1
Posts & Announcements
Supports structured course communications.
Case study
Guroo Learning - Discussion Boards
Case study
Bringing conversations into the learning experience
Guroo Learning's existing Posts & Announcements feature supported basic course communication, but customers needed richer ways for learners and facilitators to interact. Many were relying on third-party tools to fill the gap. I helped define and design a discussion system that brought channels, posts, comments, reactions and content management directly into the learning platform.
EducationCommunityProduct Design
- Role
- Product Designer
- Scope
- End-to-end product design
- Status
- In development when my contract ended
Responsibilities
Customer and stakeholder conversationsCompetitive and product researchRequirements definitionInformation architectureUser flowsPermissions and business rulesWireframesPrototypingUI designCustomer validationUser storiesDeveloper collaboration
Collaboration
Product ManagerDevelopersCustomers
Overview
Overview
Bringing conversations into the learning experience
Guroo Learning's existing Posts & Announcements feature supported basic course communication, but customers needed richer ways for learners and facilitators to interact. Many were relying on third-party tools to fill the gap. I helped define and design a discussion system that brought channels, posts, comments, reactions and content management directly into the learning platform.
The Problem
The Problem
Communication was happening outside the learning experience.
Guroo already had Posts & Announcements for basic course communications. It did not provide enough functionality for ongoing interaction between learners and facilitators. Customer feedback showed that organisations were using third-party communication and community tools to fill the gap. Learning happened in Guroo, while much of the community interaction happened somewhere else. The challenge was larger than improving announcements: how could Guroo bring richer learner-facilitator communication into the learning experience without simply creating another generic social feed?
The communication gap
Discovery
Discovery
The solution did not begin with UI screens.
Discovery combined customer feedback and conversations, stakeholder conversations, research into other LMS products and selected community tools, and a close look at existing Guroo behaviours and patterns. I considered familiar discussion patterns alongside what customers actually needed. A major requirement emerged: customers needed flexible discussion groups around topics, cohorts, participant groups and learning contexts. This led to a channel-based mental model for flexible discussion spaces inside the learning experience.
Mapping the system
Structuring the Experience
Structuring the Experience
A connected discussion ecosystem.
The discussion experience evolved into several connected areas. Each addressed a different user need rather than simply adding another feature to a feed.
2
Channels
Creates flexible discussion spaces around topics, groups, cohorts or other learning contexts.
3
Catchup
Helps users quickly identify recent and relevant activity.
4
Manage Posts
Gives users one place to manage published, draft and scheduled content.
5
Bookmarks
Allows useful content to be saved for later.
6
Mentions & Replies
Helps users return directly to conversations requiring their attention.
Discussion Boards information architecture
Roles and participation
1
Author / Admin
Manage posts, create and manage channels, and configure channel participation and access.
2
Facilitator
Manage posts, use Catchup, view channels, create posts, comment, reply, react and participate in moderation where permitted.
3
Learner
Manage posts, use Catchup, view available channels, and create posts, comment, reply and react where permitted.
One system, different levels of participation
Key Decisions
Key Decisions
Structuring participation as the system expanded.
Several decisions shaped how Discussion Boards evolved from a simple communication feature into a flexible community system.
1
Flexible channels instead of one discussion feed
Separate spaces could support different topics, groups, cohorts and learning contexts.
2
Design around relevance, not just content
Catchup, Mentions & Replies and Bookmarks gave users different ways to return to meaningful activity.
3
Centralise users' own content management
Manage Posts brought published, draft and scheduled content into one predictable place.
4
Reuse the platform's existing permission model
Discussion Boards remained aligned with Guroo's established roles and business rules.
5
Add moderation as participation expands
Reporting and moderation supported a system intended for genuine community participation.
Further detail
Five product decisionsContext, rationale, trade-offs and outcomes
Designing the System
Designing the System
Designing around user behaviours.
The solution was organised around how people would create, participate in, find and manage conversations rather than around a sequence of screens.
1
A posting lifecycle
Users needed more than a way to publish a post. The experience also supported drafting, scheduling and returning to previously created content through a dedicated management area.
Creating and managing conversations
2
Turning posts into conversations
Channels provided the space for discussion, while individual posts supported threaded participation through comments, replies and reactions.
Turning posts into conversations
3
Helping people find relevant activity
As discussion activity grows, users need ways to return to what matters. Catchup, mentions, replies and bookmarks supported different ways of re-entering active conversations.
Helping people find relevant activity
4
Configuring participation
Authors/admins could create channels around different topics, groups or learning contexts and configure who could see and participate in them.
Creating flexible discussion spaces
5
Designing for moderation
Moderation was introduced as the system evolved from one-way communication into participatory discussion spaces. Facilitators needed tools to review reported content and take appropriate action.
Designing for moderation
Prototype & Validation
Prototype & Validation
Making the proposed experience easier to evaluate.
I created the product thinking, requirements, flows and interface designs. After the design work, I used Figma Make to turn the proposed experience into a more functional prototype. I shared my designs and interaction intentions with the AI and guided the generated experience until it reflected the behaviours I wanted to test. This gave customers something closer to a working product to respond to rather than relying only on static screens. I used the prototype during customer conversations, where customers responded positively to the overall direction and were excited about the proposed experience. The functional prototype cannot be publicly shared because of confidentiality.
From design to customer validation
Outcome
Outcome
A broader communication system moved into development.
The final concept expanded Guroo's basic announcement functionality into a broader communication system covering channels, posts, comments, reactions, content discovery, permissions and moderation. Customers responded positively when I walked them through the functional prototype, and the solution moved into development. Before my contract ended, I completed the required designs and user stories needed for implementation. I did not review the final implemented product.
Reflection
Reflection
Community features are systems around conversations.
Designing Discussion Boards reinforced that community features are not primarily about posts and comments. The difficult part is designing the system around them: who can participate, where conversations belong, how people find relevant activity and what happens when participation needs to be moderated. The project also reinforced the value of combining customer feedback, familiar interaction patterns and existing product rules rather than treating every new feature as an isolated design problem.