Understanding User Experience: An Essential Component within Academic Support Resources at the University of Minnesota

Abstract

User experience (UX) has become increasingly important for organizations due to the growing need to design and maintain digital products for different audiences. This study focuses on user experience perspectives within Academic Support Resources (ASR), a service department that supports students, faculty, and staff at the University of Minnesota. Objectives for this study were to investigate user experience perspectives and practices within ASR, explore where UX fits within ASR’s human experience design ecosystem, and provide recommendations for improving UX maturity within the department. A survey was sent to all ASR staff members and several follow-up interviews were conducted with business analysts in ASR-IT. Major findings include that UX is very important to ASR's mission to make a positive difference in students' lives, and everyone in ASR is responsible for UX at some level. A number of recommendations are provided to increase UX maturity within ASR, including to build, document, and share UX knowledge and have leadership prioritize UX in ASR's work and processes. In the end, UX is an essential component of ASR and the department's human experience design ecosystem.