Product Design · Learning Platform
Netcraft Academy
A central workspace for students to navigate lessons, assignments, and course updates.
I designed a student portal that brings course information, learning materials, and assignment submission into one environment—helping students understand what comes next and where to find what they need.
- Role
- UX research, information architecture, interaction design, UI design
- Scope
- Student dashboard, lesson workspace, assignment submission
- Status
- Design concept and prototype
The challenge
Finding information had become part of the assignment.
Course materials, assignment briefs, recordings, and updates were distributed across documents, email, and social channels. Students needed to move between these sources to understand what to prepare, where to find the latest information, and how to contact the right person.
The information existed, but its distribution created uncertainty around everyday learning tasks.
Design question
How might we help students identify their next learning task and access the information needed to complete it?
Original information sources
- Documents
- Social channels
Proposed portal
- Lessons
- Assignments
- Updates
- Staff contacts
See the portal in action.
A walkthrough of the student portal, from revisiting lessons to submitting an assignment.
Research
Understanding the friction around learning.
My research included a survey of 21 participants and a comparison of existing learning portals. I explored access to course materials, communication with staff, assignment feedback, and the resources students needed to complete their work.
The benchmark examined how other institutions organized schedules, announcements, recordings, assignments, and support.
16 selections
Feedback on assignments
Lecturer feedback received the highest number of selections in the question about what mattered most for completing assignments and arriving prepared for lessons.
Design implication
Account for the learning journey after submission, including access to feedback.
14 selections
Communication tools and channel clarity
Participants selected difficulty with communication tools or understanding communication routes as a challenge when contacting course staff.
Design implication
Make the relevant staff member and contact method easier to identify.
13 selections
Examples and inspiration
A lack of examples or inspiration was a recurring frustration with the existing platforms.
Design implication
Provide access to supporting resources within the learning environment.
Research note: Selection counts are taken from the project’s research charts and relate to different questions. They are not percentages or mutually exclusive groups. Some other rating charts contained inconsistent totals and were excluded from the numerical conclusions presented here.
Design approach
Organizing the portal around a learning task.
I focused on a student returning to coursework after class: understanding the brief, revisiting the relevant lesson, and submitting their work.
This scenario connected three core areas of the portal.
Overview
Understand course progress, the next lesson, and the upcoming assignment.
Lessons
Revisit recordings and written summaries by course topic.
Assignments
Read the requirements and submit a project link.
Inspiration resources and staff contact details support the core learning journey.
Core scenario
- 01Identify assignment
- 02Revisit lesson
- 03Review brief
- 04Submit project
From lesson to submission
A proposed flow connecting learning materials, assignment requirements, and submission in one workspace.
The solution
A personal overview of the course.
The homepage brings together course progress, upcoming homework, the next lesson, and access to previous learning materials.
Progress indicators provide a sense of position within the course. Assignment and lesson details connect that broader view to the student’s immediate responsibilities.
Visible progress
Course and module indicators communicate how far the student has progressed.
Practical next steps
Upcoming homework and lesson details provide routes into the relevant task or learning material.
Revisit the lesson without losing context.
The lesson workspace combines the recorded session with a written summary. A topic-based course outline helps students navigate the material, while search provides another route to finding a lesson by subject or lecturer.
The selected lesson displays its number, topic, and lecturer above the recording, with the summary below.
Design explanation
Connecting the course outline, recording, and summary gives students access to related learning materials within the same workspace.
From understanding the brief to submitting the work.
The assignments overview separates active and upcoming work from completed assignments. Status and module filters help students locate a task, check its deadline, and open its details.
Opening an assignment brings together the brief, a deliverables checklist, related learning resources, and a project-link submission form. A contextual contact route helps students ask the lecturer about the assignment.
The current screens demonstrate the submission form and an empty feedback state. The original prototype also explored sending and confirmation states. A connected submission-to-feedback workflow has not yet been demonstrated.
Submission sequence · original prototype
A recognizable learning environment.
I used Netcraft’s violet identity across navigation, actions, selected topics, and interface details. Light backgrounds and restrained borders create continuity between the core screens.
Supportive language and illustrations introduce a personal tone across the learning experience.
Reflection
Centralizing information was the first step.
Reviewing the concept revealed opportunities to improve hierarchy and complete the learning workflow. The next iteration focuses on helping students see what matters now and understand what happens after an action.
- Iteration · 01
Bring immediate actions forward
The revised dashboard brings Continue learning, the nearest deadline, and course changes into clearer view while keeping progress visible. This hierarchy still needs usability testing.
- Next · 02
Complete the submission-to-feedback journey
Add submission timestamps, a record of the submitted link, awaiting-review status, access to feedback, and a clear resubmission path.
- Iteration · 03
Make lesson notes easier to scan
The revised lesson workspace introduces key takeaways and clearer headings. Further exploration could add an in-page contents list and links from explanations to relevant recording timestamps.
What I would test next.
I would run task-based usability sessions with students to assess whether the portal supports the core learning journey.
- T1Find the next lesson’s location after a change.
- T2Identify the nearest assignment deadline.
- T3Locate a relevant lesson explanation.
- T4Submit a project link and confirm what was sent.
- T5Find feedback and understand the next action.
I would observe task completion without assistance, time on task, errors, and moments of hesitation, then compare the original and revised prototypes.
A connected foundation for the student experience.
The project produced a student-facing portal concept connecting course information, learning materials, staff contacts, and assignment submission.
It has not been launched, and usability outcomes have not yet been measured.
A useful learning portal needs to do more than bring information together. It needs to establish priorities, connect related tasks, and make the result of each action clear.