How to learn Clinical UX Through Mixed Learning

Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash

There is a lot of discussion these days on whether UX courses as opposed to degrees in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) are worth taking to become a competent UX professional (or UXer for short). You will often find UXers who have at least one degree and a few years of experience complain that the teaching of UX courses is too shallow. You’ll find teachers of these courses often defending the courses they teach because they know the positive impact it has on their students (and of course because it’s paying their salary). You then have the students sharing both views once they have completed the course and entered the job market wilderness.

Some get jobs easily, quickly finding shelter, warmth and food in a startup or SME. Others struggle, going hungry as they wait for a role that will at least respect all the effort they put into creating their portfolio by offering a 1st stage interview.

Some of these UXers have a home to go to, others will go hungry. But they still all look the same don’t they?Photo by joel herzog on Unsplash

I’ve faced both of these issues whilst becoming a Clinical UX Specialist, and I did a Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction with Ergonomics plus a Medical Degree! Yet, qualifications don’t make you a good UXer — knowing how to get the job done as a UXer does. This is achieved by learning UX, and to learn UX is to learn for life.

Effective learning involves the use of different learning styles (multimodal learning) and methods (blended learning), which I call mixed learning. It is because of mixed learning, especially life long mixed learning, why we have so many good UXers that have very different academic and work histories. For example, my medical degree has actually helped me to be a competent UXer despite it being used for a different career. My time as a doctor has given me transferable skills, and introduced me to multimodal, blended learning.

What is multimodal, blended learning?

Both multimodal and blended learning are well established forms of learning. When used well, they dramatically improve the effectiveness of learning.

Multimodal learning is when you learn using multiple senses, leading to quicker and more efficient…