Being passionate about product design opened up an opportunity for me when my instructors offered me a position to mentor.
After moving up to my UX3 class, I was given a chance to mentor the next class of UX2 students. After I finished UX3, I was fortunate to be offered the same opportunity to mentor yet another class.
I currently mentor User Experience 2 taught by Michael Lee and Human-Centered Design taught by Aaron Lawrence— undergraduate and masters-level classes respectively.
Michael and Aaron inspired me to give back and share what I’ve learned. In the future, I hope I can also teach a UX course at the Academy of Art University.
Have an idea? Let’s chat, I’d love to tell you more about my experience!
Design@brandonklin.comUser Experience 2 is an undergraduate level class at AAU. This class is a thorough introduction to user experience design. It touches on all topics related to creating case studies, including product and business goals, user testing, and hi-fidelity designs.
I help the students throughout their whole case study process, from ideation to user testing and design feedback. When needed, I also translate classwork and homework for the ESL students. Michael also utilizes me as an example to run mock phone interviews and whiteboarding challenges.
I believe you can never have enough practice when it comes to giving feedback and completing design challenges. I’m also glad I can take the opportunity to exercise my Mandarin language chops and explain UX/UI design concepts in another language.
Human-Centered Design is a masters-level class at AAU. This class dives deep into the UXD process, from user interviews and empathy maps to user testing and hi-fidelity prototyping.
I facilitate group data clustering and interview synthesis. I also help with user surveys, user interviews, and persona research. When needed, I also use my knowledge of Mandarin to explain or brainstorm ideas with the students.
Learning to guide others into finding the answers for themselves is a fun process. I often find myself learning from them and gaining insight into their thought processes and perspectives on UXD.
