Abstract

Creators of UX undergraduate curricula face tough decisions regarding how to prepare students for the job market. This paper argues for the importance of a cultural lens when teaching professional development to undergraduate design students. A cultural lens is important because it gives context to how hard and soft skills might be applied within a local business culture with social mores and complicated hierarchies of power. This argument is based on exploratory qualitative research in the form of an initial survey (n = 44), subsequent interviews (n = 12), and a follow-up survey (n = 26) with students taking a professional development class in an undergraduate UX design degree at a large, public university in the United States. To show the value of a cultural lens when teaching professional development, first, culture and skills are defined. Second, UX design is defined as it relates to this specific educational context. Third, the context, administration, and methodology of the research is explained. Fourth, research results are analyzed. Fifth, lessons learned from applying a cultural lens are discussed. Finally, the author explains the limitations of this research and speculates on further research.