User Experience (UX) Design and Research
Advance your skills in user-centred UX design and start your journey towards a career in UX or UX research.
Duration
Approx 35 weeks3-10 hrs per week
User Experience (UX) Design and Research
Discover the UX design and research techniques to create great products
This ExpertTrack offers you the chance to gain a solid foundation in UX research and design, whether you’re just starting out in UX or you want to advance your existing UX knowledge.
Learn UX prototyping, try UX sketching, and evaluate design concepts
You’ll gain hands-on experience in key core areas of UX design, from understanding your user needs and implementing user-centred design to rapidly generating UX prototypes and iterating on design concepts.
You’ll learn how to take a product from the initial concept, through to the user research, ideation, and refinement stage, before conducting formal analysis, UX prototyping, and user testing.
Under the guidance of experienced UX professionals from the University of Michigan, you’ll discover how to apply various UX perspectives and methods to ensure a great user experience at every step.
Explore the fundamentals of user research
The most important part of user experience design is to understand the users’ needs. To do this, UX researchers use a number of methods to gather data like interviews, surveys, and tests.
You’ll look at the different techniques and tools you can use to assess your users’ needs. From writing questionnaires to implementing remote testing, this course will guide you through every step of the user research process.
Apply UX design principles to a product in practice
This ExpertTrack concludes with a capstone project, where you’ll be able to apply all that you’ve learned about incorporating UX research and design principles to design a complete product.
You’ll take the product from an initial concept to an interactive prototype and will receive feedback and guidance so that you’re prepared to take on the challenge alone in the future.
Key skills you will learn
- User experience
- UX research
- UX design
- Evaluation
- Prototyping
- Surveys
- Analytics
- Online testing
Experience required
This ExpertTrack is an introductory level course so you don’t need any prior experience in UX to get the most out of it.
Getting started
This ExpertTrack is designed for anyone who wants to gain UX training and experience in UX principles and processes, as well as UX research.
ExpertTrack course overview
Course 1
Introduction to User Experience Principles and Processes
4.5 (6 reviews)Learn the basics of the UX design process, how to conduct effective user research, and kickstart your career in user experience.
5 tests
6 weeks
3 hours per week
Week 1
What is UX? What are UX Research and Design?
- Getting Started
- What is UX? What are UX Research and Design?
Week 2
UX Design Overview
- UX Design Overview, Part 1
- UX Design Overview, Part 2
Week 3
How Do People Perceive Information?
- How Do People Perceive Information?
Week 4
How Do People Act in the World?
- How Do People Act in the World?
Week 5
Design Heuristics
- Design Heuristics
Week 6
Heuristic Evaluation and Course Wrap-up
- Heuristic Evaluation and Course Wrap-up
- Bonus Material
Course 2
Understanding User Needs
Discover qualitative UX research methods, UX interview best practice, and affinity programming for user-centred UX design.
5 tests
5 weeks
3 hours per week
Week 1
Lesson 1: Introduction and Qualitative Research Overview
- Getting Started
- Content
- Test
- Student Activities
- Discussion
Week 2
Lesson 2: Interview Protocols
- Content
- Test
- Student Activities
- Discussion
Week 3
Lesson 3: Interviews, Observation, and Data Extraction
- Content
- Quiz
- Student Activities
- Discussion
Week 4
Lesson 4: Affinity Walls and Analysis
- Content
- Test
- Student Activities
- Discussion
Week 5
Lesson 5: Conclusion
- Content
- Test
- Discussion
- Attributions
Course 3
Evaluating Designs with Users
Learn how to evaluate your designs by using effective UX testing methods and building robust UX research processes.
4 tests
4 weeks
3 hours per week
Week 1
Evaluating Designs with Users
- Getting Started
- What is User Testing?
- Wrap up
Week 2
Evaluating Designs with Users
- User Test Basics
- Wrap up
Week 3
Evaluating Designs with Users
- Getting More Out of User Testing
- Wrap up
Week 4
Evaluating Designs with Users
- Analysis and Reporting
- Planning: Preparing for the User Test
- Test
- User Test Report
Course 4
UX Design: From Concept to Prototype
4.2 (6 reviews)Better understand the UX design process and learn how to build a user-centred product from concept to prototype.
