The Learner Experience is the face of Absorb's Learning Management System, delivering training to employees in the format that best suits their business. The brand-configurable web app was designed to be versatile enough to administer courses using a variety of methods, from automatic and direct admin-assigned content, to choose-your-own adventure style mandatory training, or through self-selected optional models.

When it came time for a facelift, we looked to bring in more modern design aesthetics that were lighter and more airy, in order to make it easier to parse through the sometimes dense information and options while proudly representing a client's brand.

The core of the refresh initiative was to put learner interests first, either making it faster/easier to find their assigned training, or more intuitive to find content relevant to their interests. With broad strokes we followed the most common user journey of discovering training, consuming it, and keeping track of progress through dashboard, catalog and course player pages.

A dynamic dashboard tile aptly named ‘What’s Next’ was developed to present the simplest summary of priority training without having to dive deep into the app, requiring the least amount of decision-making from a learner.

Know Thy User

To enact effective sweeping changes, the team needed to identify trends of course consumption and the most common painpoints. Two approaches were taken, one quantitative, and one qualitative.

The first was to setup a limited test environment, invite a wide assortment of users to perform a series of typical learning tasks, and tally up the most common hangups from a remote behavioural monitoring app. Collecting navigation statistics from an analytics platform helped reinforce the more fundamental workflows. At the end of each trial, Learners were also encouraged to submit their feedback via survey in the system, and sometimes supplemented with an in-person interview.

Research Findings

For further specific feature improvements, a wide range of parties of varying expertise were canvassed, including anonymous submissions from active clients, suggestions from knowledgeable Client Service Managers, sales associates, and even development to improve performance and optimization. Insights were then grouped along into themes, and voted on by the various contributors to gain a sense of weighting.

What we got was a new way to think about the Learner journey, and a shortlist of actionable improvements, such as.

Details Matter

The detail view of the catalog was designed to be the most information-rich variation of courses, allowing learners to get a clear picture of their course progress at a glance, and easily cross-compare.

Optimized for larger screens while still being responsive, the redesign afforded a more consistent organization of information, and clearer distinction between primary and tertiary actions from its status.

Information Density

The list view of a Learner's enrolled courses was created for high volume and limited information, best suited for things like assigned training or multi-tasking (a learner doesn't need to know much about it, just needs to see overall progress of mandatory items and what to act on next).

Discovery Modal

In order to streamline a user's browsing experience, a consistent behaviour was established to open up a modular preview window on click for more information. A prospective Learner could then investigate the course details, features, requirements, rewards etc. while easily returning to their catalog of options. For a more direct, efficient route, users would also have the option to jump straight into a course's content and bypass the formalities at any stage.

Content + Navigation, Together

During testing, we noticed users switching between course content and peripheral information, sometimes losing motivation without easily seeing their progress. By combining navigation, content and support resources into a single modular view, learners could remain engaged without losing their place, along with a plethora of custom viewing configurations to suit their tastes.