Track 02: Class is in session
Course Management: From LMS chaos to classroom clarity
Instructors using Poll Everywhere were struggling to manage and reuse content across recurring classes or events. Every session required setting up new presentations when using the same materials and it resulted in a cluttered dashboard, duplicated work, and inconsistent naming conventions.
I led the end to end design of the Course Management feature to better support professors syncing rosters, managing courses, and grading participation. I led research, user journey mapping, and high-fidelity design while collaborating cross-functionally. The redesign aligned with academic workflows and boosted engagement by 30%.
Problem
Poll Everywhere’s Learning management system (LMS) integration was originally designed for corporate training, not classrooms. As the company pivoted to higher education, the use grew. Professors were left navigating a system that didn’t reflect how they teach, organize, or grade.
Educators struggled with:
Buried navigation that hid courses under participant pages
Unintuitive roster syncing and grading workflows
Technical limitations that prevented quick fixes or small changes
Strategic Shift
What started as a visual refresh quickly became rethinking the entire experience. The focus shifted to supporting how instructors manage participation, track progress, and sync grade to LMS platforms such as Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle.
Here's what the team and I set out to solve
Improve usability
Align navigation with professors’ mental models
Simplify LMS integration
Especially for syncing rosters and grading
Drive adoption
Increase semesterly active users by 10% YoY
To ensure these goals were met, I first audited the existing experience to identify where professors were getting stuck.
These questions guided every design decision and helped to prioritize impact over complexity.
Improve navigation quickly
Without creating a new navigation page due to timeline constraints
Enable roster control
Let professors sync, disable, or update rosters
Simplify grading
Make it easy to sync grades back to LMS platforms like Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard
I partnered with the Product Manager and Design Manager to conduct 10-15 interviews with professors and admins. Instead of just collecting feedback, we observed workflows, surface frustrations, and listened to how users wanted the system to improve.
We validated concepts early with honest feedback, even when it meant pivoting. These insights guided our direction in educator needs while meeting business goals.
60%
Struggled to locate courses
45%
Reported frustration with being redirected
60%
Relied on workarounds for LMS courses
Technical Constraints
The legacy codebase restricted what we could change. My initial proposal was a folder tree in the flyout to let professors add activities directly to courses. Though users loved it, it proved too complex to implement within the current system.
Rather than force it, I partnered with Engineering in daily working sessions to explore alternatives that would preserve usability while respecting technical limits. This led me to audit our existing navigation patterns while
MVP
Focused solely on roster sync without a standalone page.
MSP
Scope expanded to include course organization (add activity), participation, and grading workflows, which required a dedicated interface.
I held frequent working sessions with Product and Engineering. While doing so, I dug into our platform behavior and found a key constraint but a great discovery. Our product already used a breadcrumb model but it only surfaced after navigating 4-5 folder levels.
Leveraging this insight, I proposed a breadcrumb based approach for the add activity navigation.
This approach kept design aligned with Engineering, maintained system compatibility, and still allowed users to view activity summaries within the same screen by reducing friction without adding unnecessary complexity.
The redesign resulted in a clear, scalable course management system that improves navigation, roster sync, and grading workflows. Each feature you’ll see below was designed to reduce friction and align with how educators actually manage their classes.
Redesigned navigation and workflows around professors’ mental models, delivering measurable gains in efficiency, adoption, and satisfaction. The improvements streamlined grading, roster management, and course navigation, leading to significant business and user impact.
User Impact
30% efficiency & engagement
40% faster workflows
Higher satisfaction scores
Business Impact
15% growth in new bookings
Reduced support tickets
Increased adoption rates
I'll be honest, I didn't understand this project all all in the beginning. The workflows, the LMS integrations, the professors' mental models all felt like a foreign language. But after a deep dive with the project manager, clarity from user research, and really immersing myself in how professors think about managing classes.
From there, every decision had purpose to align with both user needs and business goals. The result wasn't just a clean interface but a tool professors could actually enjoy while being backed by measurable improvements in adoption, efficiency, and satisfaction.
Stakeholder feedback
“The new grade book looks slick,” and my manager summed it up with, “You killed it.”