UX Transform Day 1 @ Academy Xi

Mark Potter
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

Today marked an important date in a new and exciting career chapter; Day 1 of Academy Xi’s UX Transform (UXT) course.

After spending the last decade teaching Design Thinking and Technology to primary school students, it was time to pack ‘my school bag’ and return to the classroom; this time as a student.

Although I was feeling nervous, the excitement for this new journey was immense, and I was definitely ready to get Day 1 started. After meeting some other students, we gathered as a group and had the chance to meet the Xi crew and share some laughs over our chosen spirit animals. I’m very excited about the cohort of talented colleagues that I’ll be learning alongside; definitely an impressive diversity and depth of knowldege and skills. It was very interesting to listen to everyone’s story of how they arrived at this point. The connections and commonalities between us was quite thought provoking.

Coming in to this experience from a teaching background, I was really excited to get to know our instructor. Rob Williams set the scene beautifully with an energetic and passionate first day of teaching. Rob’s experience and passion for UX was definitely a huge factor in choosing Academy Xi and today confirmed that I had without a doubt made the right choice.

One of the highlights of Day 1 was working on a task with one of my new colleagues, Vienna. The task required us to begin interviewing and collecting qualitative data in order to develop empathy and understanding. As Vienna and I connected over photography, we decided to create an ‘X’ (for UX) using ‘snapshots’ to tell each others stories. The collaborative process was really enjoyable.

Thanks to all at Academy Xi for making Day 1 so awesome! Excited for what’s in store.

Mark Potter

Written by

Teacher turned UX Designer - passionate about empathy driven UX, design thinking & innovation. Analogue camera enthusiast, water lover, and experience collector

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