Designing EdTech Products like a Course: Why It Works Better than You Think

Did you know that most education technology fails to deliver results, not because it’s inaccurate? It fails because it is too complex for educators and learners, often forcing them to work around it to find a way.

According to EDUCAUSE, faculty have reported that they often abandon tools that require too many clicks, extensive workflows, and confusing dashboards, even if institutions have paid for them. When it comes to students, it is well known that they have limited cognitive bandwidth, and when that bandwidth is spent trying to figure out these tools, there is no room for learning.

However, in a recent Tech in EdTech podcast, Dr. Andrea Gregg of Penn State offers a compelling solution. She says that if we started designing edtech products the way we design high-quality courses, adoption would not be a struggle.

Your Starting Point… The Learner

While all stakeholders play an important role, learner analysis becomes user analysis. Their product usage and academic performance impact trials, pilots, and decisions to renew. Until recently, students’ needs were only indirectly addressed when addressing school administrations, educators, and parents. These are the primary reasons why they should not be an afterthought:

• They interact with products daily, and their experiences dictate usability and engagement.
• Improved student learning is crucial to product success, which means renewed engagement for the company.
• Direct feedback from them reveals what is working and what isn’t, which helps when creating product iterations.
• They provide a clearer picture of classroom realities, better than any research conducted online.

The questions you need to answer while conducting learner analysis are:

• Who’s going to be using this product?
• What are they likely to know or not know?
• Where are they likely to struggle?
• How can you make it relevant to them?

Teacher Training Elevates Your Product’s Usability

While educators do use technology in their day-to-day lives, they lack the confidence and skills to use it effectively in the classroom to support teaching. EdTech providers need to turn this around by providing training resources. Educators are willing to invest time in self-study, and this willingness is important to their upskilling process. They have realized that technology is the future of education, and they want to learn how to do it better.

It helps them learn the ins and outs of the product’s features and makes learning fun and interactive for the students.

Your Product Should Have a Purpose. Define It.

The second design step that Gregg emphasizes is answering the important question: Who is the product designed for? Promises of better engagement, improved insights, and outcomes don’t necessarily provide enough detail and lose their importance in the process.

• What will help educators improve their efficiency?
• What will help learners advance in their educational journey?
• What will help institutions function smoothly without adding more?

If you do not have a clear answer to either, then you need to revisit your solutions. Most products can present dashboards and analytics, but do not provide actionable solutions. They work during demos but fail in regular practice. It needs to be operational, not just instructional.

Simplify the Transition. Don’t Overcomplicate It.

Gregg also spoke about how beneficial it is to compare online learning to walking through a physical classroom. She compared it to the feeling of entering a classroom and instantly becoming familiar with the environment. Online, this is not the case, and edtech tools need to build that environment to bridge the gap.

The process is simple; whoever logs in should know where they are and what they need to do next. This entails having fewer tabs, clear instructions, clutter-free interfaces, and defined tasks.

When Technology Gets in the Way of Teaching

EdTech products are evaluated more on what they can do than on the experiences they create during moments of uncertainty. This is a big gap because when a learner is encountering a concept for the first time, the tool needs to be designed in a way that engages them instantly, or it will have the opposite effect. Small design choices like the language, error messages, and system prompts play a big role in creating positive or negative experiences. Tools that flash messages like “incorrect,” “missing,” or “incomplete” without providing context for why are enough to shape how learners perceive their own abilities.

Similarly, when instructors are interrupted by technology and receive instructions without information, they have to find ways to work around the problem, which takes time away from the classroom.

This is why Gregg repeatedly returns to a human-centered lens. Technology should absorb complexity, not surface it. It should provide a foundation to make decisions, not keep the guesswork going. If there is confusion, frustration, and friction, tools fail to serve the purpose they were purchased for.

EdTech Decisions Fail Because Tools Don’t Align with the Learning Process

This is why, as Dr. Andrea Gregg specified, the most effective products should be designed using the same principles as designing a course. They should have an understanding of the learner, a clear purpose that leads to better learning outcomes, and provide an experience that leaves them with more clarity than before.

Adoption becomes more natural because there are clear, measurable learning outcomes, and technology moves from becoming a hindrance to a partner in learning.