A product that helps DSE students find universities with the best acceptance odds. It narrows course choices by interests and results, simplifying decisions. It aims to reduce stress, acting as a supportive "buddy" throughout the application process.
My Role
I led the web app project. I also collaborated with developers, UX copywriters, and product managers. My responsibilities included user research, interviews, mockups, prototypes, and final design delivery.
Hong Kong students face academic planning challenges: overwhelming choices, varied requirements, and complex scoring. This leads to a time-consuming, stressful research process, resulting in decision fatigue and anxiety.
Understanding the problems
Understanding JUPAS, Hong Kong's university admissions system, is essential for user research on applicants. JUPAS is competitive, demanding strategic program selection. To identify student challenges, I interviewed 8 past and present DSE students. This research aimed to uncover the difficulties they encounter when choosing university courses.
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
The Ideas
It is clear that we have three main challenges to overcome, 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?
1. 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 the reach 2) Adjusting choices realistically based on the projected 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
Looking to connect? Send me a message!
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
