX professionals, and product teams currently exploring and building with GPT and other generative large language AI models? —— 🔸 Connect: Eli Kariv Pranavi Javangula Ling Cheng Alicia Quan  —— 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn Page + UX Job Opportunities —— 🔸 Show Mentions: Q-Chat in Beta  —— Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with the team at Backpack Interactive. Backpack is a strategy, UX and design company focused on the EdTech space. On this episode, we hear from: - Principal and Creative Director, Sean Oakes - Director of Creative Operations, Milagros Montalvo They discuss the benefits of when companies design to outsource their UX design work and also the flip side when there would be factors that could make this route challenging. ——  🔸 Connect:  Backpack Interactive  Alicia Quan  ——  🔸 Resources:  UX of EdTech Newsletter  LinkedIn Page + UX Job Opportunities  ——  🔸 Show Mentions:  Article: Outsourcing your EdTech UX Design: Everything you need to know   ——  Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Nicole Gallardo, Founder and UX/UI Director of the program, Founders Who UX. They discuss why UX work is important and valuable for EdTech and education companies. They talk about the biggest barriers startups face in hiring UX support, the options they have, and what their next steps should be. They also touch on what’s next for UX of EdTech this year. —— 🔸 Connect: Nicole Gallardo Alicia Quan —— 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn Page + UX Job Opportunities —— 🔸 Show Mentions: Founders Who UX Nicole on Medium and Twitter  —— Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Jessica Millstone, a venture capitalist, angel investor, and co-founder and managing director of Copper Wire Ventures, an early-stage fund focused on investing in women-led technology companies, primarily in the education space. Prior to the investing world, Jessica’s career spans deep and wide in EdTech and UX. She now brings her growing UX mindset to her current work with startups in the future of learning and work. They cover several topics, including: Why UX work is important for EdTech and education startups (including success stories) The biggest barriers to startups hiring UX support How to win investors with a UX mindset Advice for founders and UX practitioners working together If you are interested in hiring fractional and part-time UX support for your EdTech or education company, please reach out to Alicia Quan to get connected. —— 🔸 Connect: Jessica Millstone Alicia Quan —— 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn Page + UX Job Opportunities —— 🔸 Show Mention: Copper Wire Ventures —— Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with a former educator and principal, and now UX Writer at BrainPOP, Sarah Mondestin. Sarah has served as the Editorial lead at UX of EdTech and has helped build an amazing mound of written resources to support UX practitioners in our industry. Be sure to check out the publication that she has been leading. They talk about going from the classroom to an EdTech role and the transferrable skills and circumstances Sarah has leaned on. They also discuss the tricky question of differences between UX Writing and Content Design. Sarah digs into her 3-Part blog series on UX Writing in EdTech and why this role is so crucial to the success of businesses. —— 🔸 Connect: Sarah Mondestin Alicia Quan 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn Page facilitating UX Job Opportunities 🔸 Show Mention: UX Writing in EdTech (3-Part Series)  —— Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with a Senior Product Design Manager at Coursera, Justin Morken. They discuss how to approach moving the needle from design as a service to design as a thought partner. Justin explains in very practical ways how to shift people’s perception of what a designer does for the organization and the people it serves. This is Part 7 and the final episode of the Design Maturity Series (2022). How do leaders build design maturity in their teams and across their EdTech company? What are the challenges and what benefits are in store? Be sure to check out our previous episodes. —— 🔸 Connect: Justin Morken Alicia Quan —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education UX Job Opportunities in EdTech UX of EdTech Blog Publication Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan on LinkedIn to receive an application. —— Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with the Chief of User Experience at EdPlus (Arizona State University), Amanda Gulley. EdPlus is a central enterprise unit within Arizona State University focused on the design and scalable delivery of digital teaching and learning models to increase student success and reduce barriers to achievement in higher education. Students are deeply embedded throughout their design processes and team. They truly invest in students and emerging talent. This conversation is PACKED with depth and insight. Be ready to take some notes as Amanda dives deeply into how their organization works. This is Part 6 of the Design Maturity Series. How do leaders build design maturity in their teams and across their EdTech company? What are the challenges and what benefits are in store? Stay tuned for our final interview. —— 🔸 Connect: Amanda Gulley  EdPlus at ASU  Alicia Quan  —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education UX Job Opportunities in EdTech UX of EdTech Blog Publication Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan on LinkedIn to receive an application. —— Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with the VP of User Experience at Renaissance Learning, Jonathan Mann. They discuss what design representation looks like there and take a look at the company’s journey towards design maturity in the midst of making acquisitions and merging into one team and organization. As a former design leader at PayPal and Target, Jonathan shares what he has learned about the unique considerations found in the education industry. This is Part 5 of the Design Maturity Series. How do leaders build design maturity in their teams and across their EdTech company? What are the challenges and what benefits are in store? Stay tuned. —— 🔸 Connect: Jonathan Mann  Alicia Quan  —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education UX Job Opportunities in EdTech UX of EdTech Blog Publication Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan on LinkedIn to receive an application. —— Music by Sleep Still --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Jing Jin, Head of UX at Outschool. They discuss how this startup has grown since 2017 and how the role of UX grew all the way to the executive level. Jing explains why Outschool has a role titled Head of School instead of a CEO and why they chose