📍Context:
In response to the dynamic demands of modern education, IBM Cloud for education undertook the Classroom Project, a transformative initiative aimed at elevating the online learning experience and optimizing the integration of the Applications Lab.
Serving as the Lead UX/UI Designer, my role involved shaping an innovative learning management system. This case study provides an in-depth exploration of the design process, offering insights gained from research, exploration, and the successful design of phase 1 of the project to meet the diverse needs of educators and students while enhancing the efficiency of the Applications Lab.
🎯 Goal:
The main goal of the platform is to provide educators with efficient course management tools, empower students through robust collaboration features, streamline administrative tasks, and seamlessly integrate with the Applications Lab.
⚙️ Process:
Learning from the best
I started off the design process with an extensive secondary research phase, where I studied established learning management platforms, including Google Classroom, Blackboard, and Canvas etc to understand the user flow and platform requirements.
Building up on the insights gained from secondary research, I did an competitive analysis of the platforms based on features to understand the best practices, user expectations, and emerging trends in online education.
Building user persona
We have two main user groups: instructors and students. To better accommodate and understand user needs, I defined a user persona for each user group
Finishing up the user persona,, I defined the use cases for each user group based on users goals and needs . Link here
Design:
Referring upon the established use cases and user personas, the design conceptualization phase took shape. Drawing inspiration from effective learning management systems, the design focused on creating a platform that seamlessly integrates with the Applications Lab.
As the design concepts took shape, I presented work weekly to gather iterative feedback from stakeholders and potential end-users, ensuring that the visual and experience design aligned with their expectations and preferences.
Designed for students and instructors to collaborate
Upon sign in, students are able to view the Dashboard, where they can access all the current and past courses (if any) they have been enrolled to.
Once a student clicks on course, they are able to view course related content including study materials, modules, assignments and grades.
Instructors platform is designed for efficient course creation and management, seamless integration of learning materials, and tools to track student progress and engagement.
