Interpreting UX metrics in design education : the CXM-Edu for observing collaboration and learning experience

Abstract

Collaboration is a central pedagogical condition in design education, particularly in project-based and studio-oriented learning environments. However, assessing collaborative learning remains challenging because teamwork, engagement, cognitive effort, and knowledge transfer are complex experiential phenomena that cannot be directly captured through isolated quantitative indicators. At the same time, digitally mediated learning environments generate interaction data commonly associated with user experience evaluation, such as task completion, satisfaction, time on task, usability scores, and participation rates. This creates a risk of interpreting UX metrics as direct measures of educational quality, rather than as contextual indicators that require pedagogical interpretation. This study asks: how can UX metrics be structured to support the observation of collaboration and learning experience in design education? Grounded in Design Science Research, the study develops the Collaboration Experience Metrics Model for Education, CXM-Edu, as a conceptual artifact that organizes UX metrics into five experiential dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, engagement, and belonging. The model positions these dimensions as interpretative lenses for observing educational activities at different levels, including assignments, project-based courses, studio based learning experiences, and collaborative team processes. Rather than proposing a universal measurement instrument, CXM-Edu structures UX metrics as contextualized proxies that may help educators and researchers identify patterns related to learning achievement, cognitive effort, sustained participation, subjective appraisal, and collaborative inclusion. The contribution of the paper lies in clarifying how UX metrics can be translated into an educational evaluation logic without reducing learning and collaboration to purely operational measures. The model also provides a foundation for future empirical studies aimed at testing and refining its hypotheses across design education contexts.