Unifying learning and teaching through a governed, system-led platform
Monash University’s Moodle environment had evolved independently across faculties. Over time, this resulted in inconsistent structures, increased decision load for teaching staff, and uneven student experiences.
Variation in layouts, terminology, and navigation limited scalability and made governance difficult. This work established a single, system-led learning model designed to operate consistently across a complex university environment.
Operating environment
Context
Organisation: Monash University
Environment: Enterprise LMS (Moodle)
Users: Teaching staff, students, faculty administrators
Role: Lead UX Designer
Timeframe: 6-month delivery window
Constraints
Existing LMS platform and data model
Faculty autonomy and legacy patterns
Governance and rollout timelines
At a glance
System adoption: University-wide rollout across all faculties
Impact: Replaced faculty-specific unit layouts with one governed core system
Learning standard: Shared learning journey adopted institution-wide
Strategy and framing
PART 1
The outcome
Moodle moved from a collection of faculty-owned layouts to a shared platform with consistent structural patterns. Unit templates provided a common foundation while still supporting different teaching models.
This reduced variation across units, improved student wayfinding, and gave teaching staff a reliable baseline when setting up or maintaining courses.
Visual 1 - Side-by-side comparison of a legacy unit and the unified template.
Results
Moodle shifted from faculty-led variation to a centrally governed learning platform.
The problem: a fragmented student journey
Moodle’s decentralised model allowed each faculty to design its own unit structure. Over time, this produced wide variation in navigation, hierarchy, and content placement.
Students moving between units encountered different patterns for finding learning materials and assessments. Teaching staff rebuilt structures manually, with no shared baseline to guide consistency.
Observed issues
Navigation and hierarchy varied significantly between units
Learning and assessment content appeared in different locations
No common structural pattern existed to support scale or governance
Structural inconsistency created more friction than differences in course content.
Visual 2 - Evidence snapshot. Audit of existing units showing how inconsistent labels and layouts increased cognitive load and manual effort.
Where the experience broke for students
The same friction points appeared repeatedly, regardless of discipline.
Students struggled most when locating weekly learning, understanding assessment requirements, and tracking progress. These issues highlighted that the problem was structural rather than content-specific.
Visual 3 - Student journey before redesign A simplified view of the student journey, highlighting structural friction caused by fragmented navigation, content, and progress visibility.
Insights from the ecosystem
The problem was not limited to visual design. It reflected how learning platforms operate at scale.
Internal exemplars and external LMS patterns, including Canvas and Blackboard, were reviewed to understand how structure, hierarchy, and pattern reuse support orientation across large institutions.
Key insights
Pattern recognition enables faster orientation
Safe defaults reduce decision fatigue for teaching staff
Visual 4 - Structural comparison of learning portals Highlighting the shift from inconsistency to coherence.
Insight
Pattern reuse is essential for orientation in large, multi-faculty platforms.
Choosing a system-led approach
To address scale, the work moved away from designing individual pages toward designing a system.
The strategy focused on establishing a centrally governed structure while accommodating different teaching approaches within defined boundaries.
Strategic decisions
Standardise core structures for homepages, modules, and assessments
Prioritise visibility through predictable placement
Constrain customisation to defined zones
Decision
Prioritise a shared structural model over faculty-specific layouts.
Visual 5 – Decision logic Structural options explored to match student mental models
The modular system
PART 2
Designing a system that could scale
The solution was a modular system providing a repeatable foundation across faculties. Unit templates aligned to accessibility, usability, and governance requirements reduced structural variation while preserving a consistent student experience.
The system prioritised predictable structure to support student orientation and reduce setup effort for teaching staff.
Visual 6 - End-to-end unit flow showing a consistent structure across key unit stages.
Proving flexibility across faculties
Templates were applied across multiple disciplines to validate use beyond a single idealised unit.
The structural framework remained constant while content varied by discipline.
Key elements
Predictable weekly learning sequence
Dedicated assessment zones
Reusable components preserving hierarchy
Decision
Establish a single learning journey as a shared institutional standard.
Visual 7 - Same structure. Different disciplines. Wireframes demonstrating how a single governed structure supports discipline-specific content.
Outcome
A single structure supported diverse teaching models without fragmenting the student experience.
A shared learning journey
As part of the uplift, a reusable learning journey was introduced to replace inconsistent terminology such as “before, during, after class”.
The model clarified how students engage with learning activities across a unit and was adopted as a university-wide standard.
This reinforced the modular system by establishing a consistent mental model across disciplines and delivery formats.
Visual 8 - Learning journey graphic using approved Monash iconography and brand colours.
Testing and iteration
Templates were refined through structured feedback with teaching staff and validated against real course scenarios.
Testing focused on suitability across disciplines and delivery formats.
Visual 9 - Dashboard iterations. Refinements made based on feedback from teaching staff and students during testing.
Challenges and trade-offs
Late design system alignment
Early exploration diverged from Monash’s existing design language. Late in delivery, a mandate required full alignment with the central design system.
A justification outlining usability and delivery implications was reviewed. The final decision prioritised alignment with university tokens to support governance and long-term maintainability.
What this required
Reworking the learning journey using approved icons and colour tokens
Updating templates while preserving interaction intent
Making targeted changes under time constraints
Visual 10 - Pattern audit. Exploratory visuals compared with approved design system icons.
Constraint
Full alignment with the central design system was required late in delivery.
Impact and evidence
PART 3
Results and impact
The uplift changed how Moodle functioned as a platform.
Students navigated units using the same structural cues regardless of faculty. Teaching staff worked from an established baseline rather than rebuilding layouts for each course. This shifted Moodle from a collection of local solutions to a governed platform.
Impact signals
Structural consistency across participating faculties
Reduced time-to-publish using safe-default templates
Recognised by university leadership as a benchmark for the Digital Learning Uplift
Executive and stakeholder evidence
Feedback from university leadership and product stakeholders confirms platform-level scalability and governance.
Institutional Scale
Your design will be reproduced EVERYWHERE. You put your artistry into a dull place and it is so much better for it.
Professor Allie Clemans
Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), Monash University
Platform Transformation
Your efforts have gone above and beyond achieving our goal of making Moodle a contemporary platform that redefines learning and teaching.
Trevor Woods
Manager, Educational Platforms,
Monash University
Product Quality
Lisa has a unique ability to blend creativity with user-centric design principles, prioritising the end user’s experience.
Ankur Adrawal
Product Owner, LMS Redesign, Monash University
Outcome
The system was recognised as scalable and institution-ready.
Reflection
This work reinforced that consistency operates as a form of service in large institutions. Shared patterns reduced friction for students and staff while enabling governance and long-term scalability.
The most durable outcome was not a single interface, but a system that supports learning and teaching at institutional scale.
Core system
Unit templates
Learning journey
Approved components
Governance
Design system alignment
Pattern review process
Faculty feedback loop
→
Evolution
Iterative refinement
New teaching models supported
Platform updates absorbed without redesign
→
Visual 11 - Forward view. Governance and evolution of the learning management system, showing how it will continue to scale.
Final reflection: Designing for scale
This work showed that consistency functions as a service in large platforms.
Establishing shared structure reduced student friction and lowered setup effort for teaching staff, while enabling governance at scale. The most durable outcome was not a single interface, but a system that supports learning and teaching at institutional scale.