to skip the typical Chief Executive type titling. They discuss the role of Head of UX and its impact across the organization. Jing explains some of the obstacles she has faced and gives advice for leaders looking to build design maturity at other EdTech companies. We hope you enjoy our conversation and check below for ways to follow us further. This is Part 4 of the Design Maturity Series. How do leaders build design maturity in their teams and across their EdTech company? What are the challenges and what benefits are in store? Stay tuned. —— 🔸 Connect: Jing Jin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingidy/ Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/ —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education: https://sendfox.com/ux.edtech UX Job Opportunities in EdTech: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ux-of-edtech/ UX of EdTech Blog Publication: https://medium.com/ux-of-edtech Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan on LinkedIn to receive an application. —— Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Jamie Reffell, Head of Design at Clever. In this episode, Jamie gives us a working definition of design maturity and then weaves that throughout Clever’s recent story of design team growth. We talk about what happens when design maturity models don’t neatly apply to smaller teams and what the team at Clever did when they were in that situation. Also, what are the particular challenges that EdTech and education companies face when striving towards higher levels of design maturity? We discuss this and more. This is Part 3 of the Design Maturity Series. How do leaders build design maturity in their teams and across their EdTech company? What are the challenges and what benefits are in store? Stay tuned. —— 🔸 Connect: Jamie Reffell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jreffell/ Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/ —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education: https://sendfox.com/ux.edtech UX Job Opportunities in EdTech: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ux-of-edtech/ UX of EdTech Blog Publication: https://medium.com/ux-of-edtech Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan on LinkedIn to receive an application. —— Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Kara Hodecker, Head of Product Design at Panorama Education. In this inspiring episode, Kara masterfully unpacks how the team diagnosed their maturity level and the steps they are taking to grow rapidly while steadily increasing in design maturity. This is Part 2 of the Design Maturity Series. How do leaders build design maturity in their teams and across their EdTech company? What are the challenges and what benefits are in store? Stay tuned. —— 🔸 Connect: Kara Hodecker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karahodecker/ Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/ —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education: https://sendfox.com/ux.edtech UX Job Opportunities in EdTech: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ux-of-edtech/ UX of EdTech Blog Publication: https://medium.com/ux-of-edtech Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan on LinkedIn if interested. —— Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I —— --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Design maturity at EdTech companies. Who’s the best? This episode kicks off Season 2 and a series on Design Maturity within education and EdTech companies. We have a wide variety of companies and guests lined up so stay tuned! In this episode, Alicia Quan chats with Adil Dhanani, Director of Product Design at Handshake. One of many things that stand out about Handshake is the presence of a Chief Design Officer role. We dive into this and the ripple effects that it has across Handshake. —— 🔸 Connect: Adil Dhanani - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adildhanani/ Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/ —— 🔸 Resources: Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX careers, and Education: https://sendfox.com/ux.edtech UX Job Opportunities in EdTech: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ux-of-edtech/ UX of EdTech Blog Publication: https://medium.com/ux-of-edtech Slack Community: DM Alicia Quan if interested. —— Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan recounts the last year of the podcast (est. June 2020) and her journey in moving from a classroom teacher into UX and product design. She also discusses what is next for UX of EdTech.  More announcements coming soon! @ux_edtech 🔺 Follow the UX of EdTech Network and Alicia Quan: - UX job opportunities in EdTech - Medium Publication of resources on EdTech product design and research --- - LinkedIn - Twitter - YouTube - Instagram - Alicia's Medium --- Music: Scott Buckley --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with two instrumental team members on the Google Classroom product: Amanda J. Rosenburg - Lead Researcher, Team Lead Cora Foxx - a UX Design Lead We chat about: How to research and design for such a diverse pool of users globally Researchers considering self-care for the stories they carry (especially during the pandemic) How learning theory (academic research) and UX research of users behavior work together Design process What’s new and on the horizon for the Google Classroom product Connecting teacher voice to product Resume and portfolio tips to work at Google (especially for those with an academic or education background) Favorite resources for design and research 👉 Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX, and Education HERE --- ⭐ Connect with Amanda J. Rosenburg: - LinkedIn ⭐ Connect with Cora Foxx: - LinkedIn 🔺 Follow the UX of EdTech Network and Alicia Quan: - UX job opportunities in EdTech - Publication of resources on EdTech product design and research - LinkedIn - Twitter - YouTube - Instagram - Alicia's Blog Music: Scott Buckley --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message

Alicia Quan chats with Brett Gunter, a product designer at Weld North Education working on Imagine Learning products. They chat about a variety of topics, including: Bootcamp vs. university vs. self-taught routes Portfolio and interview tips First year designer tips Design critiques Favorite resources Continuing to sharpen skills throughout your career 👉 Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX, and Education HERE --- ⭐ Connect with Brett Gunter: - LinkedIn --- 🔺 Follow the UX of EdTech Network and Alicia Quan: - UX job opportunities in EdTech - Medium Publication of resources on EdTech product design and research - LinkedIn - Twitter - YouTube - Instagram - Alicia's Medium Music: Scott Buckley --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ux-edtech/message