What UX design principles help you create responsive digital learning experiences?

Conducting user research ahead of creating content is an essential step. This research will help you craft personas for testing pilot content as well as guiding your design choices. User research should include some combination of: - User interviews - Focus groups - Feedback (on past content) analysis - Organisational study - Work observation - Reverse interview (they ask you questions) There are many more approaches, but these are some of the highest-impact techniques I use to inform my first steps. Once you get going on ideas and prototypes, you can use card sorting, user testing, and yes, more focus groups, to guide iteration of your content.

Accessibility is often seen as a bolt-on that can be covered at the end. It should be a core consideration from the very start of the project. You must ideate, design, and develop your solution with accessibility in mind. Every time you decide on a video over an image and text, or an infographic with a QR code, you should consider the accessibility requirements and implications. I suggest assembling an accessibility testing panel within your organisation. These people, ideally users, should be regularly looking at your work, finished and in progress to check for accessibility issues and advise on potential improvements.

A pilot should be unconditional when launching a new piece of digital learning. Having a core group of 10-15 people you deploy the solution to first allows for any teething problems to be resolved, and for the content itself to get a final round of review from real users before EVERYONE sees it. My advice is to make being a part of the L&D testing group something to aspire to. Give it a brand, a coffee mug, or something of that ilk. This is both a thank you to those helping you out, but also promotes involvement with L&D in the wider business.

I’m big proponent of "affordance" making it intuitively clear to users how to interact with elements. In learning design, leveraging affordance can significantly enhance the learning experience by making educational materials more accessible and easier to navigate. Using visual cues like icons, colors, and shapes can guide learners to interact with the content in meaningful ways. If a button looks like it can be pushed, learners are more likely to press it to see what happens next. Incorporating elements that resemble familiar real-world objects can aid in understanding complex concepts.

Prioritize accessibility, inclusivity, and user-centered design. Ensure clear navigation, consistency, and feedback. Optimize for responsive design, performance, and privacy. Offer flexibility and customization for a personalized learning journey.