David McDonald
Summer 2019
Pathways: Mapping HCDE career experiences
Directed by Mike Berg and Paula Chuchro
The HCDE Alumni Leadership Board wants to partner with HCDE students to explore the journey that HCDE grads take in their careers. We want to identify the diverse range of careers that HCDE students pursue after graduation as well as key transitional moments in their lifelong careers. We’ll analyze survey data, conduct primary research, compare the HCDE experience with other programs, and develop user personas and a journey map. Research efforts will support the Alumni Leadership Board in planning events and continuing education efforts for HCDE students and Alumni.
Members of the directed research group will work closely with members Alumni Leadership Board, and will have a chance to connect with alums working in a diverse range of companies, roles, and levels. The board will help students make connections with alums and can offer some access to workplace research labs.
Students interested in joining the research group should have an interest in conducting user research with alums working in a wide range of professional roles, as well as working on conceptual models to summarize user research findings. Desired skills include:
- Experience with executing and presenting secondary research
- User profiling and persona creation
- Experience conducting semi-structured interviews
- Interest in creating information visualizations to summarize research findings
The group will hold weekly meetings on Tuesdays from 4:00 – 5:00 PM, alternating between Seig Hall, Room 129 and a meeting space at the Amazon or Hulu offices downtown Seattle.
HCDE undergraduate or graduate majors will participate in this research group by enrolling for 2–4 credits (graded cr/no cr) in HCDE 596 (for graduate students) or HCDE 496 (for undergraduate students). Students are expected to spend, on average, three hours of effort per credit per week (time spent includes the weekly meeting). Interested students should contact Mike Berg.