Short Diploma in User Experience and User Research is a free program on ARPS, the Arab Platform for Professional Studies. A short diploma connecting user research to interaction design and usability testing. Frame a bounded problem, collect traceable evidence, design an accessible task flow, then test decisions and hand off recommendations with explicit evidence limits.
Important notice: Independent education in user experience and research; no professional licence or endorsement by cited organizations.
Optional certificate fee 50% launch discount
$100 instead of $200
368 AED or 375 SAR
The program begins with a practical question: which task failed, for whom, and in what context? You build a ledger separating observation from assumption and feature requests. You plan a small ethical research round, collect interviews, observations and usage data without presenting a small sample as representative of all users. You then synthesize findings, test information architecture, interaction flow and error states. Finally, you review accessibility, run a diagnostic usability test, and prioritize revisions by evidence, impact and effort. Practical outputs include a problem brief, recruitment and consent plan, evidence log, task map, prototype decisions, test record and handoff note. Cases are hypothetical; no access to real users or upload of personal data is required.
You work through fictional data, inspect explained solutions, and connect the five subjects in a small reviewable case file.
The program joins research, design and testing into one decision sequence. Each subject adds inspectable work, from a research question to a recommendation tied to observations and confidence limits.
It helps beginners in product, service and content teams discuss UX decisions using evidence and clear limits. Educational completion does not confer a professional title or licence.
This subject starts by framing a user problem from observable behavior, separating a feature request from the underlying need and an assumption from a recorded event. Learners map actors and task context, then choose among interview, observation and event data according to the decision question. Recruitment criteria follow relevant usage patterns, with voluntary consent and minimal data collection planned before sessions. In the continuing booking case, five return sessions out of twelve cannot become a person-level rate or proof that button color caused the return. The subject ends with a small executable research round: a neutral task, success evidence, recording plan, provisional decision and explicit limits on what the round can establish.
This subject turns research sessions into reviewable evidence. Learners write interview questions about a past event without supplying the suspected cause, and keep observed actions, verbatim words, moderator cues and interpretation in separate note fields. They define codes for alternative search and help, counting distinct people without adding overlapping labels as new participants. Survey work shows a numerator and eligible denominator, missing item answers and limits from voluntary recruitment. An interview preference for email does not prove a message works, while task finding inside Account does not erase the wish for immediate reassurance. The resulting insight card points to specific excerpts, names a rival explanation and proposes a check whose outcome could change a product decision.
The subject moves from evidence into content organization and interaction design. Learners inventory My requests, My bookings and History by their actual contents, then use card sorting to explore grouping expectations without calling it a navigation success test. A separate tree task asks for proof of an upcoming booking without naming the intended branch. A rescheduling flow covers availability, review, confirmation and uncertain connection state, which requires checking an earlier operation before another submission. Form specifications retain only necessary fields, give each an associated label and provide errors that help repair input while preserving valid values. A linked low-fidelity prototype uses coherent fictional data and states its limits: it cannot prove live performance, document permissions or service rules.
Accessibility becomes part of task completion rather than a final decoration check. Learners translate selected WCAG 2.2 criteria into field, focus and error-repair tests without claiming full conformance. They trace keyboard movement through a date picker, dismissal and zoom with a sticky footer. A realistic usability prompt gives a goal without naming the target button. Session analysis separates independent success, cued arrival and wrong-receipt selection. Frequency alone does not determine issue severity: a wrong document can require earlier investigation than a minor repeated delay. Learners calculate independent completion and median time with correct denominators and session units, then state what a small diagnostic round cannot say about a wider population.
The final subject turns evidence into decisions others can review. Learners distinguish reassurance immediately after submission from later status retrieval, rather than pooling interview and task counts into one rate. They prioritize issues by task consequence, confidence and effort, separating urgency to investigate from readiness to implement. A recommendation names the change, expected mechanism, alternative and result that could disconfirm it. Retesting uses comparable tasks and starting points; a higher success count from a closer start cannot establish the link's effect alone. The completed case file connects question, participants, observations, flow, recommendation and limits. Engineering owns authorization checks, content owns bilingual labels and research owns the comparable task retest.
Subjects unlock in sequence as you progress.
Concepts draw on published guidance for human-centred design, user research, testing, surveys and web accessibility. ISO support is limited to its public abstract; the full standard was not read.
Link questions to observations, design and testing with explicit evidence limits.
Short Diplomas are relatively comprehensive learning pathways that cover a major subject through five connected learning subjects and structured assessments, with a diploma transcript available with the credential.
Self-paced sequential study. Content unlocks progressively and each subject combines reading, examples, exercises, knowledge checks, and assessment.
Each Short Diploma contains five subjects, each with an approved assessment. A sixth final exam is not required when the five assessments adequately cover the learning outcomes.
Assessment attempts: 2 per assessment, 7 days apart
The pass mark is announced before the program is published.
Successful completion makes the learner eligible for the Short Diploma certificate and Diploma Transcript under the credential policy.
Every certificate has a public verification code. Verify a certificate
The real design with fictional details; opens in a new window.
Verification example: a real issued certificate
Disclaimer: Completion of independent training, not a university degree or professional licence.
No. Fictional cases and worked exercises let you practice decisions without collecting personal data.
No. It is educational completion of a short diploma under platform policy, not professional licensing.
The focus is research, interaction and testing reasoning; simple tools can be used to sketch prototypes.
Each subject has knowledge checks and its own assessment, plus applied tasks with worked solutions explaining decisions and limits.
Yes. Subject four addresses accessibility requirements, keyboard navigation, visible focus and diagnostic testing.
Yes. Short Diploma in User Experience and User Research is free on ARPS: every lesson, exercise and assessment is free, the first subject is open to read without an account, and the program is available in Arabic and English. Issuing a certificate is optional; it is a training completion certificate showing you passed the program's assessments, not a university degree, a professional licence or an endorsement by an external body.
The subject of this program is also known as: user experience, UX research, UX design. Learners usually find it by searching for: UX research course, user experience course, how to become a UX researcher, free UX course.
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