Communications teams make decisions about websites, campaigns, and digital content every day, but too often, those decisions are based on assumptions, internal opinions, or the loudest stakeholder in the room.
UX research doesn’t have to require a large budget or an external agency. With the right methods and a bit of structure, communications teams can run their own simple tests to uncover how students understand, navigate, and engage with their content.
In this hands-on session, you’ll learn practical UX research methods that can help improve web content and digital experiences. While many examples will focus on testing web content, these techniques can also be applied to campaigns and other digital communications. We’ll walk through methods such as think-aloud usability testing, card sorting, heatmaps, and discuss when each approach is most useful.
Participants will practice crafting UX research activities—like writing effective testing tasks—and learn how these methods can generate meaningful insights to inform content organization, messaging, and user experience. We’ll also share real examples of how these approaches helped guide web content decisions and facilitated stakeholder alignment across multiple units.
You’ll leave with ready-to-use scripts, templates, and checklists so you can confidently run small UX tests with students or stakeholders.
Ariel Lee
Content Strategist, University of British Columbia
Ariel and Jana are members of the Web Content Team within Student Communications Services at the University of British Columbia. They manage students.ubc.ca, a central resource for UBC students which receives approximately 4.2 million page views annually. To keep over 400 webpages on the site accurate, up-to-date, and student-friendly, they collaborate with more 70 stakeholders across campus.
Prior to COVID-19, Student Communications Services also led the UX Lab, an initiative that recruited and trained 10 to 15 student volunteers per term to conduct usability testing on campus. When not working, Ariel and Jana can be found hiking in beautiful British Columbia and eating snacks.
Jana Rolland
Web Content Specialist, University of British Columbia
Ariel and Jana are members of the Web Content Team within Student Communications Services at the University of British Columbia. They manage students.ubc.ca, a central resource for UBC students which receives approximately 4.2 million page views annually. To keep over 400 webpages on the site accurate, up-to-date, and student-friendly, they collaborate with more 70 stakeholders across campus.
Prior to COVID-19, Student Communications Services also led the UX Lab, an initiative that recruited and trained 10 to 15 student volunteers per term to conduct usability testing on campus. When not working, Ariel and Jana can be found hiking in beautiful British Columbia and eating snacks.