Build something educational.
- UX Research
- UX strategy
- UI strategy
- User Interface Design
Industry
Higher Education
Year
2023
Gearing For Success
Northwestern PATH is a program and learning management system (LMS) geared towards engineering students at Northwestern University who seek to learn techniques and habits around studying, goal-setting, introspection, and maintaining positive mental health. They came to us to modernize the look and feel of their LMS so that students are more engaged, while amplifying their Gears of Performance ethos; a manifesto of how you think, how you feel, and what you do that powers your values and goals on your path to taking intentional and courageous action.
The Challenge
From Stale to Scale
Students use the PATH LMS to learn by completing weekly modules, filling out their weekly calendar, and gaining a sense of course-long trends with their progress charts. Previously, the UI was stale and outdated. Usage data showed that the majority of the students completed the modules last-minute. They rushed through the content and failed to adopt features geared toward reflection. Working as a cross-functional team, we leaned into gamification to drive personalization and retention. We also strove for modularity to future-proof the platform and help the university eventually license it to other institutions.
Let’s Get Personal
After speaking with deans and program coordinators, it was imperative for us to get a more intimate and unfiltered point of view directly from the platform’s users — students. Unfortunately, students were on summer vacation, so we had to get creative. We sent a survey to past students to gather attitudes around the PATH platform. We also scheduled a handful of follow-up, contextual inquiry sessions with alumni to see how they interact with the site. This research helped us better shape our design convictions and understand and prioritize pain-points.
Collaborate Over Coordinate
In a fast-paced working environment, it’s common to delegate work to subject matter experts for efficiency’s sake. The tradeoff is this can lead to silos. We strove to have all project team members in the same conversations with stakeholders and students to create a culture of empathy and shared understanding. We compiled industry reading and design pattern examples in order to form common language, understand the landscape, and inform product vision. Weekly working meetings ensured that research and design considerations could be voiced and evaluated promptly.
Remind Students Why They’re Here
Our research showed that students could benefit from being reminded of the program’s value. We decided to use a carousel on the main dashboard screen listing value propositions, which also provided scalable value for the platform. In the same spirit, we created a push notification design system. Accounting for the cadence and frequency of notifications would help drive students back into the platform or the material to engage in a wider variety of ways throughout the week. While our UX Designer created the types of notifications rooted in business and user needs, our UI Designer created the interaction style and toggle functionality needed to bring the concept to life.
Headline: Reward Student Progress
We decided to lean into a rewards-driven gamification strategy to incentivize engagement. A recent study found that 67% of students in the US prefer learning methods that incorporate game-like elements, such as rewards and competition.
Future-Forward
We explicitly defined which colors and elements would be native to the platform and which could be customized by other school admins. For custom colors, our designer Keymoni “focused on areas that impacted the platform's structure and usability—like button colors, main text, banners, dropdowns, and other key UI elements.” These colors were tied to the primary palette to maintain a consistent look.
The Solution
The transformation of Northwestern PATH represents not just a redesign of an LMS, but a reimagining of how engineering students engage with their learning journey. As we move forward, we’re excited about the potential for Northwestern PATH to inspire and empower students at other institutions. With Northwestern PATH leading the way, we’re confident that the future of higher education tech is brighter and more promising than ever before.
Key Process Solutions
Stakeholder coordination to ensure feedback was heard and communicated between teams
UX research including interviews and contextual inquiry to discover the most impactful way to present content across the site
Key Features
Push notifications to drive engagement and retention
Rewards-based badges to encourage students and incentivize learning
A revised Progress Chart with immersive data visualization
An enhanced Calendar with a graphic circle of how students spend their time to evaluate how their time spent aligns with their values along with a clearer Google/iCal import/export user flow
Stats
Increased user satisfaction by 32%
Average CSAT of 79.2.
User Quotes
“I love the new website, it's very interactive and engaging”
“I love the badges and celebrations for finishing each step”
“I like how everything is organized”
“Push notifications have helped keep me on track”
