iSchool Alumni Network
Webpage and User interests
My Role
Researcher & Designer
Timeframe
24 hours
Tools & Methods
Survey, Figma
Context
UXTerps Make-a-thon
Project Focus
Determine what users are most interested in and expecting from an alumni network in order to highlight and improve current iSchool Alumni Network features and update the webpage as a way to increase interest and membership in the alumni network.
Survey Focus​
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What enables and motivates Alumni to sign-up for the iSchool Alumni Network?
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What keeps Alumni engaged with iSchool Alumni Network, including while in a virtual environment?
The Process​​
Research
Survey Graduate and Undergrad Students to identify Pain Points
Data Interpretation & Analysis
Develop the users stories via data
Design
Design ideas based on the findings
Survey
See Full Survey Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lSfqJ1CAyi_S9rPpqJLlwEztnSViz3wauH-lzcopjWI/viewanalytics
10 Participants
6 HCIM graduate student | 3 InfoScience undergraduate | 1 Business undergraduate
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Respondents mentioned that they are most active on Twitter and are most likely to engage with the iSchool there
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"I think the iSchool should have a stronger social media presence especially on Twitter -- I use that a lot!" - Survey participant
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80% of the participants know that joining an alumni association may benefit themselves, but only 50% of them notice iSchool provides the alumni network, and they did not how the iSchool Alumni Network would benefit them.
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90% of the students expressed that they expect more opportunities to network and mentorship out of the iSchool Alumni Network. They overall want to know that something is “in it for them” through joining.
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70% of them already have a LinkedIn account for networking and job searching, and one said they already have paid for LinkedIn and wouldn’t want to pay for this networking site.
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Design​
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Design Process
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The design process consisted of:
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Sketches
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Lo-Fi Prototypes
Sketches
Due to the short time frame each team member created their own sketches in a 15-20min time frame. Then as a group we determined which features were best and combined them to create the Lo-fi Prototype
Lo-Fi Prototypes
Alumni Network Homepage | Internal Alumni Profile | Internal Alumni Event Search and Resigtration |
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Internal Alumni Network Social Feed |
Further Recommendations
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Tracking demographics of users who have already signed up for the alumni network and them coming up with a model that can predict which users are more likely to sign up. The site can be presented to them in the form of targeted advertisements.
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Understanding what people are expecting from the system in a better way by conducting comprehensive surveys and interviews.
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Analysing historical data to understand types of popular events and promoting them on the site
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Understanding what type of posts on the internal social media platform get the most engagement and promoting them on the feed
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Ranking benefits based on some metric (number of people using it/number of people interested in it) and promoting the most popular ones on the home page