Developing a Generative AI-Based Educational Program for Learning Problem Interview Design in Lean Customer Development : Fucusing on Enhancing Problem Interview Design Competency for Novice Designers

As user-centered product and service development methodologies gain prominence, research capabilities in the problem exploration phase have emerged as crucial learning objectives in design education. Lean Customer Development is an approach that validates problems and solutions based on customers' actual experiences. The problem interview, conducted during the customer discovery phase, aims to construct questions based on customers' real experiences and understand the essence of problems through contextual interpretation. However, such interviews require high design competency for novice designers. This study developed a generative AI-based educational program for novice designers and explored its effectiveness. The program combines a problem interview toolkit with a GPTs-based feedback system, enabling learners to draft interviews and iteratively improve them through AI feedback. Applied to 18 undergraduate students majoring in UX design, the program showed that participants found AI feedback substantially helpful in improving question specificity and flow, experiencing benefits such as time efficiency and enhanced self-efficacy. This study demonstrates that generative AI can facilitate self-directed learning by providing immediate and personalized feedback in complex learning tasks.