Understanding how learning takes place
Building a foundation of research to understand how users approach learning to inform product onboarding strategies.
This project was conducted under a NDA.
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This page provides an anonymized overview of the project without key details, deliverables or related artifacts.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Why learning?
We worked with the user research and onboarding strategy team of a global technology company for this project. ​
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Our client desired a foundation of research about how users learn to inform product strategy decisions as well as to build connections with existing internal frameworks and syntheses.
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Our proposal offered an in-depth diary study highlighting users learning skills over several weeks. This would provide our client and their stakeholders with diverse inputs about how learning takes place, to inform their user onboarding strategies.
Learning means expanding your own knowledge to something new. It’s a mechanism [...] that you’re always doing and continually growing through. You’re a better person after you’ve learned something.
Story from participant
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Goals & Objectives
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Develop a holistic understanding of user goals, motivations, mindsets, support systems and more, when trying to gain knowledge
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Identify best practices and build frameworks that assist sub-product teams in building a more user-centric onboarding experience
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Connect new findings from research to existing institutional knowledge to ensure actionable output and continued value of the project
Methodology
This research was conducted in the U.S. and Japan, to contrast learning styles and achieve enough data to create a foundational report. I led analysis, synthesis and deliverables for this project.
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We recruited a mix of participant types to holistically understand how learning takes place.
Learners
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15 participants from the US and Japan
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A mix of subjects or topics they are each interested in learning
- Different levels of confidence in learning with technology support
- Different levels of technology adoption ​
Educators
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10 participants from the US and Japan
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A mix of subjects or topics they are experts/educators for
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A variety of tools and methods they use to educate students
Our main source of data came from participant diary entries and subsequently, follow-up interviews.
Diary Entries using dscout
Participants self-documented their experiences learning a topic or skill through photo/video and text response missions.
Participants shared their:
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Bright spots and challenges while learning
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Considerations to teach effectively
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Tools and resources that they use
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Environments they typically learn in
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Progress milestones
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Support systems
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Motivators to keep learning
Follow-up in-depth interviews​
With a selection of our original sample, our team used 90-minute interviews to dive deeper into responses and probe about motivations, detractors and other key aspects of our participants' learning journeys.
Using dscout supported us in asking follow up questions to participants and gathering a variety of media-rich data.
Key Research Questions
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How do individuals start learning?
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What kinds of goals do people set?
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What incentivizes individuals to learn?
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How do people stay motivated?
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Where do users turn to for support?
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What mental models do learners use?
Individually wrote a detailed, foundational knowledge report on learning and relevant opportunities for our client to consider.​
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Developed a mental model framework that highlights motivators, detractors and actions users take during different learning phases.
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Highlighted regional takeaways and market nuances for our clients' US and Japanese stakeholders to draw inspiration from.
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Secured future projects for the firm with our clients interested in conducting further research for different internal stakeholders.
Please reach out if you are interested in more details about the deliverables and outcomes of this project!
