Technology (GLTC1-CE)

This foundational course is designed to introduce students to the critical practice and philosophy of user-centered design. Students will discover the many roles and responsibilities required of a UX designer in the professional world, and they will learn the historical context of UX and human-computer interaction. Focusing on human motivations, students will explore the psychology of end users. By assessing a digital product and evaluating the competition, they will identify key components of effective usability products aligned with business requirements and goals. Finally, through the introduction of basic accessibility guidelines, students will gain appreciation for the importance of universal design principles and learn how to apply them effectively to designs.

In this course, students will explore different user research methods (in-person, remote, moderated, unmoderated, online, surveys, focus groups), develop a script, and conduct a user interview among themselves. They will analyze results of that interview and then create UX artifacts for a digital product: personas, user journeys, scenarios, user flows, and information architecture. Desktop and mobile navigation options will be introduced, category labeling will be learned through a card sorting exercise, and the importance of design patterns will be articulated. Students will learn heuristic principles by conducting reviews on existing digital products, which will enable them to create wireframes. Finally, students will create low-, medium-, and high-fidelity prototypes.

This course covers digital transformation and new ways of using data that are fundamentally changing the relationship between businesses and their customers. The course will demonstrate how FinTech continues to revolutionize business processes in financial services (FS) institutions. Topics will include major trends, wealth management and retail innovations, lending marketplace and lending technologies, and IT spending and digital offerings. Participants will learn how to propose solutions that ensure seamless unification of the consumer experience across mobile, online, branch, and other digital channels. Participants also will learn about the impacts of FinTech innovations that derive greater customer insights, improve speed to market, and enhance customer experience.

This course will provide participants with insight into the true enabling value of the FinTech revolution. It will explore key sources for existing and reliable FinTech ecosystems for data gathering and analysis of the various collaboration opportunities of financial services and FinTech firms. Participants also will identify, develop, and make decisions about different strategies that align FinTech solutions with financial service firms’ innovation and growth plans.

The course will introduce the capability value and strategic fit evaluation framework with key defined components. Participants will learn to solve the problem of the gap between the strategy and the value to be created for customers and the company. For new capabilities, participants will learn how to identify sustainable synergies, their impact on market position, and the market’s response (from both existing and new customers’ perspectives). The course will cover how to design the new capability to receive the expected change and how to align those capabilities from a technical, customer, and market standpoint.

This course provides participants with a full approach and methodology for creating a strategic plan for company market growth based upon the new emerging FinTech trend. This learning experience will enhance participants’ hands-on practice, preparing them to respond to “disruption,” customers’ readiness for new business solutions and processes, and the FinTech ecosystem. Participants then will learn how to translate the results of those insights and analysis into a joint program and business plan.