Review: University of Michigan’s “Introduction to UX Principles and Processes” on Coursera

The pros, cons, materials covered & key takeaways of the course

While on my journey to become a self-taught UX professional, I knew the first big challenge I would face would be to develop a strong foundation in the fundamentals of UX. After a lot of asking around on Quora and Reddit, I knew this course was the place to start.

Introduction to UX Principles and Processes was my first course on Coursera, and I had a great experience taking it. It is the first part of this six-part specialization in User Experience Research and Design by the University of Michigan. I can assure you that the content is super high-quality, probably the best online resource there is to learn about this field. Special shoutout to Michigan’s iSchool and Coursera for putting this up!

Why I took this course?

I wanted to gain a high-level introduction to the fields of UX Research and Design. To be specific, I wanted to further the little knowledge I had regarding the several ways of conducting user research and the various phases of the design process. My main motive was to grasp some of the underlying UX principles before diving into the more advanced courses.

How much does it cost?

This course is paid if you want the certificate and access to the peer-review grading system for your assignments. It costs $49 per month until you complete the course. I am really grateful to have received financial aid from Coursera for this course, which enabled me to take advantage of the peer-review grading and quizzes free of cost.

How much time commitment is required?

This course was split into six weeks. An investment of 2–4 hours per week was suggested by the University of Michigan, which is about 18 hours in total. I completed the course in the appropriate time period which is 6 weeks, but I feel like I spent about 20–22 hours in total. In my opinion, the assignments may take longer for some as they involve a myriad of tasks like sketching, ideation, and analysis. I tend to be a perfectionist at times, which is why I feel I spent some extra time on it.

What is the format of the course?

Most of the course is the instructor talking into the camera, which I feel is a great user experience as it keeps the learner focused and engaged during the delivery of content. Then after every mini-topic in a lecture, there is a slide that recaps it in short and concise points. This system worked very well for me.

What material is covered?

Here’s the material covered over the course of six weeks:

Week 1: What is UX? What are UX Research and Design?

• Defining the goals of UX research and design
• Recognizing the main components of UX
• Describing the skills needed for UX research and design
• Identifying various methods of UX research
• Explaining the iterative design process

Week 2: UX Design Overview

• Recognizing the language of UX research and design
• Describing various prototyping techniques and recognizing the purpose and value of each
• Demonstrating how UX designers use sketching and prototyping to develop design concepts
• Practicing the incorporation of a user-centered focus into the design process

Week 3: How Do People Perceive Information?

• Identifying the key features of human physiology and behavior that have an impact on the design of interactive systems
• Describing the different types of human memory and how this has an impact on design challenges
• Describing how UX researchers discover and assess user needs

Week 4: How Do People Act in the World?

• Identifying terms that describe the user experience
• Listing the stages of user action when interacting within an environment
• Explaining how different features of an environment can impact user actions
• Explaining how users’ conceptual models can influence how they perform in an environment

Week 5: Design Heuristics

• Explaining how heuristics can be used in the design of an interface, platform, or system
• Listing Neilsen’s 10 heuristics for user interface design
• Articulating the value of minimalist design
• Critiquing and designing interactive systems based on human capabilities and behavior

Week 6: Heuristic Evaluation and Course Wrap-up

• Preparing and conducting a micro-usability test
• Identifying and ranking usability issues encountered when conducting a usability test
• Applying heuristics to the usability issues that are encountered when conducting a usability test

What kind of assignments will I get to work on?

As a part of this course, I worked on two peer-reviewed assignments. You can click on the hyperlinks below to view the project so as to get a better understanding of what they were about.

1. Ideating an Interface for a 10,000 Floor Elevator
2. A Heuristic Evaluation of Coursera’s Discussion Forums

Do check them out, I would love to hear your opinion on them!

But arguably, the best part of these assignments was the peer-review process. This is because I have come to realize that one of the most important parts of learning UX is critiquing others and being critiqued — it teaches designers how to construct, challenge, and defend their design rationale. It also improves a designer’s communication abilities with other designers.

Coursera has made the peer-review process very easy by providing a rubric and a multiple-choice points scale to grade assignments. It has made feedback mandatory for graders, which results in some very valuable suggestions for improvement. Honestly, I got to learn so much more just by viewing other students’ approaches to the same problems I was solving. I also got some excellent feedback on my work and got a chance to give my two cents about other people’s work.

What is the level of difficulty?

I chose this course based on these three main criteria:

• No Prerequisites
• In-depth Overview
• Beginner Friendly

Although the first three weeks were less complex than the rest of the course, the content was simple, understandable, and straightforward throughout. I think it is great for a beginner, who has little to no knowledge about the field.

Learning Tips

My biggest tip for this course, or any course you take, is to focus on the underlying concepts in the content and revise them regularly. I believe making your own notes is the most efficient way to do so.

It can be really easy to passively watch the videos, feeling that you are covering the course, but you aren’t really solidifying your knowledge. If you want to really learn from MOOCs, you have to be self-disciplined by taking notes and revising frequently.

Key Takeaways

My main takeaways from this course were:

How perception and cognition plays a role in designing great products.

How certain design principles make a user interface more usable.

How to conduct a heuristic evaluation to improve a product/feature.

Overall, this course definitely gave me what I was looking for. It was designed to give you an in-depth overview of UX as a whole while covering the basic concepts.

Final Review

The professor, Dr. Mark Newman, does a great job of explaining all of the material. All the important topics were covered well, and there were many more resources given for those looking to learn more.

What I liked most about the way they taught this course was their real-world examples of apps and websites. These examples really helped open up my mind to thinking about various ways in which these concepts can be applied to other products.

One thing I disliked was that I could not download the slide deck, and I feel it would have been useful to me while learning. It would have saved me some time while learning the material.

But overall I had a superb experience taking this course, and I plan on taking the rest of the courses in this specialization. I would definitely recommend it to anyone starting out in the field.

Here is my certificate for the course!

My Next Steps

While I am proud of myself for completing this course, it can’t be the only UX training I do to become a self-taught UX professional. For my next steps, I’ll be tackling the University of Michigan’s Understanding User Needs on Coursera, which is the second part of this six-part specialization in User Experience Research and Design.

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