6 tests
6 weeks
3 hours per week
Week 1
Introduction to the Design Process
- Introduction to the Design Process
Week 2
Ideation
- Ideation
Week 3
Design Constraints and Making Choices
- Design Constraints and Making Choices
Week 4
Building Blocks of User Interaction
- Building Blocks of User Interaction
Week 5
Low to Hi-Fidelity Prototyping
- Low to Hi-Fidelity Prototyping
Week 6
Conceptual Issues in Prototyping and Design
- Conceptual Issues in Prototyping and Design
Course 5
UX Research at Scale: Surveys, Analytics, Online Testing
Build your skills in conducting UX surveys at scale to gain UX insights, and explore alternative testing and research methods.
7 tests
8 weeks
3 hours per week
Week 1
UX Research at Scale: Surveys, Analytics, Online Testing
- Course Introduction
- When and How to Use Surveys
Week 2
Asking the Right People (Coverage Error)
- Asking the Right People (Coverage Error)
Week 3
Getting Answers (Nonresponse error)
- Getting Answers (Nonresponse error)
Week 4
Writing Questions (Measurement Error)
- Writing Questions (Measurement Error)
Week 5
About Research at Scale
- About Research at Scale
Week 6
Behavioral Analytics
- Behavioral Analytics
Week 7
Remote Testing
- Remote Testing
Week 8
A/B Testing and Preference Testing
- A/B Testing and Preference Testing
Course 6
UX (User Experience) Capstone
Take on a realistic UX project and apply your UX skills to conduct user research and design a product from the ground up.
3 tests
1 peer-graded assignment
6 weeks
10 hours per week
Week 1
Introduction and Project Brief and Needs Finding Plan
- Welcome to the Capstone
- Milestone 1 - Project Brief and Needs Finding Plan
Week 2
User Needs and Initial Design Sketch
- Milestone 2 - User Needs and Initial Design Sketch
Week 3
Low-Fidelity Prototype and Micro-usability Test
- Milestone 3 - Low-Fidelity Prototype and Micro-usability Test
Week 4
Med-fi Prototype and Heuristic Evaluation
- Milestone 4 - Med-fi Prototype and Heuristic Evaluation
Week 5
Final Revised Prototype and User Test Plans
- Milestone 5 - Final Revised Prototype and User Test Plans
Week 6
Final Report
- Graded Final Report
Prove you're job ready
Highlight the new, job-relevant skills you’ve gained and supplement existing qualifications with a hard-earned, industry-specific digital certificate – plus one for every course within your ExpertTrack.
- Learn the latest in your chosen industry or subject.
- Complete each course and pass assessments.
- Receive certificates validated by the educating organisation.
- Impress employers with learning outcomes you can add to your CV.
- Make your career dreams a reality.
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How ExpertTracks work
Join an ExpertTrack to master new skills in your chosen specialist area. Work through a series of topic-focused courses at your own pace, and pass the final assessment to earn a digital certificate award which proves your expertise.
Decide if the ExpertTrack is right for you with free access to the full suite of courses and assessments for a week.
Pay a monthly subscription fee of $39 for as long as it takes you to complete the ExpertTrack. You can learn at your own pace and cancel at any time.
Receive a certificate for every completed course and pass the final assessment to earn a digital certificate.
Use your specialist training to progress further in your career or build expertise in areas you’re passionate about.
World-class learning with University of Michigan
As the #1 public research university in the United States, U-M has been a leader in research, learning, and teaching for more than 200 years, with 102 Grad programs in the top 10 — U.S. News & World Report (2019).
Established
1817Location
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USAWorld ranking
Top 30Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
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ExpertTracks are a series of online courses designed to help you master new skills in specialist areas. You pay a monthly subscription fee which includes access to all courses within the ExpertTrack, as well as assessments and the final digital certificate.
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