Leading Design at an Education Startup (Maven)

Designing for K12 EdTech? Take a moment to linger in the world of this teacher.Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin listen to second-grade teacher Danielle Rivera, as she shares her perspective on growing through EdTech’s various iterations. She also gives her personal perspective on this question: What do veteran teachers want from AI?Chapters00:00 - The Joys and Challenges of Teaching06:08 - Transitioning Back to Teaching08:42 - Leveraging EdTech and AI22:04 - Future Aspirations and ReflectionsFollow usDannielle on InstagramFind or share job openingsPublicationNewsletterUX of EdTech is a design studio and talent finder—tailored for EdTech.

Alicia Quan introduces our new podcast co-host, Sarah Mondestin! Ever wondered how to collaborate with UX of EdTech? This episode should point you in the right direction. The hosts discuss Sarah's diverse career journey from educator to UX content designer and her involvement in various UX of EdTech initiatives. The conversation covers the structure and goals of the UX of EdTech Community and Studio, highlighting their focus on networking, showcasing work, and supporting EdTech companies with specialized UX teams. Don’t miss the end where they highlight what is inspiring them lately. Chapters01:26 - Sarah's career journey06:50 - The Community 15:54 - The Studio20:53 - This week’s curiosity and inspirationsWorth Noting Sarah Mondestin is a former educator and principal. She’s a UX Content Designer and Strategist who helps companies consider their overall UX content strategies. Sarah has served as the Editorial Lead and Content Design and Research Advisor to support UX practitioners in our industry. She’s now the Director of Design Operations and Partnerships for UX of EdTech. Follow Sarah on LinkedIn or visit her website for more ways you can collaborate.  Sarah’s previous podcast episode: EdTech UX Writing and Content Design: A Journey Sarah’s article series: UX Writing in EdTechFollow us Find or share job openings Publication Newsletter (Respond to this episode here)The Community application is available on our website.UX of EdTech is a design studio that cultivates learning, creativity, and play.

How can UX practitioners upskill in game design for a learning context? And why is this important in EdTech? ⁠Alicia Quan⁠ chats The Sims, cheat codes, and moving past the “Big 5” of gamification (points, badges, leader boards, levels, progress bars) towards something more with: ⁠Chris Bennett, Game designer, Stanford invited lecturer, and EdTech advisor Worth Noting:⁠ Chris’ Stanford Game Design Thinking Blog  Nine Dimensions of Deep Flow  Browning’s MDAO framework  Core Engagement Loop Follow UX of EdTech The Latest in UX of EdTech ⁠UX Job Openings⁠ in EdTech

What is the current state of inclusive EdTech products and what are some resources to grow in this area? Alicia Quan chats with: Louisa Rosenheck, Director Learning Design at Kahoot! Sean Oakes, Creative Director at Backpack Interactive Worth Noting: The Kahoot! For All project, funded by the LEGO Foundation Follow for more goodies The Latest at UX of EdTech UX Job Openings in EdTech

Alicia Quan chats with two members from the Khanmigo team at Khan Academy: Karen Shapiro, Sr. UX Researcher, former teacher of 16 years Jonah Goldsaito, Principal Product Designer They discuss: The story of how Khanmigo was developed and their early partnership with OpenAI on its GPT4 LLM launch The most challenging parts of the journey so far Balancing excitement and optimism with caution and foresight when it comes to AI developments What’s next for Khanmigo ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter UX Job Openings in EdTech ——  🔸 Show Mentions: Khanmigo ——  Music by Sleep Still

Alicia Quan chats with several members from the team at ETS AI Labs: Lisa Ferrara, Sr. Director, Product Development  Narmeen Makhani, Executive Director of Technology  Erin Scully, Sr. Director of Learning Science and Design  They discuss: 1. Cross-functional approaches to product development  2. The role of LX Design 3. Educational contexts and use cases for AI 4. Designing with explainable AI in mind ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter UX Job Openings in EdTech ——  🔸 Show Mentions: ETS AI Labs ——  Music by Sleep Still

Alicia Quan chats with Dr. Rachel Schechter, who founded Learning Experience Design (LXD) Research at Charles River Media Group, acting as Principal Investigator and Chief Research Advisor to companies large and small. Rachel helps guide the use of data and evaluation to support product improvements, build evidence of efficacy, and strengthen customer implementations. They discuss: Ensuring educator-leaders choose literacy programs that work LXD Research Research certifications of products and why is it important The relationship between UX research and these certifications Advice for education/EdTech researchers of all kinds ——  🔸 Connect:  Dr. Rachel Schechter Alicia Quan 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn & UX Job Opportunities 🔸 Show Mentions: LXD Research ——  Music by Sleep Still

Alicia Quan chats with two members from Duolingo about their work as an early launch partner with OpenAI’s GPT-4 model: Edwin Bodge, Principal Product Manager Megan Bednarczyk, Senior Product Designer  They discuss how they launched Duolingo Max, including: The story of how Duolingo Max came to be Biggest challenges of that journey and process Balancing optimism with caution when it comes to recent developments in AI Advice for teams currently exploring and building with GPT4 and generative AI ——  🔸 Connect:  Edwin Bodge Megan Bednarczyk Alicia Quan ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter Job postings and resources in UX and EdTech ——  🔸 Show Mentions: Duolingo Max ——  Music by Sleep Still

Alicia Quan chats with Yuan Wang, the Head of Design at Maven, aka the university of the future. She is also a leadership coach (CPC) and an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts. She previously led design at Airbnb, Twitter, and Mozilla. They discuss: Maven’s mission How the Founding Product Designer role influenced the business Best timing for hiring design support at a startup What’s next for leading design at Maven Maven is currently hiring a product designer Advice for those working in UX and also education Learning communities  ——  🔸 Connect:  Yuan Wang Alicia Quan ——  🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter Support for those hiring and job seeking in UX and EdTech on LinkedIn ——  🔸 Show Mentions: Maven ——  Music by Sleep Still

Alicia Quan chats with a few members of the team who worked on Quizlet’s Q-Chat, the world’s first AI tutor built with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It is modeled on research demonstrating that the most effective form of learning is one-on-one tutoring. Eli Kariv, Sr. Product Manager, Pranavi Javangula, Product Designer, Ling Cheng, Director of Machine Learning They discuss: What problem is Q-Chat solving for? What user outcomes were you working towards? A common question being asked is whether ChatGPT is a threat to education. What is your take on the topic? What were some of the concerns you worked through as a team? What feedback have you received since the release from educators and students? What have you observed? It’s March, 2023. Will we still be talking about ChatGPT next year? Thoughts on the anticipated release of GPT-4? Advice for product designers, UX professionals, and product teams currently exploring and building with GPT and other generative large language AI models? —— 🔸 Connect: Eli Kariv Pranavi Javangula Ling Cheng Alicia Quan  —— 🔸 Resources: UX of EdTech Newsletter LinkedIn Page + UX Job Opportunities —— 🔸 Show Mentions: Q-Chat in Beta  —— Music by Sleep Still: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wEV3QCeKk62F3w2x3zo5I