user experience as strategy
UX@UA emerged in 2017 as a learning community for people doing UX work at the University of Arizona. In a recent presentation at the eduWeb Spring Innovation Showcase, I gave a whirlwind tour of where we’ve been, what we’re learning, and what we’ve accomplished to date.
Breaking down silos and barriers, UX@UA is building UX capacity campus-wide and is committed to making our university a more human-centered organization.
Last week, I presented a talk titled, “Fostering a UX Culture Across Campus” at CNI’s Spring Meeting (the Coalition of Networked Information). It was originally going to be in San Diego in late March, but moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with talks spread out throughout March, April, and May. The slide deck and full recording are below.
Description of the talk:
User experience (UX) is a multidisciplinary venture that encompasses research, design, content, architecture, engineering, and systems. At the University of Arizona, an informal community of practice emerged in 2017 called “UX@UA” to support cross-departmental learning and sharing of resources. This community now includes over 400 students, faculty, and staff who are studying, teaching, and doing UX. Members of the UX@UA leadership team are from the Libraries, Department of English, Eller College of Management, and Digital Learning. In addition to monthly meetup events for sharing knowledge and networking, the group is supporting campus initiatives such as lightweight user testing through a “Tiny Cafe,” a shared participant pool, a drop-in UX consulting hour, a toolkit of reusable templates, and a UX/UI testing zone in the library. In this talk, you will learn how we are building capacity, breaking down silos, and fostering user-centered thinking and practices campus-wide.