D2L / 2008-2010
Course Builder
Drag-and-drop interface enabling instructors to build courses without technical expertise.
Design Highlights
Overview
Course Builder was a drag-and-drop course authoring tool for D2L's Brightspace LMS, designed to support the transition from grade-based learning to competency-based learning. Developed in collaboration with researchers and the Research Council of Canada, the tool featured a tree-view interface for creating course structure and filling it with content. Drag-and-drop was still a novel web interaction pattern at the time, making this one of the earliest implementations in the LMS space.
Challenge
Course creation in Brightspace was a manual, basic process that didn't support emerging competency-based learning models. Instructors, course admins, and instructional designers needed a way to create structured courses that mapped content to competencies—a significant shift from traditional grade-based approaches. Drag-and-drop was still new web technology, requiring extensive design exploration to get the interactions right.
Approach
Designed and developed the tool alongside researchers and the Research Council of Canada as part of the transition to competency-based learning. Created interactive prototypes to test different drag-and-drop interaction patterns, given that the technology was still new and unproven in web applications. Conducted extensive usability testing with course admins, instructors, and instructional designers. Collaborated closely with front-end developers throughout the project to ensure the interactions were technically feasible and performant.
Solution
Built a visual course builder featuring a drag-and-drop tree view for creating course structure and organizing content. The tool incorporated competency-based learning principles, allowing educators to map content to learning outcomes. The drag-and-drop interface made course organization direct — educators could restructure entire courses by moving nodes in the tree. The tool was designed for non-technical users, abstracting the complexity of course architecture behind familiar visual interactions.
Impact
Led a session on Course Builder at the D2L users conference (Fusion) that was the highest-attended session ever with close to 200 attendees. The tool was ahead of its time and drove a significant increase in sales and leads for D2L. Opened course creation to non-technical instructors and supported D2L's positioning in competency-based learning.
Key Learnings
Designing with new interaction paradigms requires heavy investment in prototyping and usability testing. Early testing revealed that instructors' mental models for drag-and-drop course organization didn't match initial assumptions, requiring multiple iterations of the tree-view interaction. Close collaboration between design and front-end development was essential for a feature this interaction-heavy. Co-designing with researchers from the Research Council of Canada ensured the tool served real pedagogical needs rather than adding technology for its own sake.