How LRDG is Shifting the Paradigm on UX Research

Can technology and software work better for people? How can it be more intuitive, user-friendly and easier to use?

These questions are driving innovation at the Language Research Development Group (LRDG), Canada’s leading online-based second language learning and tutoring platform. Learn more about how LRDG helps professionals obtain bilingual compliance levels here.

LRDG is a member of a five-industry consortium— National Bank, CAE Inc., CN, and Radio-Canada — working closely with Hautes études commerciales de (HEC) Montréal’s Tech3Lab to research and improve user experience (UX) and human interface learnability. Tech3Lab is the largest university laboratory dedicated to UX research in the world.

The program, titled “Improving easy learnability of human-machine interfaces: cognitive availability and learning experience,” will be led by HEC Montreal researchers Pierre-Majorique Léger and Sylvain Sénécal and 10 other university professionals.

The project is one of two HEC Montreal initiatives that secured a combined $18 million in November 2023 through federal, provincial and private partnerships.

LRDG Founder and CEO Julius Frohlich says the UX project began roughly five years ago with a joint initiative between LRDG and Tech3labs to develop a “brain app” designed to quickly administer cognitive function tests for remote health monitoring, learning and development.

That app, now marketed as Axon, will be the primary tool used in the consortium’s research, allowing the partners to prompt users to participate in quick cognitive tests, measuring simple haptic reactions and response times. For example, how fast and accurately a user can draw lines between two corresponding targets.

Frohlich says Axon prompts users before and after sessions, compares results, and identifies spikes in cognitive function to quantify the quality of an experience confidently. Decreases in test results can indicate increased stress and frustration while navigating and interacting with an interface.

LRDG will coordinate with the multidisciplinary team in HEC Montréal’s Tech3Lab, providing real cases to monitor user experience data from LRDG’s language learning online platform.
Other partners will provide insights into various sectors: traditional and electronic commerce, telecommunications, banking, transportation, procurement, culture, and entertainment.

“The question for LRDG is what can our product development teams learn from Axon so our learners are more happy and better satisfied,” Frohlich said. “LRDG continues to be a leader in second language learning, and we want to explore how these insights can help us maintain our leadership.”

LRDG has added a Director of Innovation to its lead team to integrate this technology and synthesize results into its service product.

About Language Research Development Group (LRDG)

Language Research Development Group (LRDG) is a pioneer and leading advocate of French-English bilingualism for federal Canadian agencies, hospitals, businesses, and individuals. Since 2002, LRDG has helped more than 50,000 professionals pursue their second language evaluation (SLE) goals through innovative and research-based methodologies.

Find out more or find us on the GCKeys Government of Canada network