The UX Team are involved with a new project that will optimise Learn Ultra for assessment and feedback.  

The LOUISA project aims to enhance the assessment and feedback process for student and staff

LOUISA (Learn Optimised for In-Course Submission and Assessment) is a project that has recently been launched within the Learning, Teaching and Web directorate, part of Information Services.  

It builds on the success of UX approaches used in previous projects, such as Learn Foundations and Learn Ultra, which established consistent standards for Learn (the University’s Virtual Learning Environment) and upgraded the existing version of Learn to the most up-to-date version. 

User research conducted with staff and students during these projects highlighted frequent pain points associated with the assessment process at the University of Edinburgh. For example: 

• Inconsistencies in assessment processes from course to course and School to School. 
• Some students struggling with the workflows to submit coursework. 
• Staff members putting effort into producing good feedback and feeling frustrated if students don’t always read it. 

LOUISA will return to these issues to understand how changes could be made to ensure a more consistent staff and student experience. 

User Experience methods will uncover current user problems and test potential solutions

The LOUISA project comprises four workstreams: Learn Foundations; Communications and Engagement; Training and Support; and User Experience (UX). The UX Team in Website and Communications will be leading the UX workstream; this is a working group of Learning Technology colleagues from all three Colleges, as well as colleagues from Educational Design and Engagement. 

LOUISA project brief – requires login.

The UX Team will be running a series of user research activities with staff and students to understand their experiences of the assessment process. This is similar to the approach taken in the Learn Foundations project, which conducted a large programme of research with a diverse sample of users to find out the needs and expectations of staff and students using Learn.

You can read more about this work in previous UX blog posts:

Blog post: User research into the needs of students and staff using Learn

Blog post: A service design approach to Learn Foundations

It is important to research these needs and painpoints in the project for several reasons: 

• To ensure priorities and solutions are based on evidence, not assumptions. 
• To reduce bias towards one department or user group over others. 
• The solutions are more likely to work if problems are correctly identified and fully understood. 
• Staff and students are more likely to trust recommendations if their voices are heard throughout the process. 
• Once the project is finished, colleagues can clearly see how the recommendations came about and why they are needed. 

The UX team are conducting early research with staff and students

During summer 2024, a small sample of students were interviewed to gain a broad understanding of the stages involved with submitting an assessment and reviewing feedback.  Some of our early findings suggest that: 

• Guidance for submitting assessments isn’t consistent across courses and schools. 
• Multiple digital dropboxes in Learn can cause confusion for students about where they should upload their submission. 
• It’s not always clear to students where they can find their feedback. 

Staff representatives have been involved with reviewing, analysing and prioritising the themes emerging from this research as part of the UX workstream. The UX Team have also been engaging with College representatives to learn more about staff painpoints in the assessment and feedback process.

More information about these activities will be provided in future blog posts.