Turion's Administrative platform is an enterprise system allows teachers and faculty personnel to readily grade and create courses and assignments. As the lead designer, I took charge in interviewing the current users and understanding their challenges and pain points within the site. Additionally, I collaborated with the other team departments to identify any goals and necessary functions that needed to be added.
Turion Enterprise
Date
September - Feburary
Context
2021-2023
Responsive desktop project to improve the overall effectiveness of the administrative LMS system, making it easier to use, more engaging and increase efficiency for everyone involved. As the lead UX designer, I was in charge of designing out this private administrative facing platform. Originally, I worked with another UX designer to ideate and brainstorm designs, but ultimately, I ended up as the sole designer to complete the project.
Role
UXR
UX + UI Design
Tools
Figma
Figjam
Slab
Deliverables
Design System
User interview
Task Flows + Diagram
Grey Scale Wireframes
Usability Test
High-fidelity Mockups
Prototypes
Design Process
Discover
Define
Design
Deliver
Background
Learning Management Systems (LMS) are software applications that manage and deliver educational content and resources to learners. The administrative side of an LMS system is responsible for managing the course catalog, users, user roles, permissions and reporting. In this design case study, we will explore the administrative side of an LMS system and provide recommendations for designing an effective and user-friendly interface.
Hypothesis
Managing an LMS can be overwhelming for educators and administrators. Setting up and organizing courses, creating question banks and assessments and managing student grades can be tedious and frustrating. Navigating the system can also be challenging, with features like bulk uploading causing errors and a lack of clarity on where to create courses. These obstacles can lead to inefficiencies and a negative user experience, impacting the success of both students and teachers.
How might we minimize user fustraton while lowering the learning curve for LMS systems for eductors and administrators.
?
Discover
User Research

To design an effective and user-friendly interface for the administrative side of an LMS system, I needed to understand the needs and pain points of the current platform. I conducted user research combined with a user walkthrough by interviewing the LMS administrators within our organization.

I interviewed a total of 7 users.

Learn about user's experiences with past LMS systems and understand some pain-points and key features that they enjoyed.
Research Goal #1
What LMS software have you worked with in the past?
What are some challenges you had with past LMS systems and what were some features you liked.
To determine what users want and need to streamline their experience with LMS systems.
Research Goal #3
Research Goal #2
What would be your ideal LMS system?
Learning about user's task flow and daily tasks to understand how to design and fulfill and help them with their tasks.
What are some current tasks what you need to achieve within the LMS system? What are some challenges you face?
Walk me through your daily tasks working with LMS systems.
Interview Questions
Interview Findings and Insights
Users found the current question bank to be lacking in clarity and is either missing needed functionalities or has unnecessary features that does not make sense.
Question Bank Usage
Users would like a preview of what they are uploading and would like the platform to have a low learning curve to use.
Courses + Catalog
Users need a good hierarchy in information architect.
Additional Insights
Some Relevant Data
Question Bank Usage
4/5 users don't feel the need for a question bank with Homework and Team Projects as they are task based and not question bank based.
1/5 users think the placement of certain questions are mis-placed, causing confusion and frustration.
Courses + Catalog
4/5 users wishes they had previews for what they are submitting.
3/5 users had difficulty explaining how they go through their daily tasks with the current platform and had to refer back to notes.
2/5 users stated the need for straightforward instructions.
Discover
Competitive Research

The users all had a consensus that the LMS platform, canvas was the easiest to use out of every LMS platform they have tried. However, it still came with some challenges while using it.

Define
Persona

I generated a persona to better understand our potential user's needs and goals. This persona was created based on the user insights I obtained in the user interviews. This persona played an essential role of keeping us in the loop throughout the project.

Design
Design Changes

I designed the administrative side of the LMS system by keeping in mind the user research and design goals. Aside from a visual overhaul, here are some key changes in the new designs.

Design
Workspace

Users are now easily assigned to their respective workspaces which are all unique in permissions. They can be assigned to multiple workspaces by the Super Admin. If their permissions allow, they can view faculty and student profiles, which are shown within a user card view or spreadsheet view.

Design
Course Creation

The format used for course creation directly reflects how it will be presented to the student. The layout is almost identical to what is on the student front. This allows users to know exactly how the end product will look like. Additionally, users have to review the course after creating it before it is submitted to Super Admins for additional review. This new design streamlines the course creation process by centralizing all course-related activities in one place.

Design
Question Bank

The original question bank creation process was chaotic and confusion, so I streamlined the new question bank creation. This new system makes it more convenient for users to create and manage question banks, ensuring that each course has its unique question bank. Unfortunately, I was unable to design a bulk upload system due to technical and data limitations, however now users can easily navigate the question bank and create and review questions before adding.

Design
Grading

Like any other LMS system, grading assignments is a crucial feature that users need to have. However, the previous design lacked proper accommodations for the grading aspect, so I developed a new grading system that utilizes a pick and queue model. With this system, graders can select assignments that align with their subject expertise, and users can easily view when each assignment was submitted.

Design System
MUI Design System
In order to create the LMS System, we utilized the MUI design system to maintain coherence with the public-facing Turion platform. We made some minor adjustments to the color scheme to reflect the Admin system.
Delivery
Presenting the New Design

After designing out the new design to incorporate the user research and data, I presented our designs the different teams (Curriculum, Marketing, Product and Development). We received an unanimous positive reaction the the re-design and excitement from the audience.

  • Marie Maison
    Marketing Director at Turion
    "This design is so much better than what we had before!"
  • Greg Ulg
    Product Manager at Turion
    "This all makes a lot of sense. It seems really easy to find what I'm looking for."
  • Alex Larkins
    Chief of Operations at Turion
    "I really like how this course creation layout is. The course preview is a really nice touch to things."
Conclusion and Next Steps

In conclusion, the administrative side of an LMS system is crucial for managing courses, users, roles, permissions, and reporting. We designed an effective and user-friendly interface by conducting user research and identifying design goals. Our design solution includes a course catalog, user management system, and reporting features that make it easy for administrators to manage and deliver educational content and resources to learners.


As an LMS system, our platform is an ongoing project that will continually evolve and improve over time. As Turion continues to expand as an institution, our team will strive to incorporate additional features that enhance the platform's functionality and user experience.


Moving forward, we will continue to gather feedback from users to identify areas for improvement and prioritize the implementation of new features that address their needs. We are committed to ensuring that our LMS system remains a leading platform in the industry, and we look forward to the ongoing evolution of the platform in response to changing user needs and technological advancements.

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