A Human-Centered Evaluation of an ICT-Integrated College and Career Navigation Platform

Abstract

In light of the rising costs of postsecondary education, the overall economic disparity between college graduates and non-college graduates, and a rapidly evolving labor landscape, it is more important than ever that students receive the college and career guidance they need to make the best choices for their futures. Several factors have contributed to the growing need for and proliferation of information and communication technology-integrated career counseling. Yet, research remains limited on best practices for designing these digital tools. This project was conducted using a human-centered design framework to evaluate the user experience and efficacy of the college and career preparation platform BigFuture by College Board. I performed user experience research to evaluate how user friendly and effective the website was in helping high school students feel more “career ready.” The research entailed user interviews and usability testing sessions with 11 high school students ranging from freshmen to seniors and a subsequent qualitative and quantitative analysis.