Case Study: Redesigning a Certification Exam Preparation Experience

This case study outlines how I helped to redesign a certification exam preparation experience by applying learning science research and instructional design best practices.

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Introduction

As a Senior Learning Designer, I collaborated with cross-functional teams—product, design, and engineering—to improve the user experience for both instructors and learners. My responsibilities included developing the Learning Requirements Document (LRD), providing design feedback, creating Instructor guidelines, and offering recommendations throughout the iterative product development cycle.

The Challenge

Instructors and learners provided feedback requesting improvements to a certification exam preparation product. The core issues were:

Instructors wanted an easier-to-use exam creation and management interface.
Learners wanted a more authentic and higher-quality test-taking experience with better feedback mechanisms.

The goal was to redesign the exam preparation feature to make it more user-friendly, realistic, and aligned with best practices for cert exams, while ensuring learners received immediate, actionable feedback.

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The Process

To address these challenges, I took the following steps:

Research & Discovery: I began by conducting a thorough analysis of current certification exams, including question types, exam blueprints, and best practices. I also researched competitor products to understand how they were solving similar problems.
Learning Design Strategy: Based on my research, I developed a learning design strategy that prioritized:
- Authenticity: Aligning the exam structure with real-world certification blueprints and learning objectives (LOs).
- Learner Feedback: Integrating AI-driven feedback mechanisms to provide immediate, personalized feedback to learners after each question or section.
- Ease of Use for Instructors: Streamlining the exam creation and grading process for instructors, ensuring the system was intuitive and efficient.
I documented these recommendations in the Learning Requirements Document (LRD), which served as the foundation for design and development.
Collaboration & Iteration: I worked closely with the product manager (PM) and design team throughout the development cycle. This involved:
- Bi-weekly Consultations: I provided ongoing feedback during bi-weekly consultations with the PM, answering questions and clarifying requirements as the feature evolved.
- Design Reviews: I participated in design reviews, offering insights on how to better align the user interface with the learning objectives and desired learner experience.

Prototyping & Testing: I helped test the new exam feature, providing feedback on usability and user experience. I also worked with the team to iterate on design changes, ensuring the final product met the needs of both instructors and learners.

The Solution

The final solution was an improved certification exam preapration experience that included:

Realistic Exam Simulation: A revamped exam environment that closely resembled real-world certification exams, with question types and structures aligned to industry standards.

Improved Usability and Guidance for Instructors: An intuitive interface for creating and managing exams, with streamlined grading and reporting tools, along with clear instructor support documentation and in-product guidance.

Higher Quality Learner Feedback: AI-powered feedback mechanisms that provided learners with clear, actionable insights for each exam question.

For more information on the update, you can check out this article detailing the improvements.

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Results, Impact & Reflection

The redesign led to significant improvements in the cert exam preparation feature.

There was a 60% increase in user engagement with the certification exam preparation feature, indicating that learners found the new design more valuable and aligned with their needs.
Improved Learner Satisfaction: Learners reported greater satisfaction with the exam experience, particularly the realistic exam simulation and instant feedback features.
Improved Instructor Satisfaction: Through both interviews and surveys, instructors indicated that they were satisfied with the improvements in the feature. Several top instructors shared that the Practice Test revamp was the most impactful product update in several years.

Reflection:

This project allowed me to refine my skills in cross-functional collaboration, particularly with product, design, and engineering teams. I learned how to balance essential requirements with stakeholder needs and prioritize features that would have the most significant impact on learning outcomes. Additionally, I developed a deeper understanding of how to integrate learning science research and learning design principles into product development to create effective, learner-centered experiences.