Master’s Degrees - edX
The Ask
edX launched fully online Master’s Degrees in the fall of 2018, which was a $30 million opportunity for edX to disrupt the traditional education industry. Fully online master’s degrees from top universities across the globe allow anyone to get a higher education degree at a lower price point in the comfort and convenience of their own home. In order to prepare for this launch, the UX team was tasked with designing a landing page to give users enough information to feel confident reaching out to get more information about the degree. edX had been running one online Master’s degree as a beta program, so it was that landing page that we started with as a jumping off point.
Original beta Master’s Degree page
First-pass wireframe
What info matters?
The old page was text heavy and didn’t contain what we felt to be the most important information. Master’s degrees, although cheaper online, are costly in time and money, and people need a certain amount of information to decide they’re interested in learning more. Through usability research, we discovered that when potential students look for Master’s degrees, they want to know how much it costs, what the outcomes are, how long it will take, and if it’s going to be worth their time and energy (from surveys and usability testing).
Our main challenge was to make sure the information on the page was digestible, but still enough information to help people make a decision. Another challenge was making sure people understood the difference between edX and the school providing the degree — edX is the platform, but the degree still comes from the school providing the program and is equivalent to the on-campus degree.
Prototyping
The page went through several iterations that we ran usability tests on, as well as collecting stakeholder feedback. We came to a page that has a lot of information, but is readable and sectioned in a way that it makes it convenient for the user to peruse on their own time, coming back to and finding the information they are looking for while they make their decision. The sticky menu helps the page feel easier to navigate. The primary and secondary actions (applying to the program and contacting the university to learn more about applying, respectively) are always accessible on the menu as well.
The live Master’s Degree page
Takeaways & Next Steps
In future versions of this page, I would’ve liked to explore a more outcome-based page. Making more specific curriculum information available is another aspect of the page that I think is important to continue developing, as well as perhaps case studies of successful capstone projects or even testimonials of students that have gone through the program.