Hong Kong students struggle to plan their academic future amid overwhelming course options, differing entry requirements, and complex scoring schemes. The current research process is time-consuming, stressful, and often leads to decision fatigue and anxiety.
I was responsible for designing a web app as the sole designer on the project. My role encompassed everything from user research and conducting interviews to creating mockups, prototypes, and delivering final designs ready for development. Additionally, I collaborated closely with a developer, UX copywriter, and product managers throughout the process.
The Challenges
Our goal is to create a tool that can assist DSE student to identifying university courses where they have the highest chances of acceptance, narrowing their research scope based on personal interests and DSE results, enabling a more straightforward, informed approach to decision-making.
The Approach
Before diving into user research, it's crucial to understand how JUPAS (Joint University Programmes Admissions System) works to gain better insight into the applicants' perspective. JUPAS is a unified system for Hong Kong students to apply for undergraduate programmes. It is highly competitive, with admission rates varying significantly across programmes and institutions. Careful planning and strategic selection are key to maximizing admission chances to desired programs.
There have three critical phases in the JUPAS process it is decision making moment.
Phase 1: Initial Application: Students submit their JUPAS applications online.
Phase 2: Pre-Exam Update A period for updating programme choices before the HKDSE exams.
Phase 3: Post-Results Update Students have 24 hours to re-arrange their choices base on their exam result.
My next step was to investigated the common challenges students face in selecting university courses by interviewing 8 former and current DSE students. The research goals were to understand
How do students conduct their research and selecting university courses and what are their frustrations?
How do they prepare for and handle unexpected results?
What emotions do they experience during the process, and how do they manage these feelings?
The Discovery
The research findings revealed some unexpected insights into the primary challenges faced by students during the university course selection process. Contrary to initial assumptions, the main sources of frustration were not primarily related to the time-intensive nature of research or information overload. Instead, the data highlighted more nuanced and complex issues across three main categories:
Decision making challenge:
Uncertainty about future career paths
Pressure to choose prestigious programs
Balancing interest and admission probability
Emotional challenge:
Emotional Stress and Decision Fatigue
Stress causes procrastination and verse vise
Managing disappointment elation
Research challenge:
Overwhelmed by Information
Navigating complex admission criteria
Fear of Missing Out on Potential Options
These insights provide us a valuable foundation for developing more targeted and effective support mechanisms for students navigating the complex landscape of university applications and course selections.
“Riko, a diligent DSE student, feels overwhelmed by complex university choices and admission requirements. She needs a simple, supportive tool to confidently navigate course options and plan her future.”
The Ideas
It is clear that we have three main challenges to overcome, Decision making challenge, Emotional challenge, Research challenege:
We've firstly shifted focus to decision-making challenges, as students often struggle to initiate the process.
How might we guide students in establishing a starting point for their decision-making process?
A Two-Step Approach
When selecting a career path, it's important to consider both your predicted academic performance and your personal interests. We propose a two-step approach to help you make an informed decision:
Step 1: Narrowing Options with Predicted Scores
Begin by determining predicted scores. This will help: 1) Focus on options within thereach 2) Adjusting choices realistically based on theprojected performance. 3) Explore competitive options that may have previously overlooked
Step 2: Align with Your Interests and Aspirations
While predicted scores are crucial, it's equally important to consider your personal interests and desired career path. Aim to find programs that balance your academic capabilities with your passions. If trade-offs are necessary, this approach will help you make informed decisions.
Seek Advice with Confidence
This method also provides a solid foundation for seeking advice from parents, peers, or teachers. It enables more constructive and realistic discussions tailored to your specific circumstances and aspirations. By presenting a clear picture of your options based on predicted performance, you can have more productive conversations about your future and potentially bridge any gaps between your aspirations and others' expectations.
Contingency Planning
Research indicates that 33% of DSE applicants lack a comprehensive contingency strategy. This deficiency leads to critical challenges within the 24-hour decision window post-result release:
Rushed applications to available programs
Potential compromise on academic preferences
Elevated stress levels
Insufficient time for program evaluation and interview preparation
To address these issues, we propose enabling users to create three distinct plans for different scenarios:
Baseline Scenario: Aligning with predicted results
Overperformance Scenario: Capitalizing on higher-than-anticipated results
By adopting this multi-faceted approach, applicants can navigate the application process with enhanced preparedness and adaptability.
Research flow optimization: Act quick in critical moment
Optimised user flow for new users who haven't developed a contingency plan and have scored lower than expected in their DSE. This scenario demands a streamlined approach to meet urgent user needs, prioritizes efficiency and user-friendliness by eliminated non-essential steps.
Different flow design for different phases.
Flow of selecting courses
Lofi Prototype
I created a Lofi prototype to quickly to exemplify the two step approach and obtain user feedback as soon as possible. So that I can have time to adjust or even the change the approach if necessary.
Usability Study
A moderated test conducted with two different scenarios; the scenarios were designed to evaluate user performance under Phase 1 and Phase 3 conditions:
1) Research and Planning in a Relaxed Environment:
In this scenario, users were given sufficient time to complete assigned tasks, simulating a situation where they could plan and research at their own pace - Phase 1.
2) Time-Constrained Task Completion:
This scenario required users to complete tasks within a short timeframe: To finish the course selecting process base on their interest with given DSE score in short amount of time given - Phase 3
Feedbacks
1. Users have suggested making the results entry process easier and more efficient, especially for new users on DSE results day. To streamline this, we are exploring a feature to scan the result slip via mobile camera, allowing for faster and simpler data entry.
2. The best-match program list was initially too lengthy, making it difficult to view all options at a glance. We addressed this by introducing a condensed, short-list layout for easier browsing and quicker decision-making as an additional option for users.
3. During our first usability test, I discovered that only 8% of users utilized the comparison feature, far lower than expected. To improve visibility and engagement, we implemented a floating action button (FAB) for the compare function, leading to a significant usage increase to 35%.
Colour Strategy
Students often face the pressure of making critical decisions, leading to emotional stress and decision fatigue. To engage users' emotions, our tool uses color, which can evoke specific feelings. The theme color changes based on the DSE results entered by the user, with green as the default. This color represents growth, harmony, and freshness, creating a personalized and supportive experience as students navigate their decision-making process.
The Impact:
Positive impact but much more to improve.
The DSE Calculator app has shown promising results, with approx 11,200 registrations at launch—capturing one-fourth of the DSE student population—and receiving positive user feedback. However, only 33% of users engaged in pre-planning. To address this, we need to explore strategies to promote the value of early planning. I believe this behavioral shift will develop gradually over time.
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