UX STRAT Interview: Rachel Liu, Pearson Education

Paul: So, thanks for taking the time out to talk with me today. Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself? Your job role, the company you work for, maybe how you got to your current stage in UX?

Rachel: I’m currently working at Pearson Education as a Lead Experience Designer and have been designing educational product and services for growth markets, particularly China, over the last four years. I lived and worked in China, looking at digital transformation and innovation in the education space. My role involves doing research, experience strategy and service design. Previously, I was more focused on interaction design and prototyping for mobile apps and operating system for Ubuntu and Orange.

Paul: Did you go to school to be a developer?

Rachel: Yes, I have a degree in Computer Science with Business, and I started working as a developer before getting into UX. I’ve always been interested in design but didn’t know how to combine technology, business and design together. I was fortunate to come across UX when I was working at Orange. Back then it was known as HCI (Human Computer Interaction). I transitioned into UX as a natural progression by self-learning and work experience in different industries.

Paul: Can you tell us about your presentation at UX STRAT in June?

Rachel: I’ll be talking about cross-cultural business problems - how do you actually design for something that caters to very different needs in the West and the East. A lot of times we make assumptions about the East, and because it’s such a big market growth opportunity we focus primarily on the market size. But we haven’t understood from a user perspective what their challenges are, from an Eastern mindset, how that governs their behaviors and understanding the reasons why. I’ll share a case study to look at surprising insights that emerge from research and how that might actually benefit all of us to think about when designing for these global business challenges.

Paul: You were recently in China, weren’t you?

Rachel: Yes, I was visiting four cities, eight schools, within a space of ten days doing contextual inquiry. This involved going to parents’ homes, and understanding from their point of view what are their current experiences and expectations are for their child learning English. I’ve observed that parents' mindset have shifted. Three years ago they expressed “I want my child to do well” whereas now “I want my child to be interested and enjoy learning English”.

Also, when I was living there 3 years ago, it was a very cash-driven society and during this visit, I’ve observed that China is becoming a cashless, mobile-first society. WeChat, for example, has grown at a phenomenal rate for just one app that integrates and makes payment seamless with QR codes as a touchpoint.

Paul: You mentioned that you’ve been researching the difference in the way that people in China view products like Pearson, and how they view the same product in Europe. Without giving away too much of your thunder, what are some of the differences that you noticed?

Rachel: We identified some common guiding principles based on user insights that helped us understand the similarities and differences between Europe and China. This includes being inspired, engaged, motivating learners and having guidance every step of the learning journey. This starts as early as finding out about the course at the training centre with the guidance of a learning consultant. It is similar to the retail business model of signing up for a gym membership where you are paying for the service not just for using the product. In China, this level of relationship-building is more crucial than in Europe because of the need to develop trust. If, at any stage of the journey where the relationship-building is damaged, trust is broken and Chinese customers are likely to request refunds.

Additionally, there is a culture of losing face in China and it is something I learned during my visit. I asked a third party to go to one of the schools on my behalf and it turned out that the school director complained afterwards about the last minute change. She felt disrespected and that it was rude for not making an effort to give a good first impression. We had to pay a small compensation as an apology to ensure the relationship is maintained with the local Pearson team. Understanding these nuances can make or break a business!

Paul: Pearson is an education company and you’re doing user experience design. How open are they to understanding or to changing what they’re doing based on your research and your feedback?

Rachel: It’s varied based on projects. We’ve had stakeholders who are quite open-minded, and identifying our mutual interest helps a lot. Everyone wants to help learners to learn better, and to support teachers more effectively. From this mutual interest, it helps them to look at things in a new light and makes it easier to educate them.

Recently, I facilitated a full day workshop, as part of my post-China visit, with stakeholders I have not met or worked with previously. What struck me most was the high level of engagement from stakeholders and open discussion about the differences in China. They were intrigued and interested, which built a great rapport that was unexpected from our whole team. We thought that getting them to participate in activities would be enough but providing them context and getting them involved early on made a huge difference. We found a way to educate them more effectively with an open discussion and will continue to grow this level of engagement with stakeholders across Pearson.

Paul: So, one of the first things you have to show is impact, and then the second part is you have to let them be part of the process early on, is that right?

Rachel: Definitely, that’s right.

Paul: How do you see UX strategy fitting into your work in the future?

Rachel: What I see is that China is already ahead of many countries with a true mobile-first society. They have also been developing AI for learning which is a practical way to develop good learning habits, make progress and learn more effectively. They’re already utilizing AI from a technology point-of-view, but without the strategy, interestingly enough. So, it will be a challenge to determine what role we should play. Will it be more facilitating, connecting-the-dots and bridging the gap between different parties?

Education itself is a complex system with many layers. It involves assessments, standards on a Government level as well as at a school level. Who owns that responsibility? Additionally, we’re a B2B company, which adds another layer of complexity. We’re not selling directly to the users, we’re selling to the schools who sell education to their customers.

Additionally, I’ve observed traditional institutions like banks, hotels, and schools are being disrupted e.g. Monzo replacing traditional banking, WeChat Pay replacing cash. What does it mean with education? Technology opens up more opportunity and disruption in this space. For example, instead of hiring foreign teachers to teach English to Chinese students and parents paying a premium for Private Language Schools, there is a startup, VIPKid, that connects foreign teachers abroad to Chinese kids to have private tutoring online. Could we be partners to explore new business models and help to create better experiences at the same time?

Paul: So it sounds like there’s a technology aspect to learning, but also a customer aspect, a society aspect, and even a government aspect, is that right?

Rachel: Yes, it’s a whole ecosystem we are designing and shaping.

Paul: Anything else you want to tell our readers before we sign off?

Rachel: Come and enjoy and learn!