Design Solution
My team & role
I was the UX/Product Design Lead for this project. In this role, I was responsible for defining the vision, strategy, and planning for the domain alongside the product lead. I also led research, data analysis, discovery sessions with the squads, framework development, UX and UI design, and pixel-pushing. Throughout the project
I worked closely with 1 Product Manager, 2 User Researchers, 1 Front-End Engineer, and 1 Back-End Engineer.
About the Product
The Education Assessment System (EAS) is a digital platform designed to help students earn academic credit for knowledge gained outside the classroom — through work experience, military service, volunteering, or independent study. This process is called Prior Learning Assessment (PLA).
Why AI Trust Matters
The stakes of AI trust in this context are unusually high. If a student dismisses the AI's course suggestions
When AI recommendations are wrong or incomplete, the cost is not just inconvenience. Students can lose earned credit, repeat courses unnecessarily, and begin to doubt whether the platform understands their academic path.
🧩
Lost Transfer Credit
They miss credit they may legitimately deserve
Сhallenge #1
💸
Repeated Coursework
Сhallenge #2
🚧
Broken Pathway Promise
The platform fails its core purpose entirely
Сhallenge #3
Research
Understanding how students experience Prior Learning Assessment
The Education Assessment System (EAS) helps students convert work experience, military service, and independent learning into academic credit — but the existing platform made that process confusing rather than empowering. Our team set out to understand where students got stuck, how they felt while navigating the platform, and whether they trusted the AI-generated course recommendations enough to act on them.
Who We Studied
Designing for students returning to education, not just current ones
Our target users weren't traditional full-time students. They were adults who'd entered the workforce after high school and were now weighing whether to come back — people with real experience but uneven familiarity with how that experience could translate into credit. We recruited across a spread of education levels and backgrounds to make sure the platform's design held up for people seeing PLA for the first time, not just confident early adopters.
Stat callouts (pair with age/education charts):
50% of participants were 18–23
57% held a Bachelor's degree or some college; one had a high school diploma
Participants spanned four locations: Indiana, Arizona, India, and Taiwan
Goal
Earn a Bachelor's in Healthcare Administration and move into a management role.
Frustration
Feels stuck in her current position despite significant experience.
Worried about juggling work, school, and family obligations.
Doesn't want to repeat what she already knows.
Quotes
”Maria has over 15 years of experience in office management and healthcare administration. She has completed multiple professional development programs but never finished her degree due to raising her children and working full-time.”
Why EAS Matters to Maria
Maria is exploring the EAS platform to see if she can convert her professional and training experience into college credit. She’s eager for a guided, intuitive system that helps her identify which experiences qualify, estimate potential credit, and streamline her degree completion. She appreciates tools that can simplify and personalize the process.
Age: 38
Location: Austin, Texas
Education Level: Some college (stopped after sophomore year)
Maria Thompson
Senior Administrative at a healthcare company
About
Maria has over 15 years of experience in office management and healthcare administration. She has completed multiple professional development programs but never finished her degree due to raising her children and working full-time.
Interest
Parenting
Personal growth
Health care trends
Productivity tools
Motivation
Maria wants to achieve more professionally and ensure better financial stability for her family. Earning a degree will improve her career prospects and set an example for her children, showing them the value of education.
Goal
Earn a degree in Supply Chain Management and enter the civilian workforce in a logistics role.
Frustration
His military experience isn't fully understood or valued by civilian employers.
The college application process feels too slow
He feels like he’s starting from scratch in civilian life.
Quotes
“I’ve led teams across the world but now I’m expected to take an intro to leadership class?”
Why EAS Matters to James
J.D. is exploring the EAS platform to see how his military training and certifications might be recognized in the academic process. He values having a system that respects structured military experience and offers guidance on how to begin the transition toward a degree. He appreciates tools that can streamline documentation and help him present his background more effectively to institutions.
Age: 30
Location: San Diego, California
Education Level: High school diploma + military certifications
James “J.D.” Rivera
Recently discharged Navy logistics specialist
About
J.D. served 8 years in the Navy, focusing on logistics, inventory management, and operations. He has gained significant hands-on experience but lacks a formal college degree.
Interest
Playing strategy games
Working out
BBQ & Grill
watching movies
Motivation
J.D. is motivated by the desire to successfully transition to civilian life and secure a stable career in logistics. Earning a degree will provide him with both formal credentials and the confidence to enter the private sector.
Goal
Earn a Bachelor's degree in IT or Computer Science and secure a full-time job with a tech company.
Frustration
His self-taught skills are often undervalued by employers.
Frustrated by the prospect of retaking basic courses he’s already mastered.
Doesn’t know which colleges will accept his non-traditional learning for credit.
Quotes
“I’ve built real apps for real clients—why should I waste time in an HTML 101 class?”
Why EAS Matters to Brian
Brian is exploring the EAS platform to see how his self-taught experience might qualify for course credit through prior learning assessment. He values the AI-supported tools that help him organize and present his portfolio, and hopes to streamline his degree path by identifying which skills or projects may count toward academic requirements.
Age: 26
Location: Seattle, Washington
Education Level: Associate Degree in Graphic Design
Brian Lee
Freelance Web Developer
About
Brian transitioned into tech by self-teaching web development and design through online platforms. He has built a successful freelance career but lacks formal credentials in computer science.
Interest
Hiking
Personal Tech Project
Digital
Art
Cafe Hopping
Motivation
Brian is motivated by the desire to gain credibility and formal qualifications in the tech field. He wants a stable career with growth opportunities in a field he's passionate about. Achieving a degree will help her feel more confident and competitive.
Methodology
A mixed-methods approach, by design
No single method tells you why someone abandons a form. We combined three approaches so each could compensate for what the others miss: surveys captured stated attitudes before and after, think-aloud testing captured what people actually did and where they hesitated, and thematic analysis pulled the two together into patterns we could act on.
01
Surveys (Pre/Post)
02
Think-Aloud Testing
03
Thematic Analysis
SCOPE
Five stages, one continuous journey
Before testing began, we mapped the platform's core flow to make sure our tasks reflected how a real student would actually move through it — not an idealized version of the journey.
Five stages (list):
Log In / Sign Up
Homepage & Profile Overview
Add Experiences
Create Submission
Submission Details — disciplines, AI course recommendations, verification
Affinity Diagram
Synthesis
Turning 9 transcripts into 7 actionable themes
We began with a full pass across all 9 think-aloud transcripts, tagging every moment of confusion, hesitation, or trust with a short descriptive code — over 120 in the first pass. Through several rounds of refinement, deduplication, and priority-ranking, that list narrowed to 63 codes, then grouped into 7 recurring UX themes. Each theme carries two names: an internal name for analytical precision, and an external name in plain language for stakeholders who weren't in the room for the research.
Design Solution
LEarnings
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