High School teachers don’t know what tools are available to them or how to use our content to support their instruction.
Driving Product Value with Redesign of Core Experience
Project Summary
Study.com is an education platform with six product segments serving teachers and learners. I led a heuristic redesign of the lesson page, one of Study.com’s core offerings. This project focused on improving how teachers use and navigate Study.com's lesson pages and core teacher offerings. We focused on enhancing both B2B and B2C user experiences. Impact was measured through engagement with key features on the lesson page.
My Roles
- Product Design
- User Research
- Project Strategy
The Team
- Product Manager: Gordon Dean
- Learning Designer: Ashley Bruckbauer
- User Researcher: Sarah Avellar
- Lead Engineer: Russ Mazzetta
- Data Analyst: Joe Stauss
Impact & Results
Increased revenue in YoY B2B sales by
+115%
Increased engagement with key features by
+46%
Increase in assigning content by
+33.4%
TOOL KIT
The User Problem
The Business Problem
Key features on the lesson page have low engagement, and it is not clear to administrators or teachers what the product value is.
Identified User Goal
High school teachers need a way to easily evaluate if content is relevant, assign it, and keep their students engaged.
Understanding the Business Goals
Study.com wants to increase revenue by selling more B2B subscriptions to districts and schools.
Hypothesis 1
System-Wide Gaps in Core Teacher Flows & Patterns Disrupts Usability
Study.com's six product segments share the same core pages, despite different user needs. The interface wasn’t designed around teachers’ goals, resulting in unclear primary and secondary actions and no defined user flows.
Hypothesis 2
Primary Actions & Content Features Mixed Together Causing Problems with Discoverability
Some content features only work with specific types of content, which adds to the confusion. For example, the Interactive Video tool only functions with video lessons, while the Print option is limited to text-based content, yet both appear next to the video player alongside other tools, creating inconsistency.
Supporting Evidence
Behavioral Data from Teachers Shows Low Engagement with Key Features & Tools
Text color indicates duplicated actions -> two places to assign, bookmark, and print this lesson, and to start a quiz party
How Might We...
Establish Core Design Patterns to Improve Findability & Promote Engagement
In order to improve visual consistency and hierarchy, it was important to establish some key design patterns, which were also to be applied throughout the teacher product.
This was done through Creating a Distinction Between Teacher Tools & Content Features
Solutioning
New Patterns Facilitate Scalable Design for Future Product Growth & Other Product Segments
By creating and implementing a distinction between Teacher Tools and Content features, we can now easily refine the lesson page across all six product segments to meet the specific needs of each user.
Solutioning
Lesson Page Navigation Now Houses All Important Tools, Allowing Teachers to Easily Find & Assign Relevant Content
Improved visibility and distinction of content features and tools help drive engagement. Primary actions like assigning and evaluating content are grouped together in the navigation, following the UX Law of Proximity. Teachers now have clear access to tools and features that support instruction.
The Impact
Lesson Page Success Sparks Investment in Global Teacher Experience
The successful rollout of the lesson page led to increases in key engagement and revenue metrics, aligning both user and business goals, and unlocking an exciting roadmap for future initiatives.
Increased revenue in YoY B2B sales by
+115%
Exceeded revenue targets by
+ $51k
Increased engagement with key features by
+46%
Increase in assigning content by
+33.4%
The Impact
Teacher Specific Design Patterns Applied Across Other Content Types
One of those initiatives was to extend the new navigation and design patterns to additional content pages across the platform.
The Impact
Driving Product Value by Incorporating Content Engagement Tracking & Expanding Teacher Design Patterns
As teacher engagement increased, we began to see a corresponding rise in student engagement. This momentum led to the redesign of other core teacher-facing pages, such as the dashboard and classroom views (which eventually merged into a single view), and the introduction of new features to help teachers better monitor and support student activity.
What about mobile?
83% of Teachers Prefer Desktop for Study.com Lessons, Leading to a More Intentionally Limited Mobile Experience
When considering the mobile experience, we decided to limit the new lesson page design to incorporate key functions and save more interactive-heavy features for the desktop experience.
Validating
Client Success Team Testimonial Video Highlighting Feedback Used to Validate Design
What I Learned
Designing for Diverse Needs Requires Modularity
A modular design system can address complex, overlapping needs—making it easier to scale and support multiple product areas.
Scalable Systems Reduce Complexity
By thinking in systems, we can reduce internal design complexity while supporting consistency across multiple platforms and experiences.
What is true Readability
I spent time researching optimal line lengths, text contrast, and typography to create a smoother reading experience; small, thoughtful changes in presentation can significantly impact user comprehension and comfort.