Human-Centered Design in EdTech: Creating Engaging Learning Experiences

The rapid growth of technology in recent decades has opened the door to expansive educational potential. However, the speed of technological progress often neglects important human considerations. While some design developments increase efficiency within the system or effectiveness for certain groups of learners, other students may be left behind for the sake of optimization.  

New approaches to educational technology (EdTech) design respond to these challenges. Human-centered design (HCD), for example, focuses on the user group as the end goal of the technology model. This allows designers and technologists to create accessible and adaptable resources for learners. Implementing HCD in EdTech can lead to more engaging and effective learning experiences for a wide range of diverse students.

What is Human-Centered Design?

If a design neglects the human behind the screen, whether that’s a learner, teacher or administrator, it neglects the primary goal of the design itself. With this in mind, human-centered design is an iterative design approach that prioritizes empathy for end-users. It places the user group at the center of the design process to create solutions that truly work for them. HCD not only acknowledges the user’s needs, wants and limitations, it highlights them and sets the user as the benchmark for performance and success. 

Human-Centered Design Principles 

HCD principles form the structure for user-friendly design implementation. Creating a strategic and accessible human-centered design plan begins with four unique principles:

• Empathy: understanding the user's needs and context
• Iteration: designing through prototyping while gathering feedback
• Collaboration: involving multiple stakeholders (learners, educators, designers)
• Accessibility: ensuring the product is usable by as many people as possible, including those with disabilities

By integrating these principles into the design process, designers and technologists can boil down any project to the core necessities for user benefit and overall adaptability.

Why is Human-Centered Design Essential in EdTech?

Ensuring successful learning outcomes for varying groups of people, such as the user group for educational software, presents challenges for EdTech designers. It’s easy to underestimate the needs of a smaller group of learners for the sake of the larger whole. Therefore, human-centered design in education increases the likelihood that every user has a profitable learning experience in several ways:

• Meeting diverse learning needs: Because of unique user backgrounds, EdTech tools must account for varying learning styles and abilities. HCD can help create personalized learning pathways for every user, helping teachers and students meet their educational objectives. 
• Promoting accessibility: HCD ensures that all learners, including those with disabilities, have the same educational opportunities. Some vital ways that EdTech can promote accessible learning include screen readers, alternative text for images, translations, etc.
• Fostering engagement: Designs based on HCD principles increase student engagement by aligning with learner interests, providing intuitive interfaces and reducing cognitive load. When a design is truly empathetic and accessible, it doesn’t present practical barriers or discourage enjoyment.
  
  

Human-Centered Design Examples in EdTech

There are many innovative HCD solutions transforming the EdTech landscape. For example, learning platforms like Khan Academy and DreamBox use adaptive learning to personalize the educational experience based on user performance. Adaptive learning technologies help students progress at their own pace, reinforcing their understanding of concepts and addressing their individual learning needs.

Microsoft's Immersive Reader helps learners with disabilities by providing accessibility tools such as text-to-speech, translation features and color adjustments. These tools empower students with diverse needs to engage with educational content more effectively.

Lastly, student-centric learning management systems (LMS) like Google Classroom or Canvas create welcoming and easy-to-navigate interfaces for students and teachers. They simplify the process of accessing and managing educational materials, assignments and communication, fostering a seamless learning experience for users.

The Impact of Human-Centered Design in Education

Human-centered design implementation is already shaping the structure of EdTech by facilitating improvements to learning outcomes, fostering greater student motivation and supporting access to education in the following ways:

• Improving learning outcomes: A user-centered approach to design can lead to better academic performance by catering to individual needs and pacing. This helps students grasp concepts more effectively and achieve better learning outcomes.
• Fostering greater student motivation and retention: Accessible tools designed to engage users of all levels increase student motivation and reduce dropout rates, especially for underrepresented or at-risk groups.
• Supporting access to education: HCD ensures equal access to high-quality, personalized learning experiences. Minimizing barriers to learning and providing tailored support bridges the achievement gap, creating more versatile learning environments.
  
  

Pioneer Human-Centered Design Through Technology in Education (IDeaTE): Vanderbilt’s M.Ed. Program

At Vanderbilt University Peabody College, we’re focused on creating the educational leaders of tomorrow—educators who are prepared to generate positive change in their classrooms and beyond.

Peabody’s Innovative Design and Technology in Education (IDeaTE) Master of Education program leverages world-class faculty expertise around learning analytics and AI emerging technologies to prepare graduates for careers in EdTech. As a student in the IDeaTE program, you learn to support diverse learners by designing learning environments with emerging technologies and digital tools. This STEM-designated program is built around three main areas of learning: 

IDeaTE students benefit from the LIVE Learning Innovation Incubator, rich internship opportunities both on- and off-campus and course credits that count toward certificates in Learning Analytics or Emerging Learning Technologies and AI. Plus, students learn from core faculty conducting innovative research in educational technology.

• Scott Crossley, professor of special education at Peabody College, focuses his research on using data science and artificial intelligence to explore cognition, with an emphasis on natural language processing. Guidance and real-world research from faculty like Professor Crossley put the IDeaTE program at the forefront of EdTech.

Every IDeaTE graduate emerges prepared to integrate innovative approaches like HCD into a variety of educational contexts.

To learn more about the IDeaTE program and the responsible and inclusive design approaches that have an immense impact on education technology, explore our free guide.