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Designing the UNT Student Experience—Together
Why Student-Centered Design Tools Matter
Shared Understanding
Create a common, student-centered view across colleges, departments, and roles.
Stronger Alignment
Connect existing programs and services to reduce gaps and improve consistency.
Smarter Communication
Deliver the right information at the right time based on student needs.
Reduced Friction
Identify and address moments where students experience confusion or barriers.
Students experience the university as a single ecosystem. Student-centered design helps UNT educators better understand and respond to the experiences, needs, and goals of students across the institution.
About the Tools
Grounded in student voice and evidence-based best practices, student-centered design tools support more meaningful and effective decisions, interactions, and experiences for students. Research and practice suggest that empathizing with learners strengthens engagement and belonging and supports student success through a high expectations and high support approach.
Student Personas
A persona is a data-informed, realistic representation of a UNT student. It synthesizes student success data, institutional research, and student voice to support more targeted, high-support, high-expectation strategies.
Personas represent archetypes, not stereotypes.
Empathy Maps
An empathy map illustrates a student’s lived experience by identifying what they say, think, do,
and feel throughout their UNT journey.
They uncover internal drivers of success, highlighting where we can deploy targeted, high-support strategies that honor each student's unique strengths.
They uncover internal drivers of success, highlighting where we can deploy targeted, high-support strategies that honor each student's unique strengths.
Student Journey Maps
A student journey map is a visual representation of a student’s experiences and interactions across their time at an institution.
Unlike process maps that focus on internal workflows, journey maps take a holistic view of the student experience—academic and beyond.
Moments of Truth
A Moment of Truth is a critical interaction where institutional design impacts student momentum, serving
as a pivotal window for educators to show proactive care and align systems with student
potential.
Moments of Truth help institutions focus attention and resources on the experiences that have the greatest impact on student persistence, belonging, and completion.
Moments of Truth help institutions focus attention and resources on the experiences that have the greatest impact on student persistence, belonging, and completion.
Download the Tools
Learn More about Student-Centered Design
UNT’s student-centered design tools were created to help faculty and staff better understand and respond to the lived experiences of our students. Through ongoing collaboration, evidence-based best practices, and continuous feedback from the UNT community, these tools continue to evolve over time.
Explore opportunities to learn, apply, and help shape student-centered design at UNT.
For inquiries about workshop sessions, additional resources, or opportunities to participate in this work, select from the options below.