Analyzing the Course Selection Process for WashU Students using UX Research

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I have suggested a new service for course registration at WashU called ReqPlan. This suggestion comes from an in-depth research process of interviewing students and conducting UX research methods like usability testing. The low-fi product, modeled after UX design methods, aims to address the main pain points that students experience when registering for courses during their time at WashU. My research process is explained below.

Core Problem

WebStac, the current platform WashU uses for course listings, has many services designed to help students track their division requirements and four year plan. Unfortunately, this platform and other student resources designed to aid in the course selection process are not as effective and helpful and they are intended to be. As a result, students encounter difficulties finding courses that fulfill division and major requirements as well as courses that align with their interests.

Research Goals

Are students able to find the needed information about which qualifications the course fulfills on WebStac or do they use their major department’s website?
What factors into the decision students make to choose one course over another when they are unable to take both?
How many students, independent of their advisors’ guidance, are aware of all the requirements they have left to fulfill?

The current system on Webstac for checking requirements

Assumptions

Audience Assumptions

I assume that all students at WashU have to interact with WebStac in order to plan their courses.

I assume that people want to find classes most suited for their major/division requirements and academic interests.
I assume that students like to take classes with professors that have good reviews on course evaluations and on Rate My Professor.

Core Business Assumptions

I assume that major departments have developed their own way of listing course attributes so that students can easily access an understand the attributes (what parts of the major requirements each course fulfills).

I assume that the university has a lot of information to portray on WebStac and consolidating this information is difficult to do in an organized manner.

The current WashU course listing database — this is difficult to navigate.

Constraints

As a primary Arts & Sciences student, I am restrained by not having as much knowledge of scheduling/requirements in the other school divisions.

I am restrained by being an upperclassmen which could make it difficult to find underclassmen to interview about their experience with course registration.

Research Methods

After identifying the my assumptions and constraints present within the study, I interviewed 6 WashU students about their course registration experience using WebStac to more closely identify students’ desires for an improved course listings platform and for an overall smoother course registration process.
Additionally, I conducted usability testing with two sophomores where I observed their experience using WebStac. I observed and recorded the comments they made during the process of putting their registration worksheets together and creating a schedule for the next semester. I chose this method because hearing the students’ commentary when compiling their schedule easily allowed us to identify their pain points with the platform.

Usability testing using WebStac was conducted by making a schedule like the one in this photo.

I compiled the main takeaways from each student’s interviews and the usability testing into overarching themes noticed across their responses. This organization process is represented in my affinity map.

Affinity Map

Affinity Map Takeaways

Students often resort to external resources like Excel and Google Sheets to curate their four year plans at WashU.

A preferred resource for many students is the suggested four year plans for specific majors.
The time of day a class occurs is a main priority in order to create a suitable work-life balance.
Despite frustrations, students still work through using WebStac for course selection because it is the best resource that WashU has to offer.
Although students are still strongly relying on WebStac, they have found that relying on WashU advisors and major department’s websites is the most effective way to gather information about courses.

Based on the information I gathered in my research, I created a persona and user journey map of a typical WashU student going the course registration process.

Persona

Journey Map

Needs Statement

Students need a platform for a more simplified course registration process and therefore would benefit from a platform that centralizes all of the elements that go into selecting a course into one space.

Storyboard

Scenario: Course registration is coming up, and Adam still needs to select his courses for the coming semester. He is concerned about having too much on his plate because he still needs to secure a summer internship. He decided to use ReqPlan, a service that allows students to their preferences and it automatically generates a schedule for you.

Features for Schedule Generation

Students can specify fields and interests that go beyond their major.
Students can specify timeframes they would like their classes to be within and gives them the ability to plan around lunch and extracurriculars.
Students are able to select specific requirements they need fulfilled within their division.
The lock feature allows students to keep certain classes on their generated schedule while ReqPlan searches for new classes in just a few of the time slots instead of generating a brand new schedule.
Students can specify if they are planning to study abroad, graduate early, etc. so that ReqPlan generates a schedule that allows them to meet their goals with these plans in mind.
This feature is what students click after they have set every filter to their specifications and are ready for ReqPlan to create a schedule for them. They can also click this to create new different variations of schedules and once they have locked some classes.