A LX (Learner eXperience)-Based Evaluation Method of the Education and Training Programs for Professional Software Engineers

Abstract

We propose a new design methodology to maximize the training effect in a corporate education and training for professional software engineers. Conventionally, the education and training programs have been designed in a top-down manner based on the long-term strategy on the business and engineering resources development. However, to draw out the learners' high performance from the education and training programs, we need to have an empathy with the learners, and to analyze their expectations and emotions in order to motivate them. Therefore, this paper proposes the learner-centered design methodology of the corporate education and training programs inspired by the design thinking and lean start-up concepts. We define the learning processes in the education and training programs as LX (Learner eXperience), and propose LJM (Learning Journey Map) as the LX evaluation method as an extension of CJM (Customer Journey Map) in UX (User eXperience) design. The LJM enables to evaluate training effect and communicate with stakeholders in the training design expressing the LX quantitatively in a visual form. We applied the proposed design methodology to the education and training programs for professional software engineers in a company to evaluate LX and elicit learner requirements to the programs. We applied the proposed LJM to the education and training program of two levels of the whole program and its LUs (Learning Units), and identified problems in the LX. From the empirical study, we confirm the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.