Timeline
Role
Team
UBC Workday allows students to create schedules and complete course registration successfully. However, our research with 11 students revealed three recurring pain points with the current UBC Workday interface. My team and I redesigned the experience around these findings.
Making Course Registration Effortless for Students
UBC Workday Redesign
the problem
In think aloud observation sessions and interviews with 11 students, these were the recurring frustrations.
Nearly all students stated they relied on external resources, alongside recurring complaints about a lack of clear calendar views and an inefficient workflow.
the goal
user research
Grounding Design in Real Student Feedback
We conducted multiple rounds of user research to gather direct feedback from students on the current Workday interface and our designs. We also conducted internal cognitive walkthroughs to catch prototype problems as our fidelity increased. As students ourselves, we understood these pain points well which helped us stay focused on the user throughout the project.
This helped us discover that what students wanted most was not fewer clicks but rather a clear calendar view for both schedule creation and viewing.
As students search courses, they can add them to the schedule to see how they compare to their current choices.
The current interface displays courses as a list without calendar visualization
before
after
Our user research showed 8/11 students valued clear calendar visualizations which helped us discover that students don’t just want fewer clicks. The current UBC Workday interface only has a list of courses without calendar visualization which user research revealed as a feature students wish they had. As such, we decided to embed a calendar in the schedule creation process.
design decision 1
Unclear options
Users felt two choices were daunting and the descriptions did not provide enough context for each choice
Clear descriptors
The longer button descriptions tell users exactly what path they are heading down.
before
after
Based on cognitive walkthroughs by our own team, we identified an early issue in our starting page. The original starting page offered two paths without enough context causing users to feel unsure which option to choose, and worried they couldn’t go back once they’d committed.
In the next iteration, we added clearer button labels to help users confidently make an informed choice.
Confusing Starting Page
design decision 2
before
after
Unclear Search Bar
The colors and typography of the search bar and filters look similar, making them hard to distinguish.
Filters Trade-off
We decided to prioritize a simple course searching experience rather than introducing more clicks and complexity with filters
Unclear Search and Filtering
Our cognitive walkthroughs also revealed that the filter and search section of our low-fidelity prototype slowed users down. The search bar was too visually similar to the filters, making it hard for users to easily locate.
We considered redesigning the filters to be visually distinct but we decided removing them was the simpler fix. The search alone covered the majority of what students were trying to do, which was adding courses, and the filters added a layer of complexity without a clear payoff.
design decision 3
Problem 1: Students relied on outside tools for course information
Our solution:
Our solution:
Our solution:
Problem 2: Creating a schedule was confusing without a calendar
Problem 3: Students found building a schedule without a calendar inefficient
rating for
clarity
4.5/5
10/11
participants described the workflow of creating a schedule as clear and logical.
rating for
efficiency
4.2/5
9/11
of participants found having a calendar view increased their efficiency when creating schedules
rating for
integration
4.1/5
8/11
participants noted the information pop ups are useful.
usability testing results
Validating the Design Through Usability Testing
With a second group of 11 students separate from our initial research participants, we evaluated whether our design improved the UBC Workday interface. These results map directly to the three problems we set out to solve which were inefficient workflows, unclear calendars, and not enough course information.
We noted when participants mentioned improvements in the core three problems and asked for subjective satisfaction ratings during the interview.
Final Design
The final design resolves all three problems identified in research as students no longer rely on outside tools for course info, schedule creation is clear and logical, and the calendar view increases efficiency.
reflections and conclusions
what I learned
next steps
As my first design project, this taught me not to get too attached to any single iteration. I was initially attached to the two-option starting page and filtering system believing that it would help students with course registration. However, after team discussion, I learned that they added friction rather than confidence for students in schedule creation. Always keeping users in mind is something I will take with me for my future projects.
During usability tests, the most requested change was to integrate more information in the pop ups such as course averages. We would also add options to select a term and a name for the saved schedules, and delete courses during schedule creation as these are crucial steps in creating a schedule since students often create multiple schedules and make edits.