Role: Experience Designer, Visual Designer, Instructional Designer

A Career Development Course for Postgraduates

As a digital developer for the University of Otago Higher Education Development Centre, I collaborated with programme developers to design an online course with the aim of helping early-career academics explore their career ambitions.

Using the ADDIE Development Model (Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate), I created course components and interactive activities.

Part 1: Analysis

I started the project by analysing existing course components created by the programme developers. I also reviewed the academic research that serves as the foundation for the course.

Following this process, I collaborated with one of the course instructors to finalise the course structure and outline. The instructors had initially drafted this structure using a koru diagram, which I translated into the graphic below.

Part 2: Design

A Design System

Drawing from my training in experience design, I developed a design system that would establish consistency for the course, as well as an accessible colour scheme that could be reused or adapted for future modules.

The colour scheme adheres to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, reflects the four main course sections, and includes the University of Otago brand colours.

Navy blue evokes the university’s primary colour royal blue. The remaining colours draw from a framework that some video games use to communicate progression:

• Light blue serves as the main colour for Part 1 - Self-Discovery

• Light green is used for Part 2 - Career Options

• Purple represents Part 3 - Practical Strategies

• Orange serves the dual purpose of representing Part 4 - Taking Action, as well as referencing the university’s secondary colour goldenrod

These colours appear in each visual element of the course.

Part 3: Development

With the programme outline and colour scheme in place, I set to work brainstorming, sketching, illustrating, and diagramming, based on my notes from my initial analysis of the course. The goal was to add visual and interactive elements that augment the educational content.

I crafted custom illustrations, graphics, diagrams, and short animations (featured in the title graphic at the top of this page.) This process required every aspect of my design skills (and more!). Each element involved assessing the best way to communicate research data, while also considering accessibility and learner experience. I’ve added some of the visual designs below:

Illustration from a module that provides tips for networking

A set of illustrations representing topics to consider when a job candidate is negotiating an employment contract

Part 4 Implementation

With the individual course components created I started uploading and embedding content in the team’s Learning Management System edX Studio.

I also developed colour-coded journal and portfolio activities based on the course concepts, providing learners with documentation of their career development journey that they can reference when researching and applying to jobs.

Part 5 Evaluation

We have recruited students to test the course, and intend to use learner feedback to make adjustments so that the completed programme addresses student career development needs.

Evaluation questions:

• Is the course navigable and understandable? Are course concepts clearly communicated?

• Is the course accessible? Do any adjustments need to be made to improve accessibility?

• How do learners feel about the course? Does it seem cohesive and professional? Do they feel the content is useful?