THE BACKGROUND
The Client: University of Florida,
Digital Worlds Institute
Team from Digital Worlds
Work Done
What work have you done?
UX Research, Visual Design, User Experience Design, Interaction Design
Timeframe
4 month
Overview
UF’s Digital Worlds Institute is on the cutting edge of digital arts and sciences — both in our research initiatives and innovative approach to education. We are a recognized leader in combining arts, and communications.
UF Alumni Status
Social media connections between alumni from the 2000s to the present
Technology centers to gather alumni together and create future internships and volunteer programs
Timeline
July 2022 - September 2022
(Contract)
My Role
UX Researcher as part of increasing alumni engagement
Deliverable
Responsive Website
Company
University of Florida, Digital Worlds Institute
Digital Worlds alumni engagement into a practical communication social hub
THE BACKGROUND
The Problem
Digital Worlds Institute is a/an dedicated undergraduate program that needs to improve its alumni engagement because alumni currently lack information and support.
STAKEHOLDER STATEMENT
The Statement
“We need to find a way to increase Alumni social engagement and collect more donations for Alumni”
(James Oliverio ,Executive Director of the Digital Worlds Institute)
HMW PROBLEM STATEMENT
How might we...?
How might we support students’ mental health and interpersonal skills?
How can we engage with local events to improve our alumni portfolio showcase?
How might we generate an environment of engagement and growth between alumni and current students?
THE OVERVIEW
Overview of 4 Research Findings
Broaden mental health /career counselling
(3/7 users interviewed mentioned the need for workforce on this; it took 1–2 months to get counseling despite the demand, and some interviewees didn't even know there was a counseling program)
Connect with Alumni through social media
(Currently, they’ve mostly connected through Discord but only 6% of alumni are on there)
Offering Alumni perks
(Alumni can also benefit from school growth and continuing education for discounted rates)
Keep an up-to-date database
(Harvard, USC, and Calarts use Almabase to keep up with alumni data; when social gatherings happen, this database will be a great help. 6/7 users interviewed agreed)
CONCEPT TESTING
Accessibility Testing
Based on the existing website, Research team has surveyed total of 30 alumni
THE SOLUTION
Recommendations
Existing Website
Improvements
Improvements
CONCEPT TESTING
Keyword Search Traffic
See the list of top organic keywords driving traffic to digitalworlds.ufl.edu.(on desktop, worldwide) from the app traffic analyze report
SURVEY
50% of Alumni Want to be Engaged With Their School
If you are an alumni, has your school or organization reached out about alumni activities or ways to be involved?
(24 responses)
Yes, they have
No, they haven’t
Yes, they have but i’m not intrested
I am not an alumni
THE FINDINGS
The Findings
Broaden Mental Health
A sustained approach is needed for long-term success
Constant consultation for mental health and feeling that you are not alone in the career process is important.
Planning consultation schedules
Hiring a workforce for the counseling department to create approachable student counseling services.
I recommend executing this in the short term and making sure the institution is committed to the long-term outcomes.
Offer Alumni Perks
Alumni relationships with their alma mater should not be one-way
Effective alumni outreach should include offers of professional and personal support, such as professional networking events and career services, continuing education opportunities, and use of campus facilities.
UF doesn’t have to spend money on a venue
The school has already built a brand-new innovative hub and technology lab, and has gear and collaboration from local companies.
Connect through SNS
Digital Worlds Google traffic analytic reports
Audience interests reveal key details on the browsing interests of digitalworlds.ufl.edu's visitors.
digitalworlds.ufl.edu's audience interests
Computers Electronics and Technology > Social Media Networks & social network.
tHE RESULT
AB testing for the win
Alumni Arrangement Search Traffic
This new output focused design was ran as an AB experiment against its former version. From the results, the output focused design achieved 3X more conversions.
The Conversion
The conversions in this instance is defined as the click through from course page to checkout. And this is also the step where the user's email is collected. This will be beneficial for marketing's re-targeting efforts.
3x
Faster acessibility
