The lack of a clear understanding of the user journey creates significant obstacles in the early stages of the design process, making it challenging to move forward effectively.

1️⃣ Step 1: Gather Insights

Conduct interviews with course builders to gain insight into their methodologies, workflows, and challenges.

The initial interviews provided valuable insights, allowing us to visualize the course creation process effectively. Based on feedback from a select group of users, we refined our understanding into three major phases:

• 🟨 Course Preparation

  • Identifying learning objectives

  • Researching content and resources

  • Outlining the course structure

• 🟪 Course Building

  • Developing course materials (videos, quizzes, etc.)

  • Implementing interactive elements

  • Testing and iterating on content

• 🟩 Stakeholder Review

  • Gathering feedback from stakeholders

  • Making necessary adjustments

  • Finalizing the course for launch

📈 Supporting Data

Insights from tracking show that users spend an average of 33–46 hours building a course from beginning to completion. Additionally, users we interviewed reported that the preparation time is usually longer, ranging from 60–83 hours.

2️⃣ Step 2: Confirm Processes and Verify the Assumptions

Validate our findings with clients to ensure an accurate representation of their workflows.

In a comprehensive meeting with 27 participants, we presented the proposed user flow and solicited feedback. This session allowed us to identify both commonalities and variations in their workflows.

• Consistency in New Course Creation Process

  • About 21 users indicated that the steps they follow when creating a new course from scratch are generally consistent.

• Primary Use Case: Cloning and Adjusting Courses

  • The majority of users reported that their primary use case involves recreating (cloning) existing courses as a starting point, after which they make adjustments and improvements for new cohorts.

• Early Activity Component Selection is Crucial

  • Almost all users emphasized the importance of identifying which NovoEd activity components to utilize at this stage, as opposed to selecting them in Course Building.

• Limited AI Experimentation

  • Only 11 users are actively experimenting with AI to create content independently.

• High Difficulty but Crucial for Styling

  • Approximately 21 users reported that setting up branding colors is challenging, yet they consider it essential for effective course presentation.

• Inefficient Error Correction in Cloned Courses

  • When a typo or error is found in the source material, it must be manually updated for each cohort. This is particularly cumbersome due to their cloning process, which involves cloning all courses at the beginning of the year.

• Templates Used for Consistent Styling

  • They utilize templates with defined colors and styles for various sections.

Early Stakeholder Review of Written Content

All users indicate that the review process occurs during the initial stage of course preparation. At this point, they focus on evaluating the written content provided, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and alignment with course objectives before proceeding to further development. This early review is crucial for maintaining the quality and effectiveness of the course material.

3️⃣ Step 3: Idea Sharing And Validation

Before the advisory group meeting, we generated several ideas that we believe could be valuable for course builders, considering their workflow. During the meeting, we shared these ideas and gathered their feedback. Our goal was to validate our assumptions and identify what works and what doesn’t.

4️⃣ Sept 4: Prioritization Ideas ⭐️

We conducted an impact analysis based on user feedback to evaluate needs and align them with our product focus, leading to the finalization of the MVP list.

Our primary focus is to develop an AI tool that assists users in generating course content. The concept of "Create A Course With Content From File(s)" will address the needs of both new and existing users. To ensure we maintain a rapid pace in enhancing this feature, our initial step will be to generate course content, with course activities to follow. The subsequent ideas, such as "NovoAI Creates Activities Based on Your Uploaded File" and "NovoAI Creates Activities Based on Existing Course Content," will be considered post-MVP.

Additionally, during client interviews, we learned that course builders may be hesitant to utilize the AI-generated course feature if they are required to style the course from scratch, without the ability to apply their existing branding. Therefore, we must prioritize a solution that integrates seamlessly with their established styles.

5️⃣ Step5: Competitor Analysis🕵️‍♀️

In the initial step and styling focus, I observed that all competitors’ AI course builders include a document uploader and support for prompt input. Except for 360Learning, all competitors offer the option to select a course length or duration. Notably, only Articulate provides a course styling option along with a style editing function.

6️⃣ Conclusion: Features for NovoAI Course Creator

Incorporating Three Main Features: Document Uploader, Styling Selection, and Course Length Selection

Based on user interviews, we learned that all our users have their learning materials ready, and many have reviewed them with their stakeholders. They prefer to start with existing content rather than creating a brand new course from scratch.

1. Document Uploader

   We must include a document uploader, as it enables users to easily utilize their prepared materials.

2. Styling Selection
   Maintaining a course styling selection is essential because it significantly impacts user adoption.

3. Course Length Selection
   Adding a course length selection feature is crucial for an AI course builder. It is straightforward to implement and will enhance outcome control, boosting user confidence in their expectations.

4. Topic Prompt
   Currently, the topic prompt does not seem valuable to us, as our existing users will not start with a prompt. However, this could be a beneficial follow-up feature for acquiring new clients.

Main features to work on

🏗️ Building up the layout

1. Layout 1: Full-Screen View

2. Layout 2: Popover Utilizing Existing Platform Components

👉 Proceed with Flow 1, as the competitive analysis indicates that the full-screen view significantly enhances user engagement. Follow up to refine the flow with more details

👀 Develop design concepts at the component level to clearly demonstrate the functionalities intended for the MVP.

1️⃣ Focus on visual styles to engage users right from the start of course development. 🧠

💬 Sharing the styles for the initial step in gathering team feedback

Feedback Guides Design Direction

1. Maintain the default view

2. With the flowing popover, we shift from an immersive experience to a repeat creation experience.

2️⃣ Focusing on promoting the AI flow while ensuring that no changes are made to the default screen. 🧠

💬 Sharing the styles for the initial step in gathering team feedback

Feedback Guides Design Direction

1. Utilize the left panel, as it aligns with the NovoEd Course Creation Toolbox.

2. This has been finalized with Idea 7-4, incorporating the AI branding colors to promote this new concept effectively.

3️⃣ Define the interaction for the key steps 🎨

🎨 Visualize all steps on the left panel with the entire user flow

💬 Sharing the final mocks for all steps in gathering team feedback

Team sharing the edge case possibilities and limitations

🎨 Bring our brand to life with vibrant representations and a playful tone that makes everyone smile and feel connected!

📏 Incorporate all guidelines and develop solutions for all edge cases 📐

Annotation and Status Specification

🎠 File Uploading Animation

🧱 UI Components

🤖 Interactive Prototype: Explore the key steps in the AI course creation process. Click through to visualize each stage, from ideation to content delivery.

What We Learn

6 Users helped with the testing.

1. Flow Usability: The user flow was easy to navigate.

2. AI Trust Barrier: Users lacked confidence in the AI outcome without previewing the results.

3. Trust Builder: Styling and length selections effectively helped users visualize the generated course.

4. Control Feature: Users requested a reset/comparison option for greater control over the final content.

1️⃣ Demo1 - Course Creation

2️⃣ Demo2 - Course Review and Edit

🌟 Successful official launch

🌟 Reduce the course creation time to under 3 hours

🌟 10 / 10 users said they will continue to use the NovoAI assistance