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Sarah Freitag
Director / UX Research
Biography
As Director of UX Research, Sarah draws on her deep understanding of EdTech users and her background in research, design and business strategy to enable our clients to make confident decisions that result in products that solve real needs and create demonstrable impacts on their business’ bottom lines. Sarah is responsible for fostering collaboration, team development and for bringing new strategic initiatives and methodologies that allow her teams to stay ahead of the curve of what EdTech users truly need to realize higher levels of learning and teaching success. In her free time, Sarah is an amateur baker, constantly experimenting with various recipes and techniques. She also enjoys exploring the various parks around Cincinnati, spending quality time with her husband and two daughters.
Articles and Resources from Sarah Freitag

ARTICLE: Sarah Freitag
What’s the Difference Between User Journey Maps, User Flows, and Task Flows in EdTech Discovery?
When product leaders begin a partnership with an outside UX team, the discovery process presents a unique challenge. All stakeholders must gain alignment about the product problem to solve and come to a shared understanding about your users. And in order to understand your users, you need to consider their flows. Task flows, user flows, and user journey maps can all be useful in the UX discovery phase. All of these tools share a sense of establishing and tracking user movement. But they are discrete tools that have specific purposes and appropriate uses. You should know what outcomes each of these three tools provide, how they overlap, and how they support each other. That way, you’ll know where your efforts will be best applied in our discovery work together.

ARTICLE: Sarah Freitag & Juli Lanzillotta-Eck
What UX Research Strategies Do Growing EdTech Companies Need?
As EdTech companies mature, they inevitably look to grow their user bases. When you find yourself at such an inflection point, it’s more critical than ever to refine your research, design, and development processes to ensure you don’t create or compound your UX problems. In this first article in our series on optimizing your UX program to enable smooth growth, we’ll examine what this means for your research process.

ARTICLE: Sarah Freitag & Juli Lanzillotta-Eck
Effective UX research lays the foundation for strategic growth
As EdTech companies mature, they inevitably look to grow their user bases. When you find yourself at such an inflection point, it’s more critical than ever to refine your research, design, and development processes to ensure you don’t create or compound your UX problems. In this first article in our series on optimizing your UX program to enable smooth growth, we’ll examine what this means for your research process.

RESOURCE
The 3-step guide to validating your EdTech product
Without proper user validation, many EdTech companies risk missing the mark with their products. If your concepts don’t actually resonate with your end users, they easily get lost in the crowded EdTech marketplace. It’s especially risky in light of funding fluctuations and the cessation of pandemic-era funding. You need to ensure that your products and services stand out as must-have solutions to users’ everyday needs. Our 3-step guide to validation will help your EdTech product get the best start possible.

RESOURCE
5 UX research program pitfalls to avoid at all costs
Many EdTech companies make the same common mistakes when structuring their UX research programs, each of which can have significant consequences. But knowing where you’re more likely to make missteps can reduce your chances of making a costly one. By understanding and avoiding these pitfalls, you can ensure your UX research programs are effective and contribute to the overall success of your EdTech products. From focusing solely on user testing to failing to properly validate experiences through product development, these are the five mistakes to watch out for.
Case Study: New connected digital experience for students and instructors fuels rapid market dominance.
Openfield provided UX strategy and design that resulted in this intuitive, innovative suite of learning tools that facilitate campus communication and create a standardized ecosystem of support at every stage of the student lifecycle.