From UX to Instructional Design: Supporting Rural Teachers in Transforming Students’ Reading Interests Into Academic Success

This design case records a design competition project in which the team adapted various user experience (UX) design methodologies to instructional design in support of China’s K-6 rural school teachers for the increasingly challenging teaching requirements on reading literacy. The solution landed on a mobile application design, YoungRead. The project is the winner of the University of Michigan Learning Levers Development Award and the Zell Lurie Institute Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award in 2020. This design case will describe the design process and how the adapted UX design model may be used in similar instructional design situations to facilitate under-resourced teachers in developing professional skills to bridge students’ reading interests and academic achievement.