User Experience - M.S.

Full Description

The Master of Science degree in User Experience prepares students for careers requiring solid understanding of user research, interaction design, usability, content strategy and information architecture.

As essential members of interdisciplinary design teams, user experience professionals engage in a variety of activities to produce usable products that delight users and help organizations meet business goals. User experience analysis addresses the structural, informational, psychological and emotional aspects that make web, mobile and other online technologies useful and successful.

At Kent State University, user experience students engage in all phases of the interdisciplinary design process in a sequence of courses that mirror the steps: learn, understand, imagine, evaluate and inform. Initial learning begins with gathering data/information about users, clients, the organizational culture, common tasks and work environments. After sufficient information is gathered, the team seeks to understand the context in which the project will be undertaken, bridging between data collection and design in the imagine phase. Imagining involves brainstorming, prototyping and critiquing in iterative evaluation of design solutions to see if they work in the real world. This may involve activities such as paper prototyping, high-fidelity interactive prototyping and usability testing. The results of evaluation are communicated to appropriate audiences. This informing process involves presenting to clients and stakeholders, writing reports and other forms of communication.

For more information about graduate admissions, visit the graduate admission website. For more information on international admissions, visit the international admission website.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university
• Minimum 2.750 undergraduate GPA on a 4.000-point scale¹
• Official transcript(s)
• Résumé
• Goal statement
• Three letters of recommendation
• English language proficiency - all international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions) by earning one of the following:
  • Minimum 587 TOEFL PBT score
  • Minimum 94 TOEFL IBT score
  • Minimum 82 MELAB score
  • Minimum 7.0 IELTS score
  • Minimum 65 PTE score
  • Minimum 120 Duolingo English score

¹

Applicants who do not meet the minimum 2.750 GPA requirement must submit a statement that addresses the circumstances that contributed to the GPA and preparation for success in graduate study. Applicants should include recent professional achievements that indicate an ability to perform at a higher academic level to be considered for conditional admission to the program.

Application Deadlines

• Fall Semester
  • Application deadline: April 15
• Spring Semester
  • Application deadline: November 15
• Summer Term
  • Application deadline: March 15

Applications submitted after these deadlines will be considered on a space-available basis.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the program will be able to:

1. Create a portfolio as a means to demonstrate competencies.
2. Design and conduct research in a variety of ways necessary to understand users, stakeholders and competitors.
3. Apply user experience research and design techniques to solve for user needs.
4. Create and evaluate structures to support information and content organization.
5. Test and critique existing designs and prototypes by employing usability-testing methods.
6. Communicate solution ideas in a variety of ways to design teams, stakeholders and developers.
7. Demonstrate ability to manage user experience activities to align user experience activities to organizational goals.

Programs Requirements

Major Requirements

• Delivery:
  • Fully online