lms platform conversion and course Presentation redesign

card sort header image

UX techniques and methods

  • Diagnostic usability testing for design of course pages and asset organization

  • Workflow definition

  • Navigation definition and organization

  • Card sorting

  • Information architecture design

  • Rapid prototyping

  • Visual design

  • Usability Testing and Iteration

Overview

A major, state University system had recently announced plans to transition digital learning assets between Learning Management Systems (LMS). As part of the transition process, main objectives were presented:

  • Transfer digital learning assets from the previous LMS to the newly adopted one.

  • Adapt the user journeys for courses designed in the previous LMS to the newly adopted one.

A university template had been designed for the new LMS that provided a single page repository for all transferred assets. The initial plan for transition between platforms called for instructors to immediately begin adapting courses by reorganizing the assets within the framework offered by the new LMS. Additionally, new courses were being developed concurrently with the changeover that were targeted for design and launch within the new LMS platform.

UX services were applied to assess the usability and functionality of the university’s template for transferred assets, the organization of assets, design workflow patterns that better aligned with the new LMS, reorganize the Information Architecture of the course assets, and produce a new design template for adapted courses and new builds that focused on the user’s journey within the scope of the new LMS platform’s functionality and content presentation methods.

Problem

A university template had been designed for the new LMS that provided a single page repository for all transferred assets. The initial plan for transition between platforms called for instructors to immediately begin adapting courses by reorganizing the assets within the framework offered by the new LMS. Additionally, new courses were being developed concurrently with the changeover that were targeted for design and launch within the new LMS platform.

Due to significant differences in user interface design, navigation and functionality, and shifts in Information Architecture initial course transfers between the LMS platforms illuminated several key issues that could be addressed through User Research and Design interventions. The challenges this project presented to me included:

  • Test the provided template and navigation options with users from the target population (current university students taking online courses).

  • Establish what elements of the provided template were working well and what areas needed improvement.

  • Develop a workflow for the presentation of content and learning assets based upon changes from list-view and folder-based content collections to sequentially linked pages.

  • Assess the navigation options, organization, and labeling within the new LMS and organize system tools and content assets based upon use patterns.

  • Design and test Information Architecture for the course site.

  • Develop a default design for courses that would allow for a unified presentation of content transferred from the previous LMS designs and new course builds.

approach and results

DIAGNOSTIC USABILITY TESTING

The university’s generic course template was utilized to organize a sample course’s assets transferred into the new LMS. IA, grouping and ordering of assets was maintained from the previous iteration.

First, I recruited 8 participants from students that had either recently completed online, asynchronous, university-level courses or that had registered to take them in the following academic year. My goal was to find out whether familiarity with the previous LMS would translate to the new template’s IA and workflow pathways and to discover any elements that were functioning well and those that should be addressed during continued research and design phases. The participant group was divided in half according to prior course experience and upcoming enrollment.

Usability testing included specific tasks and scenarios that aligned with common user tasks (i.e. navigating to course study materials, assignments, exams, or submitting an assignment)

RESULTS - DIAGNOSTIC USABILITY TESTING

The usability testing revealed significant difficulties for many common site tasks. In a number of cases, these led to critical issues when the participants altogether abandoned the tasks. While the majority of issues presented aligned with my predictions for where and how the migrated content did not translate to the new LMS, there were several other issues (low to critical priority) that also became evident. For example, participants often did not complete all aspects of a task because the sequential linking of the content pages was not evident to them as indicated in the design of the migrated assets. There were some aspects of the provided template the were indicated to be functioning well including LMS orientation and “how to” guides. These were noted for inclusion in later design iterations.

ACTION - RAPID PROTOTYPING OF WORKFLOW, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE, WIREFRAMES, AND NAVIGATION

Based upon the results and insights from the usability testing, I mapped out a workflow, information architecture, wireframes for linked content pages, and navigation that would be native to the new LMS and specifically aligned with its functionality and content presentation affordances. Main goals included:

  • Support the new workflow within the constraints of the LMS platform’s functionality.

  • Promote improved rates of asset retrieval and engagement.

  • Promote users’ ability to develop consistent expectations and mental models for how the course content was organized and the typical workflow and completion steps for task achievement.

ACTION - NAVIGATION AND ASSET CARD SORTS

Card sort image

Sample image from the Card Sort research for navigation and organization of assets

Additional user research was completed at this stage of the project to inform the organization and labeling of navigation options as well as the organization and location of course assets within the site design. I recruited 4 new participants from the pool of respondents from the initial diagnostic usability study for a card sort study. The results of this study informed development of site wide and page specific navigation and information architecture.

 

RESULT - RAPID PROTOTYPING OF WORKFLOW, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE, WIREFRAMES, AND NAVIGATION

After the above steps were completed I provided the following deliverables:

  • High-fidelity digital designs for a new course workflow

  • High-fidelity digital designs for the new information architecture

  • Revised designs for site navigation

ACTION - TESTING AND ITERATION

Following the production and delivery of the above project resources, I set about testing the course design for the new LMS platform. Again, I recruited 8 participants utilizing similar criteria from the diagnostic usability study with an identical distribution (50/50) of users that had either recently completed online, asynchronous, university-level courses or that had registered to take them in the following academic year.

This stage of usability testing included the same tasks and scenarios from the diagnostic testing phase that aligned with common user tasks (i.e. navigating to course study materials, assignments, exams, or submitting an assignment).

The results of this stage of testing revealed improvements in each area tested in user understanding of how to accomplish the tasks at hand and, most significantly, a zero-percent rate of task abandonment. There were several areas that were identified for improvement of the designs. For example, users indicated that they were looking for additional navigation links to specific course assets (i.e. learning modules organized by date) within the site’s homepage and visual design elements (i.e. content dividers) that they preferred when parsing content.

RESULTS - TESTING AND ITERATION

The designs were iterated and delivered via a prototype course shell that integrated the final versions of the deliverables. This was utilized to adapt courses being transferred between former and newly adopted LMS platforms.

A style guide was produced that included both design elements and a list of best-practice guidelines for courses currently under and slated for future development within the new LMS.

lessons learned

This was a challenging project for me because the initial goal of the stakeholders was to simply transfer assets between unrelated LMS platforms. The template designs provided, while well-conceived in terms of how previous design iterations were structured and functioned, did not translate to the newly adopted LMS. I had to advocate for UX interventions and additional project phases while producing deliverables and finalized designs that took into account the presentation of multiple varieties of educational assets and most importantly, the users’ mental model of how they should access and progress through those and their understanding of how to complete tasks within the functionality and constraints of the new LMS. Significant shifts in workflow, information architecture, navigation, and organization of resources and learning assets resulted in increased levels of user engagement and self-reported feelings of success in accomplishing their tasks, and successful task completion with substantially reduced rates of task abandonment.