U of T Centre for International Experience
Improved discoverability of immigration advising for U of T international students
End-to-End UX
Journey Mapping
Service Design
UX Designer,
Placement • Winter 2022
U of T international students were stressed with the IRCC study and work permit immigration application process.
While discussing about my application process with a U of T CIE immigration advisor, I realized their frustrations due to a limited number of immigration advisors, huge tribe of international students at U of T and legal restrictions around immigration advising.
I led a stakeholder discussion with a team of four, and strategized a plan to improve the journey of immigration advising for U of T international students and the CIE team.
My Role
Research
Planning research
Writing research scripts
Facilitating design workshop
Design research analysis
Journey maps, Personas
Ideation
Brainstorming
Ideation
User Flows
Sequential storyboards
Concept sketches
Prototype
Wireframe
High fidelity prototype
Journey map (visual design)
Presentation slide decks
Evaluation
Lean user testing
Semi-structured interviews
Think aloud protocol
Initial Scope
Improve discoverability of these instructional videos for U of T students who don't have the necessary MS Stream access and limit the access to U of T community.
Illustrate alternatives to advising meetings and save CIE's team for complex cases.
Problem Context
To improve the efficiency of immigration advising, the CIE developed a series of instructional videos about relevant immigration topics to provide immigration advising to U of T international students and hosted them on their website using MS Stream (behind the UTORid login wall due to legal restrictions) to try and help more students than they could by meeting one-on-one.
Approach - IBM Design Thinking Loop
Empathize with the users, uncover needs, learn the landscape, and test ideas.
Collaborate to form a common point of view, align the team, uncover insights, plan next steps.
OBSERVE
REFLECT
Give concrete form to abstract ideas, explore possibilities, communicate ideas, prototype, evaluate
MAKE
What Did We Know?
28%
international students across U of T campuses
1:1
meetings are time consuming
Restricted to U of T
Legally designated to provide guidance around immigration topics, CIE wants to limit the advice to U of T students and alumni
Facilitation Workshop Insight
CIE currently works very closely with U of T international students but have a difficult time engaging in complex issues with limited number of immigration advisors.
- CIE immigration advisor
What We Did
We conducted questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to understand the complexities and empathize with U of T international students
02
design facilitation workshops
14
survey questionnaires
08
semi-structured interviews
Our Findings
5/9 incoming international students are unaware of CIE and its resources until they start studying.
85% prefer more one-to-one meetings
6/8 difficulty in navigating accurate information on the recently launched CIE website.
7/8 students are reluctant and uninterested to watch lengthy instructional videos.
Issue Analysis
Analyzed research findings on affinity diagram to find common themes in the entire data sets.
Value proposition canvas
Problem Space : Redefined
Improved Access
Technical issue - out of scope as designers
Enhanced Usability
Identify solutions to make videos more usable.
Alternative Advising Solutions
Identify ways to provide immigration guidance and support for more U of T international students.
Persona
Based on our problem understanding and analysis on the affinity diagram, we created a persona to empathize with the students' experience.
Journey Mapping
So, how might we help Irene to help herself with the immigration application process?
Pain Points Overview
Unaware
of CIE and its resources before starting studies
Difficulty
navigating information on the CIE website
Lengthy
and boring instructional
videos posted by CIE
Insights to Ideas
We conducted an ideation session and stakeholder workshop to discuss potential interactions.
Workshop Analysis
We facilitated a design discussion workshop using Figjam with the CIE immigration advisors to discuss:
1. revised problem space
2. in-depth understanding of CIE
3. approach and next steps
4. Defining hills
Insights to Ideas
We redesigned specific sections of the U of T graduate student's admission package and the CIE website for improved interactions.
Discover : Unawareness
Unaware of CIE and its resources, until they start studying at U of T.
Problem : Low visibility
Unable to use CIE resources during the permit application process, forcing them to rely on unreliable sources like Google and Youtube.
Essential links upfront
Aware of the most required resources (CIE, SGS, Student Life) in the offer letter linked to websites.
Explore : Overwhelming data
Stressed, confused and overwhelmed with information on the current website.
Problem :
Uncertainty due to lack of clarity on permit rules.
Digestible information
Detailed text and video resources
on the webpage broken down into digestible pieces.
Task Flow
Based on the ideation phase, we created a sequential storyboard though low-fi and mid-fi prototypes to illustrate user interaction of their revised journey.
Insight from : Apply
Difficulty navigating accurate information quickly and reluctant to watch lengthy instructional videos.
Problem Space
Frustrated to find the right videos, need to locate video sources quickly on CIE's website upfront.
Reduced clicks
Video playlist and filters found on the 'resources' page under the secondary navigation menu
Task Flow
Based on the ideation phase, we created a sequential storyboard though low-fi and mid-fi prototypes to illustrate user interaction of their revised journey.
Testing the Prototype, Not the User
We tested our mid-fi prototypes to identify usability challenges and areas of improvement.
Testing the prototype, not the user
We conducted usability test and think aloud with mid-fi prototypes to understand navigation paths for tasks and iteratively guide design based on task completion rate, performance, and issue identification.
Key Findings
Unclear about resource links on the offer.
Insufficient information organization
Lack of visual guidance on the CIE website
View Usability Report
Hi-Fi Prototypes
With the revised interactions, students can easily digest the immigration process and minimize number of one-to-one meetings with the CIE advisors.
Improved Visibility of U of T CIE
Through the offer of admission letter, U of T recently admitted international students can now avail CIE and its resources before applying for study permit.
User Friendly Info Navigation
From the study or work permit application page on the CIE website, students can easily navigate accurate information on the permit application process structured besides distinct headers and reduce one-on-one meetings with CIE immigration advisors.
Short Video Chapters
From the resources page on the CIE website, students can apply enhanced filters and watch short instructional videos hosted on MS Stream referring particular topics instead of avoiding boring, lengthy videos.
Reflections
-
Insights about users is not a a nuisance, it is a strategic opportunity. And the key to visualizing strategic insights is an alignment diagram.
-
We took one step further and approached this project with a value centric design framework blended with participatory UX that invites all stakeholders to be directly involved in the design thinking setup to build a sustained relationship.
-
Statements of intent aligned our team to solve right problems for the right set of users.
Next Steps
Stakeholder Analysis
Analyze the statistics one-to-one CIE meetings with the current iteration of the admission package.
Test and Re-iterate
Test the iterated design with the Fall 2022 incoming U of T international incoming student cohort and re-iterate.