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Me + 1 developer
Figma, Miro, Canva
End to end product designer &user researcher.
User research, concept ideation, interaction design, prototyping, user testing
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60 responses | Age 18 - 25
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8 responses | Age 18 - 24
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30+ Online forums
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I sorted my insights into a bottom up affinity diagram, which helped me to identify trends arising from the interviews, survey and online forums. Below is a synthesised version of the affinity diagram after grouping common bottom level insights into common points (there were originally 100+ bottom level insights that I summarised into a few key points here).
Through my affinity diagram, I established 4 main themes:
RNT was typically triggered by concerns around exams, work and relationships - and were more common around stressful periods like exam or internship season.
My interviewees had trouble being motivated to change their attitudes or behaviour whilst in the RNT cycle as they did not realise they were engaging in RNT.
My interviewees were generally very open to meditation and CBT as interventions. Most participants did not understand what RNT was and expressed a desire to learn more, but only if it was easy to understand.
Participants were more likely to engage in interventions when they recognised their thoughts as unhelpful and when there was external pressure - i.e. when they had a prior commitment.
So in summary - students were open to mobile methods of targeting their RNT, but found it difficult to remain open to doing so when actually ruminating/ worrying, which mostly happened during stressful periods. The most effective experiences of snapping out of a RNT cycle were when they had extrinsic motivation to stop ruminating/ worrying.
These insights led me to refine my problem statement, which would inform the rest of my processes:
Refined Problem Statement
How can I make university students feel more motivated to change their attitudes while engaging in Repetitive Negative Thinking (RNT)?
📌 Learnings - Discovery phase
What are the main ways university students study for an upcoming exam?
What are the key challenges students experience when trying to learn?
What are the key challenges students experience when trying to learn?
Using crazy 8s to rapidly generate possibilities and then reverse thinking to refine these solutions, I narrowed down my solution to 3 possible ideas, which I then analysed using a decision matrix. I ended up choosing option 1 (interactive postbox) because of its resource efficiency, permanency and customisability for people of all social comfiness.
OPTION 1
This ranked highest on accessibility, fun, feasibility and interactiveness.
OPTION 2
While this idea was fun, it was not as accessible or feasible compared to other options.
OPTION 3
This idea was the most feasible but seemed unhuman and was tone deaf to our issue.
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Time - poor students who do not attend lectures or spend time on self - study perform worse in assessments and exams
Method of study may be more important than the time spent studying. Three useful study techniques include:
💡 Our Research Question
To understand the methods and frustrations of students when trying to understand and digest large amounts of course content in preparation for exams and assessments.
BEHAVIOURAL
What are the main ways university students study for an upcoming exam? How do these methods affect their experience of exams?
BEHAVIOURAL & ATTITUDIONAL
What are the key challenges students experience when trying to learn and revise new content?
ATTITUDIONAL
What are university students' perspective on using a mixture of diagrams and notes for studying?
Our research yielded some interesting results. After conducting our research, we used affinity diagramming to reach a few key insights: link to affinity diagram. We noted 3 key points from our research:
CURRENT METHODS OF STUDYING
'I study by taking notes from lectures and readings on Google Docs, Onenote or Notion' - Joanna, 21, Sydney
Students mainly study using note - taking, writing notes in their own words, copying slides and teaching others. To summarise information, they often use Google Docs, Notion and ().
CHALLENGES WHILE STUDYING
'I feel confused by overwhelming amounts of course content to learn in short periods' - Online ethnographic source
Students find understanding overwhelming amounts of content the most challenging part of studying. They have particular difficulties keeping up with lectures, revising and (). This leads to stress, a sense of being overwhelmed, and less desire to study.
ATTITUDES TO DIAGRAMMING
'I find visualisation useful but making diagrams is hard to integrate into my study' - John, 21, Sydney
Many students find diagramming useful even though they don't directly use it in their studying. Students may not use diagramming in their studying because they feel it is too difficult to integrate with their existing notes, there are no good free diagramming software, or they feel that creating diagrams slows them down.
These insights led us to refine our problem statement:
💡 Refined Research Question
How do we integrate a hybrid solution to visual learning and traditional notetaking into students' study experience and encourage generation of own notes and self testing/ presentation?
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We analysed the experiences and demographic data of our interviewees and translated them into three personas characterised by how much time and effort they dedicate to studying. Our target users lay in the range of not studying at all, to studying almost every day. Their reasons for not studying were mostly time poorness, ranging from social events, part time job
Studies ~2 hrs / week
I want to pass but because of my job I just have no time to study often.
2nd Year • BArts • 19
Studies 6+ hrs / week
I try to get HDs but there is often too much content to study for at once!
4th Year • LLB • 21
Studies <1 hr / week
Study isn't a top priority, I guess. I wouldn't stay home for it.
3rd Year • BEng • 22
After narrowing down our concept, it was time to research competitors.
Note taking tool
3rd Year • BEng • 22
Mindmapping tool
2nd Year • BArts • 19
Hybrid tool
4th Year • LLB • 21