Professional Education Hub

Product Design

User Experience Design

Professional Education Hub— Case Study from the Organization — American Heart Association (Heart.org)

This UX case study focuses on revamping education.heart.org, an established web platform that faced significant UX challenges. The previous version of the platform encountered usability issues, hindering users from quickly accessing life-saving resources and purchasing paid course, training materials and other products.

Recognizing the importance of delivering an intuitive and seamless user experience, our team embarked on a comprehensive revamp of the web application. This case study explores the critical problems faced by users, the design process employed to address these challenges, and the resulting improvements implemented to enhance the overall usability and effectiveness of the Professional Education Hub platform.

Hima Chandrashekaraiah Prabha

Introduction

Professional Education Hub is owned by American Heart Association (Heart.org), a non profit organization Founded in 1924 in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Problem

The previous version of the education.heart.org website faced several usability challenges, hindering users’ ability to navigate, find free courses, paid courses and complete purchases efficiently.

Goal

  • Improve User Engagement and Conversion: The primary goal of the revamp is to enhance user engagement and conversion rates. The aim is to encourage users to explore products, make purchases and ultimately increase the conversion rate.
  • Enhance Accessibility and Usability: This involves ensuring that users of all abilities can easily navigate the platform, find the desired courses and subscribe to it. By implementing inclusive design principles and adhering to accessibility guidelines, we aimed to provide a seamless experience for diverse users.
  • Optimize Courses Discovery and Search: This involves implementing intuitive and efficient search features, optimizing Courses categorization and filtering options and providing relevant recommendations to help users quickly find Course materials and resources.
  • Enhance the “More Information” page: Provide users with a clear and engaging experience where they can easily view details about their paid courses, subscribed courses, and the respective categories each course belongs to. All information should be organized and presented in an intuitive and user-friendly format.

Our Proposal

Instead of using confusing existing web apps, we will enhance the user experience by organizing the layout to meet AHA standards for accessibility across all responsive screens. By ensuring accessibility compliance, we will make the platform more inclusive and user-friendly for individuals with different abilities. This will be achieved while maintaining the consistency of the American Heart Association design system, ensuring a cohesive and familiar experience for users.

An intelligent recommendation system that suggests new products to users in an organized and relevant manner. The platform will provide personalized product recommendations by leveraging user data and intelligent algorithms.

Our goal is to create a seamless educational platform that empowers users to quickly find and access vital resources. By enhancing accessibility, offering personalized course recommendations, and enabling integrations, we strive to promote education and ultimately contribute to saving lives. Through this initiative, we aim to support the American Heart Association’s mission to improve health outcomes and equip individuals with the knowledge they need.

My role and team:

I joined the project as a Senior UX Designer in collaboration with UX Manager, (UX Head Manager — American Heart Association), Principal UX Designer, Other UX Peers and the Research Team, Product Manger, Business analyst, Developers helped with this extensive research and executed the UX design process.

Topic research

During the topic research phase for the Professional Education Hub revamp, we analyzed user behaviour, industry best practices and market trends to gain valuable insights and identify areas for improvement in the existing platform.

How do people buy educational training courses currently?

  • Mobile Learning Apps
  • Social Media and Influencer-driven Learning
  • Community-based Learning Platforms
  • Payment Models for Courses
  • Online Learning Platforms
  • Institutional Programs (Universities and Colleges)
  • Individuals and organizations
  • Bootcamps and Short-term Intensive Courses
  • Direct-to-Consumer Learning Services

Target user and market

Individuals and organizations seeking course materials and resources, including healthcare professionals, educators, trainers, and individuals interested in acquiring life-saving skills. The market encompasses many customers who prioritize

Scope

The Professional Education Hub by the American Heart Association offers flexible, self-paced courses for healthcare professionals, focusing on stroke care, heart health, resuscitation, and telehealth. Providing CE credits, eBooks, and certifications, it supports skill development and licensure maintenance globally, catering to hospitals, clinics, and independent practitioners following AHA guidelines

Themes and insights

Stroke and Cardiovascular Health: Focuses on enhancing stroke care outcomes and heart health with updates on the latest science and guidelines.

Health Equity: Offers courses to help healthcare providers address disparities and serve diverse communities effectively.

Telehealth and Digital Health: Provides training on telemedicine to equip professionals for remote care delivery.

Subscriptions and Premium Content: Includes access to specialized portfolios on stroke care, resuscitation, and hypertension through subscription plans.

Potential Users Interviews

We targeted diverse potential users, including healthcare professionals, Healthcare Administrators, Telehealth Providers, Educational Institutions and Global Healthcare Practitioners.

By selecting this range of users, we aimed to gain valuable insights into their specific needs, pain points, and challenges in accessing and purchasing products and resources. ultimately helping to tailor content to better meet the needs of its users.

Conducted initial field research.

sent a survey reports and Interviews

1

Healthcare Professional (Nurse)

Nurse: “Honestly, flexibility is key. I work shifts, and being able to pause and pick up where I left off—without losing progress—would be a game changer. Also, I’d love interactive quizzes that give instant feedback.”

2

Medical Student

Student: “we want access to courses that cover the latest medical tools and technologies. It’s also important that new courses are regularly added and promptly updated on the portal to ensure we’re learning the most current practices“

3

Telehealth Provider

Telehealth Provider: “We’ve had to shift focus on remote patient care and learn new skills fast. It would be great to have more telemedicine-specific training courses that cover communication and patient management in a virtual environment.”

4

Educational Institution Representative

Institution Representative: “We use a blended approach—our students complete online courses during rotations. Having access to the Professional Education Hub’s content allows us to supplement their training, especially in areas like emergency care.”

Design Principles

Our design principles focus on mobile accessibility, intuitive navigation, and personalized recommendations. Adhering to AHA accessibility standards, we prioritize simplicity, minimizing notifications, and creating an inclusive, user-centric experience. The platform ensures easy access to training resources, aligning with diverse user needs for an engaging, efficient experience.

Empathy Map

After conducting interviews, we created an empathy map to gain insights into users’ emotions, experiences, and environment, allowing us to better understand their needs and perspectives.

Ideation + Validation

We developed concepts to solve the problem for the initial phase.

We tested our idea with the UX Head of the American Heart Association to know the sustainability and viability of the notions.

We inquired our 10 test groups to vote for the best idea.

Design Critic & Feedback

Considered carousel layout but opted for a grid-based design for better accessibility and user experience.

We have simplified the navigation menu for improved user experience and faster task completion.

Originally considered using extensive animations and transitions, but opted for a more subtle approach to maintain page loading speed and overall user satisfaction.

Final Designs

Conclusion

We have identified a clear user pattern through extensive interviews and research. Professional Education Hub revamped platform resulted in diverse user lifestyles and schedules, making it highly appealing to our target audience to a mission of saving lives.

My Learnings & Takeaways

Working on the UX revamp project gave me valuable insights into the complexities of introducing new features to an established organization. It taught me to consider various touchpoints and potential challenges before implementing small design changes and the significance of UX research. Collaborating closely with the experienced team enhanced my understanding of design’s broad spectrum, encouraging me to think critically about limitations and ask the right questions to ensure a successful and user-centric process.