{"id":738229,"date":"2021-04-06T09:51:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-blog-post&p=738229"},"modified":"2021-04-06T09:51:53","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:51:53","slug":"why-ux-researchers-need-to-be-great-educators","status":"publish","type":"msr-blog-post","link":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/research\/articles\/why-ux-researchers-need-to-be-great-educators\/","title":{"rendered":"Why UX researchers need to be great educators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our impact depends on facilitating others’ learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Hilary Dwyer, PhD (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Researcher<\/p>\n

I\u00a0found my way into\u00a0UX Research after many years as an educational researcher,\u00a0where my work spanned teaching, developing curricula,\u00a0and understanding diverse\u00a0learner needs. When I left academia, I\u00a0believed\u00a0my research training\u00a0to be my most\u00a0valuable skill. However, being a great educator has\u00a0turned out to be\u00a0my\u00a0career\u00a0superpower.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being a great educator means I focus both on producing research insights and finding ways for my stakeholders learn those insights.\u00a0Similar to when\u00a0I was teaching,\u00a0I am curious about what motivates\u00a0my stakeholders\u00a0to learn,\u00a0how they retain information,\u00a0how I can\u00a0build on their prior knowledge, and\u00a0what\u00a0experiences\u00a0can\u00a0activate those\u00a0behaviors.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the following, I\u2019ll share 3 ways being an educator made me a better researcher, and some quick teaching tricks to incorporate into your research practice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1) <\/span><\/b>I\u00a0recognized\u00a0what motivates\u00a0my\u00a0stakeholders to learn\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Researchers are well-trained to understand the complex lived experience of customers,\u00a0but often our non-researcher teammates lack the same time, training, and interest.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Think of a subject you disliked in school – it\u2019s challenging to feel motivated about something you\u2019re not interested in. This is an issue that teachers manage every day: How do you excite and energize others about knowledge you possess?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a UX researcher, I would spend time getting to know my teammates: what were they struggling with, what did they already know about UX,\u00a0and\u00a0what were they curious about\u00a0more generally.\u00a0Knowing this\u00a0helped\u00a0frame the \u201cso what\u201d of\u00a0my\u00a0projects and develop new formats to share findings\u00a0that built on their interests.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2) I focused on how my stakeholders and teammates processed new ideas <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The end-goal of many\u00a0UX research projects is to inform product and business decisions,\u00a0which means\u00a0it\u2019s incredibly valuable to\u00a0understand\u00a0how stakeholders process ideas that\u00a0inform their\u00a0decision-making.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Teachers recognize\u00a0that students\u00a0are diverse in how they process information.\u00a0Most students need things said aloud\u00a0to also be in writing, many engage more deeply in topics through discussion, and others need quiet time to process.\u00a0Educators scaffold new ideas on existing\u00a0ones and\u00a0use\u00a0multiple\u00a0ways to share information\u00a0all the time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a UX researcher,\u00a0everything I said aloud was also in writing, I re-iterated prior ideas often, and I focused on simplifying my key\u00a0findings.\u00a0As well,\u00a0I\u00a0adapted my delivery to the learning preferences of\u00a0different stakeholders. Some did better when I scheduled\u00a0a\u00a01:1\u00a0meeting\u00a0with them, others when I sent an email summary. I stayed flexible in how I met the learning needs of colleagues.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0I designed experiences to\u00a0co-create\u00a0knowledge\u00a0on my team<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many ways to share\u00a0knowledge but\u00a0co-creating it with others is\u00a0one of\u00a0the most successful.\u00a0And our\u00a0our UX processes are filled with opportunities to co-create knowledge on our teams.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Educators\u00a0recognize that they are\u00a0facilitators\u00a0of the learning process,\u00a0not experts transferring knowledge.\u00a0They\u00a0notice\u00a0that\u00a0students learn best when they have some ownership on\u00a0the learning\u00a0process, and when the learning is collaborative,\u00a0hands-on,\u00a0experiential, and enjoyable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a UX researcher, I\u00a0frequently experimented\u00a0with ways\u00a0to interact, discuss,\u00a0and\u00a0co-create knowledge about customers. We created\u00a0walls of post-its,\u00a0marked up\u00a0posters,\u00a0encouraged questions during readouts, etc. I also\u00a0emphasized\u00a0that the findings\u00a0were\u00a0stronger when more people participated\u00a0and shared\u00a0their thinking.\u00a0And the more fun I made the research process, the easier it was to get teammates to engage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s all become better\u00a0educators!<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a quick list of teaching\u00a0behaviors\u00a0you could try\u00a0in the coming weeks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n