Rethinking a complex Learning Management System
A complete end to end UX overhaul for the University of Applied Sciences Vienna, Institute of Management, Business and Sales.
Project Overview
The FH Wien of WKW is a renowned University of Applied Sciences in Vienna, Austria for business and management studies. Due to my history of being a lecturer for 3 years at the institution, I deeply understood the Learning Management System.
The problem
Given my own experiences as a lecturer and teacher on the Business English programmes that I taught, I saw opportunities for improving the software and addressing some crucial usability issues that both lecturers and students faced on a daily basis. So, I approached the management with an offer to overhaul the current system and become their in-house UX designer.
Deeper issues
As digital learning becomes more popular, students expect better collaboration with their lecturers. For that reason, FH Wien decided to offer me a part-time role in their digital learning team and the chance to speak to their users to do a usability audit of the current software to understand how users interact with Moodle and to learn about its capabilities, limitations, and what could be done to improve the overall user experience.
My role in the project
Role
UX Designer/Researcher
Goal
Understanding and identifying the existing issues and designing a more user-friendly software.
The team
The university eLearning team and associated stakeholders.
Timeframe
7 months assignment
Unlimited contract
Who exactly are the stakeholders?
Gerhard Lenkart, a longtime lecturer at FH Wien der WKW, is proficient in Moodle, but finds the platform non-intuitive.
The lecturer
FH WIEN INTERNAL STAFF MEMBER
Michaela Herzog is an expert in eLearning trends, dedicated to student success and a valuable resource for professionals.
Academic Coordinator
FH WIEN INTERNAL STAFF MEMBER
Julian Schuh is a Tourism Management student who frequently uses Moodle for coursework whether on or off campus.
Student
FH WIEN
Business Goals
Design Goals
Interviewing the key users
I interviewed students, learners, and lecturers as defined at the start of the study because this is the core user group to better understand the daily interactions with the software. I asked the eLearning department to select a pool of 6 students, 4 lecturers, and 2 academic coordinators that could be interviewed. Each participant shared their screen and demonstrated a part of the software they most regularly use.
Mapping the research found
I used empathy mapping to sythesise the data as I felt it would help me to better categorise the points to work on first. This process helps shift the focus of attention away from the product and is therefore more user-centered.
Key Research Findings
Video Tutorials Missing
Short training videos to appear on the dashboard so the user can learn small nuggets of information.
Lecturer Feedback
It was found that the way a student receives feedback on an assignment was unclear.
Complicated UI
When adding a new assignment the different sections don’t offer enough information and caused strain for the user.
Unnecessary or incomplete information
Organise the dashboard and homepages to display only essential menu information and new courses possibly resulting in better engagment from lecturers.
Modifying the design system for my own needs
FH Wien benefits from having a legacy design system which meant I could jump into some potential ideation. As part of the build of a new LMS, I wanted to modify the legacy design system. Design systems are especially useful when formulating what components to use and where they should be placed.
Developing standard iconography
The FH Wien previously had very poor consistency in terms of it's iconography, so I took it upon my self to tidy this up and write up style guidelines for it's appropriate placement.
Early stage mocks
I used Figma to work with basic mid-fidelity layouts to communicate how a new layout might look with early-stage research findings to organise the page content.
Assignment feedback
A simple and easy to follow feedback section was key from the findings. The new interface provides a dashboard for the student to view their grades per section of the assignment grading mechanism. What is more, there is the opportunity to respond to lecturer feedback directly in the same section.
Fully customisable dashboard and clear UI
In keeping with Moodle the dashboard is fully customisable, however a search feature was added to help students and staff to perform deeper searches within the platform. What is more the dashboard is much more clearer.
Announcements in the right places
In general a major complaint from students was not being notified about assignments or having 'radio silence' from their lecturers. This feature allows the student to be alerted of any potential feedback and being provided the possibility to dismiss it or view it and interact with it.
Use of training videos for 'learning' new features
Another big wish is to bring in training videos offering 'nugget's of information in a convenient to access location, as can be viewed here on the dashboard straight after log in.
Executive summary and take aways
Upon completing the research and design proposals, I put together a post-project report with several recommendations and suggestions.
The FH Wien of WKW greatly appreciated the report, so they knew what to follow up on next and where the priorities are.
Stakeholder Feedback
“Working with Jonathan was a pleasure due to his in-depth knowledge of UX research processes and how to uncover key facts and information, so that we can improve our learning management system at the university.”
Wolfgang Ruge | FH Wien Digital Learning Team
“Jonathan is a passionate UX researcher and designer. As a former language teacher he understands user needs in higher education and knows the pain points of popular learning platforms. He is therefore able to identify sustainable development potential for the digitial learning environment within the framework of the exisiting possibilities.”
Tobias Schwarzbauer | FH Wien Digital Learning Team
Impact from stakeholders surveyed
When surveyed on average 9/10 were satisfied with the product improvements.
8/10 surveyed
students said they greatly valued the possibility to get a reminder of assignments to be handed in.
9/10 surveyed
valued the lecturer feedback option as it meant not having to wait for each class to be given feedback.
9/10 surveyed
lecturers said they found the interface a lot more intuitive.
Management
FH Wien der WKW management felt the new screens based on the research gathered would create a positive impact to a newly developed LMS.
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