In 2018, I and another UX team member were tasked with rewriting the 1st year curriculum for The Engineering Leadership Program at GDMS to include a course focusing on UX. The Engineering Leadership Program is an entry level 3-year rotational program for developing technical leaders in an accelerated learning environment.
The 2 Day course was designed to provide an understanding of what UX is (in general and within GDMS) and how it can be applied. The course also involved coaching the students through designing their own software user interface to be implemented and reviewed with the GDMS leadership team at the end of the program’s 1st year.
The first day provided the students with a history of UX, how UX is structured within GDMS, and an overview of our capabilities.
The second day provided the students with:
To add an interactive element to the class the interactive sample wireframe was used to conduct a mock user test session, using a student volunteer.
The homework assignment for the course was to create a user interface based on specific project requirements that were provided to the students. The student teams were required to implement their designs for presentation at the end of the course. Throughout the process, I provided the students with feedback on their designs, helping them design the user interface to meet accessibility, usability, and military standards best practices.
Teaching UX 101 within the Engineering Leadership Team gave me the opportunity to refine how I communicate UX, translating core principles into language that resonates with engineers and future technical leaders. This not only improved cross-functional understanding of UX, but also helped build meaningful relationships with emerging leaders across the organization. Those connections have proven lasting, with one former student now serving as a Program Manager on a program of record I currently support, demonstrating the long-term value of investing in shared understanding and early collaboration.
