UX of EdTech

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Sarah Mondestin

Alicia Quan

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🔸 Show Mention:

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Music by Sleep Still

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Justin Morken

Alicia Quan

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Music by Sleep Still

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Amanda Gulley 

EdPlus at ASU 

Alicia Quan 

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Music by Sleep Still

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Jonathan Mann 

Alicia Quan 

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Music by Sleep Still

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Jing Jin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingidy/

Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/

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🔸 Resources:

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Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Jamie Reffell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jreffell/

Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/

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🔸 Resources:

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Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I

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.

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🔸 Connect:

Kara Hodecker - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karahodecker/

Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/

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🔸 Resources:

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Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I

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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.

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🔸 Connect:

Adil Dhanani - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adildhanani/

Alicia Quan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia2joy/

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🔸 Resources:

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Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I

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

- UX job opportunities in EdTech

- Medium Publication of resources on EdTech product design and research

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- LinkedIn

- Twitter

- YouTube

- Instagram

- Alicia's Medium

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Music: Scott Buckley

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:

👉 Email Series: Exploring EdTech Product Design, UX, and Education HERE

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⭐ 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