Self-paced classes
Building upon the foundation of our company’s in-person learning experiences, our small team designed, tested, and built four self-paced online classes with nearly 10 hours of content. As a curriculum designer, researcher, and instructor working on the classes, I sought to pull together content that would be unique, relevant, and energizing for our users. Setting off on this project, we knew that the internet was already saturated with how-to videos, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and lots of other e-learning experiences. With classes on LUMA Workplace, we aimed to create something that could serve as a foundation for people who are brand new to learning Human-Centered Design as well as a deeper dive for those coming from LUMA’s in-person workshops.
After doing lots of initial user research, brainstorming as a team, and taking stock of several forms of content that we could provide to people in an online learning environment, we settled on a few key sections that were used consistently across the four classes. While we incorporated some more traditional lecture-style videos with tips and tricks from experts, we also included many hands-on activities through ‘warm-ups’ and ‘practice videos’ to create a more engaging and immersive experience.
While I worked on four self-paced classes, I’m most proud of the work we did on ‘The Power of Working Visually’ class. Structured with over four hours of content, this class included lots of great advice on how to use Human-Centered Design methods in visual and engaging ways. For years, we had consistently heard from our customers in workshops and interviews that they didn’t feel like they could draw or sketch, especially at work. To help people increase their confidence working visually, we created content that would encourage practice, exploration, and simplicity.
“[The power of working visually] really gave me some tools to help lay out my thoughts visually and draw some recognizable things.”
WARM-UPs
To help viewers feel more comfortable sketching and working through the class content, we provided several warm-up videos to have them sketch along with the instructor, Mike. In these videos, Mike would ask viewers to grab a marker and some paper and try all of the exercises themselves along with him.
PRACTICE VIDEOS
We also included practice videos to give viewers real challenges to work through to help them gain confidence in sketching and using the methods in their own work. In this section, we had a practice video for ‘Thumbnail Sketching’, which encourages fast idea generation in small thumbnail-sized sketches.
Q&A
To round out each section of the class, we included a Q&A video. In these videos, our instructor, Mike, served as the teacher and Leandra was there to ask questions, playing the part of the viewer. Since we didn’t have a mechanism for people to ask questions directly, we felt that this video could help viewers feel more included.
“I just got into it and got hooked... all three of the longer
classes I just went straight on through.”
showing Impact
In order to show people that our system could help them make impact, we invited and filmed real people talking about the successes they have had using human-centered design in their own work. For the video shoot, we interviewed several customers working in education, law enforcement, and government services.
Highlighting value
In addition to providing an overview of the LUMA system and human-centered design, we also showed people how to use LUMA Workplace.