From April 28th to May 2nd, 2025, Budakov Films EOOD successfully hosted the UX@School Ambassador Training in Sofia, Bulgaria, marking a major milestone in Work Package 4 of the Erasmus+ co-funded project “UX@School – User Experience Design for improving digital education in secondary schools” (Project No: 2023-1-IT02-KA220-SCH-000156059).

The training was held at the Private High School “Educational Technologies”, a school known for its advanced infrastructure and focus on digital innovation. This event brought together representatives from all partner organizations within the UX@School consortium, and significantly, included the active participation of local Bulgarian students, creating a collaborative, international, and user-centered environment.

Setting the Stage for Inclusive Digital Innovation

The training opened with a warm reception and a guided tour of the host venue, providing attendees with a firsthand look at a school fully equipped for digital-era learning. Prof. Dr. Petyo Budakov and Dr. Yordan Karapenchev led the initial sessions, offering theoretical grounding in user experience design principles tailored specifically for the education sector. These presentations were anchored in the findings of the earlier UX for Teachers project and included demonstrations of the Online Assessment Tool and the Handbook, two of the key digital outcomes of UX@School.

Theory Meets Practice: Real-Time Collaboration with Students

One of the most impactful components of the training was the hands-on testing and refinement of educational materials through direct engagement with secondary school students. This interactive process was not just a pedagogical exercise – it was a demonstration of user-centered design in action.

On the second day of training, project partners presented their prototype learning materials—developed according to UX principles such as clarity, accessibility, and usability—to real students from the Private High School “Educational Technologies.” This session was more than a classroom demonstration; it was a live field test designed to evaluate how these materials performed in a genuine educational setting.

The students’ feedback was collected through the Online Assessment Tool, which had been developed specifically within the project to measure digital inclusivity and usability. This tool allowed the participants to gain quantifiable insights into the effectiveness of their content.

What made this segment so valuable was the two-way exchange it enabled. Students provided immediate, authentic feedback on the usability, engagement level, and clarity of the materials. In return, educators and designers were able to witness firsthand how young learners interact with UX-optimized content. This enabled them to better understand the gaps between design intention and actual user experience.

The real benefits of this collaborative model are manifold:

  • Immediate, user-driven iteration: Materials were revised and improved based on real feedback rather than hypothetical assumptions.
  • Increased student engagement: Involving learners in the design process fosters a sense of ownership and relevance, making educational content more compelling.
  • Improved design literacy for educators: Teachers and trainers gained practical knowledge of how to incorporate UX principles effectively.
  • Scalable best practices: The insights derived from this testing can now inform the future development of digital learning tools across the consortium and beyond.

By anchoring the training in real-world testing and iteration, the UX@School Ambassador Training underscored the value of co-creation in educational design. It demonstrated that the most effective educational resources are those shaped not only by pedagogical theory but by the lived experiences of students themselves.

Bridging Educational Contexts: The Sofia University Study Visit

Midweek, the training continued with a field visit to Sofia University, where participants met with faculty from the Faculty of Mass Communications. Discussions during this visit explored how UX principles apply across different educational levels, drawing parallels and contrasts between secondary and tertiary learning environments. This session reinforced the versatility of UX approaches and offered a broader academic context for the project’s outcomes.

Building Capacity and Impact Through Ambassadorship

As the training progressed, the focus shifted toward practical dissemination strategies. In the session “How to Become a UX@School Ambassador,” participants learned how to extend the project’s impact through media engagement, use of digital tools like Meta Business Suite, and effective event organization. These practical insights are intended to help partners become visible advocates for UX-driven education in their own institutions and communities.

A collaborative session followed, allowing participants to refine their educational materials further, integrating all the feedback received from the earlier student testing. The iterative process ensured alignment with the project’s overarching goal: to promote inclusive, user-centered digital education in European secondary schools.

Conclusion: Celebrating Progress and Looking Ahead

The training concluded with an evaluation session, open discussion, and the distribution of certificates. These closing moments provided an opportunity to reflect on the intensive week of work, the knowledge exchanged, and the practical progress made.

The UX@School Ambassador Training in Sofia was not only a successful training activity but a real-world validation of the project’s principles and tools. Through its collaborative design, user testing, and open knowledge exchange, it demonstrated how UX principles can transform digital education into a more inclusive, engaging, and effective experience for all stakeholders.

Budakov Films, as host and contributor to this initiative, is proud to have played a central role in advancing the goals of the UX@School project and will continue to support innovation at the intersection of design, education, and technology.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.