ASU Trusted Learner Network engages students for platform feedback and improvement
In the United States, roughly 40 million people fall into the “some college, no credential or degree” population. Digital credentials are a valuable tool for learners — no matter where they are on their education journey — to showcase their knowledge and skills. ASU’s Trusted Learner Network (TLN) recently reached a milestone with its latest release: proving that the team could create a secure and flexible environment for digital credential exchange.
On April 18, Kate Giovacchini, TLN executive director, and Brooke Lipsitz, TLN program manager, hosted an application feedback session for Next Lab student workers. To prepare for the session, the TLN team uploaded the user testing group’s student data — including course information — into the TLN’s digital credentialing platform. This allowed the students to provide feedback on the platform in real time, utilizing their own data. The goal of this effort was to gain additional insights on user comprehension and ways to improve the TLN’s products and future service offerings.
The TLN team is working to advance the use of digital, verifiable credentials to create an ecosystem that allows learners to collect, explore and share digital credentials that they have gathered across their lifetimes. ASU Pocket is an extension of the TLN, functioning as a digital wallet for storing verified coursework, licenses, positions, skill records and degrees to share as the holder sees fit.
“We want to make sure that we're building tools that are actually helping [learners] in determining what they need to be successful, so feedback early and often is really important to us,” said Lipsitz. “We could always hire another company to do the research for us, but we have incredible access to be able to connect with ASU students.”
Student feedback provides valuable feedback
The TLN/ASU Pocket feedback session allowed students to critically and creatively brainstorm solutions to their own needs for the platform, creating an environment for innovative problem-solving.
From small design fixes to international aspirations, the TLN and Pocket team called the session a success after hearing varying ideas from their Next Lab student worker user group, which included learners from across ASU. Graduate student Kathleen Vela, who is studying architecture at the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, said she appreciated the emphasis on student feedback.
“We are the future,” Vela said. “The students are the ones who keep innovating. And in order to keep things evolving, we need to give this [feedback] — not to those who already know how to do these things, but — to those who can probably make it better.”
While the students shared their ideas in person, they also had the option of submitting anonymous suggestions on a live forum. One student said, “Summarize the descriptions of achievements more clearly and intuitively,” in regards to AI integration. Another student said, “Help me to see other opportunities or future degrees I may be compatible with.”
“I really think that, combined with AI, [the TLN platform] could be very powerful,” Vela said.
Expanding the platform’s functionality wasn’t the only topic at the forefront of discussion. Many students emphasized the importance of making platforms more accessible to an international audience.
“We have a huge number of international students, so making this platform not only in English is very necessary,” Vela said. “Probably Spanish or Hindu or Japanese.”
Annie Cheng, a graduate student studying User Experience at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, agreed.
“I think, because I come from another country, and we didn't have these good ideas about sharing digital credentials to each other, I would like to see this platform being used out of ASU or out of the United States,” Cheng said.
Cheng recently competed in the ASU UX Spark Challenge in March with the goal of improving UX design for TLN and Pocket. At the UX feedback session, Cheng was able to provide unique insights and build on her initial recommendations from the challenge hosted in March.
“There aren't many UX events in ASU,” Cheng said. “So it's a unique opportunity for me to show my ability to do things like this.”
After the successes of the hackathon and feedback sessions, the TLN/ASU Pocket team is looking to create more events focused around learner-driven recommendations.
“We definitely want to do more of this,” Lipstiz said. “Especially seeing someone who participated in both, being able to give us additional feedback, that's so important.”
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