Learn to Learn: 5 Methods of Learning that Inform User Behavior
Do you remember elementary school and being squashed into a tiny classroom full of 23 adolescent, manic sponges eager to learn exactly the same things at exactly the same pace? Of course, you do. It was hell.
Today's modern classroom is in stark contrast to what it was in the early 2000s before the arrival of smart technology and mobile phones. Today, teachers understand that kids learn better not only in different environments but also at different paces.
There have been attempts to discover how students learn best. The VARK Model developed by Neil D. Fleming and Coleen E. Mills attempted to do this in 1987. Teachers use it as a helpful tool for gauging the learning styles of their students.
VARK represents the following learning preferences:
- V — Visual learning
- A — Auditory learning
- R — Reading and writing
- K — Kinesthetic learning
These groupings are a great way to empathize with individual students and better serve them on their learning journey.
However, are learning style assessments the only tools we have at our disposal to better understand our users? Of course not!
So how can we, as UX Designers, learn to adapt to our users’ learning styles in the product space?
Well, we can start to understand how different people learn and why it is important to know how individuals learn.
Let’s explore!
The Five Methods of Learning:
Trial and Error Method
This method is all about learning by doing. Failing! And trying all over again until successful.
User Flows
We develop user flows based on the trial and error of users attempting to complete tasks using our products. It’s a highly iterative process that centers on making the user’s journey as smooth as possible.
This is also a great opportunity to reign in the amount of cognitive load we dump on our users. Let’s keep it simple so there are fewer steps and pitfalls.
Conditional Response
Ever heard of Pavlov’s dog? We develop a conditioned response to a stimulus that can be substituted for a new stimulus.
(ex) Ring bell + dinner = drool → Train over time → Ring bell + no dinner = drool
Interaction Design
In a similar fashion, users have developed expectations for certain design elements.
Some examples:
An “x” should always signify a way to escape.
A “ > “ should always allow users to move to the next step of a process.
Here is an example of a conventional logout flow pattern:
Learning by Insight
Often, when you’re a new user, and you land on a new site, you look for familiarity. Where is the home button? Where is the shopping cart?
They should be in the most conventional location so users don’t have to guess and search for them.
Users have instincts. Don’t make them think.
User Behavioral Analysis
We use heat maps, mouse, or eye-tracking tools to learn about the user’s instinctual habits upon landing on screens or pages.
Context-of-use
Your experiences can inform a lot of your choices or the way you approach certain problems.
Users have different professional and cultural backgrounds which might have an impact on their processes.
What did the local barista hope to achieve when they opened your app at 3am on a Sheetz run for a burrito? Perhaps, you are studying a user base of taxi drivers who desperately want to order curbside delivery before they have to pick up their next ride?
Understand who your users are and meet them where they’re at.
Learning by Imitation
Mirroring behaviors, actions, speech, or styles is something we do since childhood. The first example of that behavior should always be a good one. (Don’t mess this up.)
Onboarding flows
Onboarding flows are a great example of this.
If I’m new to your site, I don’t want to feel like I’ve been shoved into the deep end. Hold my hand. It’s scary.
A great onboarding flow demonstrates important tools for accomplishing your goal, where to start, how to finish, and where to get help.
Transfer of Training
This deals with situational training being transferred from one task or ability to the next.
Let’s say I’m a business analyst or a teacher. Are my skills applicable in the UX space? The answer — absolutely.
Skill Transference
How does this play out across the career change spectrum?
The Interaction Design Foundation has curated models to help understand the transference of skills from being a graphic designer or marketing specialist to UX Designer.
UX Collective has demonstrated in this Venn diagram how our skill sets from art, science, and psychology transfer into the UX realm and are drawn upon heavily in our field.
Long story short, your different perspectives and modes of thinking are your superpower in UX Design. Utilize it!
How does understanding this make us better designers?
Taking the time to understand your users is always a good idea.
Understanding users’ learning methods can be a tremendous tool when creating deliverables such as user flows, sitemaps, journey maps, personas, etc. When we take the time to study how our users think, feel, move and process information, then we are already well on the way to making better user-centric designs.
If you have any other ideas on how learning how people learn can help us as designers, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or Medium.
