Coursera: Technical UX writing

The challenge

With high-quality programming courses and projects, Coursera has a host of technical UX writing needs across its platform. During the time I spent there, I mentored and advised multiple product designers after developing a content strategy for:

On-platform programming assignments (Coursera Labs, Quick Labs)
Courses and projects grouped by skills (SkillSets)
Skills testing (LevelSets)
Short project-based courses (Rhyme rebranded as Guided Projects)

These were product features that involved numerous user flows and spanned across multiple verticals and audiences. Getting the content right took teaching principles especially around plain language.

I’ll highlight a few of my favorite projects that made an impact here.

SERVICES Content strategy, content modeling, information architecture, navigation, technical UX writing, microcopy, email content, email templates

PROJECT Support 4 product designers on technical UX/UI user flows across 4 verticals for 4 audiences

STRATEGY Develop a voice and tone, content strategy, taxonomy, and content guidelines applicable to any technical user flow and a/b test it

RESULTS Features altogether improved the learner satisfaction from 67% to 72%

Guided Project email redesigns

With KPIs to increase retention and completion, we a/b tested emails sent to learner and authors. My role was to collaborate directly with the product manager, Emo, to understand the context, current state, and data plus technical requirements and user constraints.

In every instance of improvement, we found that the redesigned version did better.

Before

After

Context from PM
Persona: Learner
Purpose: To provide learners with downloadable link to the original files provided by the instructor for this project.
Additional details: These are not the files the learner produced at the end of the project but the starting point provided by the instructor.

Before

After

Context from PM
Persona: Author
Purpose: Sometimes, the engineering team is making changes on the default templates. This email is used to notify instructors about the update and to nudge them to upgrade to the latest cloud workspace.
Additional details: An important missing part here is how they can upgrade to a different cloud workspace, since this isn't entirely self serve operation.

Before

After

Context from PM
Persona: Author
Purpose: Authors are notified that cloud workspace that they have created in their accounts and haven't been used to create projects will be terminated (deleted) in certain amount of days.

Transparent loading states

While learners waited for the Coursera Labs programming assignment or Guided Project to load, there was a lack of transparency. So we a/b tested the live experience against more transparent loading states, including error messaging and time-released microcopy.

I collaborated closely with Vera, my product design partner on a handful of Coursera Labs and Guided Projects a/b tests that we conducted. We had a ton of fun working together to come up with jargon-free copy that helped learners know what was happening behind the scenes.

Coursera Labs before

It doesn’t tell the user anything more than that it’s “Validating your workplace”. When it doesn’t connect to the cloud due to a technical error, it tells the user that the lab has failed to launch and to wait a few minutes and try again. This left learners feeling frustrated, since they didn’t know what was happening.

Guided Projects before

Whereas the UI in Guided Projects was on its way, yet the copy wasn’t giving any hints as the server connected to the cloud. Learners didn’t know how long it would take to load or if there was an error. Reducing this limbo was high on mine and Vera’s priority list.

Loading states after

We tested 4 flows that timed released 4 to 6 loading states that provided learners with transparency about what was happening and offered suggestions of what they could do while they waited. Overall, the transparent loading states increased learner satisfaction and made it more enjoyable to complete programming assignments and projects on Coursera’s platform.

Coursera: Technical UX writing