How do you create user scenarios that support learning outcomes?

1 Define your learning outcomes

Before you create user scenarios, you need to know what you want your users to learn from your product or service. Learning outcomes are statements that describe the knowledge, skills, or attitudes that users should acquire or demonstrate after using your product or service. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, a learning outcome for a language learning app could be: "By the end of this course, users will be able to read and write basic sentences in Spanish."

2 Write realistic and relevant user scenarios

Once you have defined your learning outcomes, you can write user scenarios that illustrate how users can achieve them. These scenarios should be realistic and relevant to your target audience, context, and platform. Each should include a user persona - a fictional representation of your typical or ideal user - as well as a situation, goal, task, and result. For example, a user scenario for the language learning app could be: Maria, a 25-year-old student wanting to learn Spanish for her upcoming trip to Mexico, is at home using her smartphone to access the app. Her goal is to learn how to write basic sentences in Spanish. She selects a lesson on sentence structure, watches a video explanation, and completes a quiz. Maria receives a score and feedback on her performance, and moves on to the next lesson.

3 Use user scenarios for different platforms and contexts

User scenarios are a great way to design and test your product or service on different platforms and contexts. For example, you can compare and contrast how users interact with your product on different devices, such as desktop, tablet, or mobile. Additionally, you can explore how users adapt to various situations, such as online or offline, formal or informal, individual or collaborative. Furthermore, user scenarios can help you identify and prioritize the features and functions that are most important for your users on each platform and context. They also enable you to evaluate and improve the usability, functionality, and user experience of your product or service on each platform and context. For instance, you can use user scenarios to test how a language learning app works on a desktop computer versus a smartphone, or how it supports users who want to learn Spanish for travel versus for work. All in all, user scenarios are invaluable tools that can help you create products and services that support learning outcomes more effectively and efficiently.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?