Designing Bootcamps
Unknown Unknown is an alternative bootcamp based on the premise that all the information that we need to learn a subject is already out there, free on the internet. It’s just that when you’re new to something you don’t know what you need to know, have a system to keep you accountable, or a curriculum to guide you. Using the plethora of free content that’s already out there, UU curates free courses anyone can enroll in.
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The challenge:
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Develop content guidelines that can be used to design curriculums.
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Design an accountability system.
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Build an e-learning platform.
Role: UX/UI Designer, Researcher
Tools: Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop
Timeframe: 2 Weeks
Client: Design Lab
01 Research
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Problem Analysis
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Secondary Research
02 Solution
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Brainstorming & Defining Solution
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Solution Validation
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Userflows
03 UI Design
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Brand Style
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UI Kit
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High-Fidelity Prototyping
04 Learnings
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Key Insights
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Challenges Forcast
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Next Steps
01 Research
Curriculum Success Criteria
The kickoff meeting made it clear the basis for all my research and solutions should be to get students to 80% proficiency on a given subject in the shortest feasible timeframe.
Interviewing SME’s
Starting this project was like being thrown into a pitch-black room and being told to find an exit. Curriculum design wasn’t exactly a subject in school! So I read as much as possible and talked to as many teachers and professors I could get my hands on.
However, speaking to teachers and professors wasn't that fruitful. They were frequently inundated with work, so they just followed the curriculum mandate. So I changed tactics and looked into what learning experts were saying instead, and found a treasure trove of information.
02 Solution
How do you design curriculums?
I’m a firm believer you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, someone in human history has had to face the same problem and has found a solution. Scouring the web, I found one of those people who tackled curriculum design... Tim Ferriss. A world-class learner who uses the DiSSS framework to create syllabuses for himself.
Deconstruction: Taking Things Apart
First, this amorphous “skill” has to be broken down into small, manageable pieces, we have to figure out the logo blocks. This stage about exploration, mapping, and seeing what sticks on the wall by flipping things upside down and seeing what the outliers -those achieving exceptional results with minimal effort- are doing differently. It involves doing a lot of interviews and reading up.
Selection: Choosing What's Most Valueable
Once we’ve looked at all the pieces that account for that skill, we need to distil into the fewest moving pieces that have maximum value. That means figuring out what the best learning materials and methods are. These are usually the ones students can use many times over because it’s easy, efficient, and effective. It’s about selecting the 20% of the blocks that achieve 80% of results.
Sequencing: Building A Sense Of Progression
Sequence refers to what order students should learn in. The hallmark of great sequencing is to feel better after learning. Learning should be structured with 20% of the blocks that achieve 80% of results first, and progressively get more difficult. This helps build momentum and a sense of progress which helps students stay consistent.
Stakes: Setting Up An Accountability System
Setting up consequences for not doing something is single-handedly the most effective method to ensure consistency and follow-through. Studies show there's a 33% success rate with no stakes, but that doubles to 72.8% when there are consequences. Here the most effective ways of setting up stakes: ​
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Finding an accountability buddy or group.
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Committing to a real-world project where you have to deliver.
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Finding a mentor.
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Setting up hard deadlines,
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Setting up stakes on stickk.com, a service designed to keep people accountable to their goals.
Diary Study - Testing The DiSSS Framework
To test run this system, I recruited my friend Sai as a lab rat. Sai has been trying to lose weight as I’ve known him. So I set a target to build an easy to follow curriculum to help him lose 3 kg in 2 weeks, and here are the results:
User Flows
In preparation for the UI, I had to draw up the course flow, which involved losing an unhealthy amount of sleep because the flows had to be:​
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Simple enough so students could easily understand what to do, when to do it, and easy to navigate the course.
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They had to be scalable so the same flow could be applied across a range of different courses.
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They had to be flexible so the curriculum team could easily update the syllabus, and not rely on the dev team to make changes, or drastically impact the UX.
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Finally, they had to adhere to all my previous research on how people learn.
COURSE FLOW
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03 UI Design
Style Tile
Our environments have a massive impact on our mood and sense of well being. Studying in classrooms can feel bleak, so I themed my colour pallet around green, to emulate the natural habitats we've evolved to live in.
Designing The MVP
Once I knew the platform's structure from my user flows, I made a mood board to help me visualise how each screen would look before sketching them out on paper, creating wireframes, hi-fi mockups, and finally, the prototype.
WIREFRAMES
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HI-FIDELITY MOCKUPS
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PROTOTYPE
04 Learnings & Next Steps
What We Need To Learn Next
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How do we get people to trust the curriculum? Now that we know how the platform would function, we need to look into marketing. First impressions tend to build expectations of product value, and consulting the marketing team about how we can build trust through our messaging is the first step to figuring this out.
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How do attitudes evolve? Courses on UU can be long-term commitments, and it's necessary to see how students attitudes change through ongoing diary studies.
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How do we make learning more gratifying? One of the keys to building good learning habits is loving the process. Exploring gamification is the first step to answering this question.
My Learnings
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Before reaching out to people you think are SME's, vet that they've done what you want to do: Seems like such a stupid mistake now, but I could have saved a lot of time by not interviewing teachers and professors if I viewed people's work history to see if they've worked on the problem I'm trying to solve.​
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What you do is more important than how you do it: Researching Tim Ferriss, I came across a quote, "if you work on 20% of the stuff that leads to 80% of the results -within reason-, instead of working the way you "ought" to work on. You'll achieve more in a fraction of the time." Having worked in start-ups I've heard this before, but it became starkly clear on this project. ​
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For the love of crumpets, take more breaks: Interest and energy are cyclical. 3-4 hours into my work, I'm usually facing diminishing returns, but taking a 15-30 minute after that mark is a godsend. Having said that, do not, I repeat, do not look at any screen during the break... find a beanbag and become the bean bag.