D2L / 2014-2015
Learner Experience
Reimagined course experience using rich media and story-like structure.
Design Highlights
Overview
Learner Experience was a personal vision project created during my time at D2L that reimagined the course viewing experience in Brightspace, putting students first with a content-first, mobile-first design. The goal was to make learning as engaging as watching a TV show or YouTube video — putting the content forward rather than burying it behind administrative interfaces.
Challenge
Most LMS experiences are built for teachers and administrators, not students. The student-facing experience in traditional learning platforms is an afterthought—functional but uninspiring. Students accustomed to consumer-grade content experiences (streaming, social media, YouTube) found LMS interfaces dated and disengaging. The gap between how students consume content in their personal lives and how they experience educational content was widening.
Approach
Flipped the traditional LMS paradigm by designing a student-focused, content-first experience. Prioritized mobile-first design recognizing that students increasingly access course materials from their phones. Drew inspiration from entertainment and media consumption patterns—rich media, visual storytelling, and fluid navigation—rather than traditional enterprise software patterns. Built a fully interactive prototype to test the vision with real students.
Solution
Created a fully interactive prototype featuring a content-first viewing experience that foregrounded course materials through rich media integration, story-like navigation, and modern visual design. The experience was designed to feel more like a curated content platform than a traditional LMS. Mobile-first responsive design ensured the experience was optimized for how students actually access their course materials.
Impact
Tested with high school students and achieved the highest NPS scores for any product at D2L—significantly outperforming the core Brightspace product, which had an NPS under 40. The prototype helped create a vision for the future direction of D2L's student-facing product, demonstrating that a student-first approach produces fundamentally different engagement and satisfaction outcomes.
Key Learnings
The NPS gap between this prototype and the core product proved that designing for students—rather than treating the student experience as a byproduct of admin tools—changes outcomes entirely. Content-first design requires stripping away administrative chrome and letting the learning material be the experience. Drawing inspiration from entertainment platforms rather than enterprise software is the right frame for student-facing educational products.