Syllabus User Research
For my Needs Assessment and Usability Evaluation course, I am completing a semester-long research project surrounding the comprehensibility of course syllabi. Throughout this process, I interviewed stakeholders as well as developed personas and a task analysis.
Project Type
User Research
Date
September - December 2024
Skills
Interviewing
Personas
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Problem Statement
New students are often overwhelmed by the transition from high school academics to college. Course syllabi play a major role in setting students up for success in their classes. If students struggle to comprehend the information in their syllabi effectively, they may have a difficult time keeping up with assignments and reaching their academic goals.
Research Goals
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Understand how current students use their course syllabi for time management and assignment organization
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Explore the relationship between a professor's presentation of their syllabus and students' comprehension
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​Learn how students are impacted by the format and content of their syllabi
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Examine how feelings surrounding syllabus comprehension have changed over students' time in college
Methodology
Interview: Semi-structured with contextual inquiry​, around 45 minutes per participant
Interviewing users provides an opportunity to get detailed qualitative data about the research topic. In contrast surveys give little room for explanation. There are a lot of aspects that play a role in how people interpret syllabi and I wanted to make sure I could ask interviewees in depth questions about each of these elements.
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Contextual inquiry provides the researcher an opportunity to explore the research question in a more natural environment. Having my participants read through a new syllabus gives me insight into how students use the documents in practice. Asking them questions allows them to reflect on their decision making and brings to light observations that they may not recall during interview questions.
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Participants: 5 college students, 4 at the University of Michigan and 1 at Northwestern University
Original Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
Inclusion
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Students at large universities (> 8,000 students)
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College freshman/sophomores
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College courses were an academic adjustment for the student
Exclusion
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Students at small universities (<8,000 students)
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Upperclassmen
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In a smaller program at their university (nursing, etc.​​
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I do not know many underclassmen at the University of Michigan, so the participants I interviewed ended up being primarily upperclassmen. They still have insight on how their syllabi affected them freshman year, and they bring in a perspective on how their views have evolved.
Affinity Diagram
Using Miro, I analyzed ​the data from my participants' interviews. I created clusters of patterns and determined common themes between students and their understanding of their courses' syllabi.
Analysis
Deliverables
Persona: Demonstrates a typical college student who uses syllabi and has struggled with them before.
Task Analysis: Breakdown of a typical student's process accessing their course's syllabi and using it to set up a schedule for their semester using tools like Google Sheets and Calendar.
