7:00 AM
An Information Hub with multi-angle about Course for Course Registration
During the course registration process, students often face anxiety due to the difficulty of finding helpful course information. Our team began designed a centralized hub along with a reimagined course review framework to make insights and objective information more accessible. I independently refined the final design scope to ensure the information was clearer and easier to navigate.
Team member: Anisha Mukherjee, Sej Sanghvi
Decentralized Information
Organizing scattered course content while establishing a clear information hierarchy and prioritization.
Balancing Feedback Tone
Encouraging constructive, positive feedback without losing authenticity or suppressing real student concerns.
Creating Continuous Impact
Designing a system that benefits not only future students but also supports ongoing improvements during the current learning experience.
All-in-One Course Information Hub
Centralizes timely insights on course experience, outcomes, and career relevance.
Positive, Constructive Review System
Shifts from ratings to positive language and “Need More” insights, focusing on what works and what can improve.
Integration with Course Evaluation Data
Uses mid-semester feedback to help faculty improve teaching during the ongoing course.
Easier decisions, lower withdrawal rates.
Ongoing improvement in teaching and learning.
10,815 registered students
1,700 Courses
Get a complete view of each course through: Student Work, Syllabus, Reviews, and Peer Connections.
Search past 3 years of course info without leaving the page.
Reviews are shown through natural language tags with peer upvotes.
The course catalog is the only official source, but it provides general, surface-level information.
We surveyed Parsons students to understand what they value most when choosing courses and how they research classes.
We interviewed 5 students and 2 faculty members from different years and majors to better understand their experiences during course registration.
Decentralized information
Course info is scattered across catalogs, group chats, and social platforms.
Lack of depth & perspective
Unclear teaching styles, grading, and outcomes lead to anxiety and uncertainty.
Limited access to past resources
Helpful materials and peer feedback are hard to find or not available at all.
Well-arranged course information
A well-structured platform for the course info that matters most.
Diverse course perspectives
Covering experience, outcomes, and career impact for a well-rounded understanding.
Easier access
Simple and secure access that’s easy for students to find and trust.
Powerless against negative feedback
Faculty have no way to respond to or clarify negative reviews.
Feedback without direction
Non-specific course evaluations make it difficult for faculty to take meaningful action
Encourage positive and neutral feedback
Shift the review system toward constructive, unbiased insights that inform students while protecting faculty
Constructive & timely feedback from students
After analyzing our research, we mapped out the key stages of the course registration journey. We found that most pain points occurred during the Information Gathering stage.
A visible and secure access point.
Up-to-Date, unbiased information.
Past class materials
Past student work and syllabi offer clear, trusted insights.
Diverse perspectives
Covers course structure, experience, and outcomes.
Constructive feedback is preferred over vague complaints.
Natural language offers clearer insights.
Potential for biased decision-making
Low ratings can subtly discourage students from choosing certain courses and may unfairly affect professors.
Lack of constructive feedback
Reviews don’t offer actionable input, making it hard for instructors to improve course design.
Course reviews often focus only on past experiences, but how might we also use them to improve the ongoing experience for current students and faculty?
Data from mid- and end-semester evaluations helps professors make timely adjustments with clearer, more constructive feedback.
We organized the diverse perspectives students seek into 4 focused sections.
Starting from wireframes, we did 3 rounds iterations, each iteration is based on user's real feedback.
We replaced traditional ratings with constructive, peer-validated insights. Instead of focusing on complaints or unhelpful negativity, the system highlights what worked and what could be improved.
Positive natural language
Minimizes bias and negative impact on professors while offering context-rich feedback.
Voted number
Reflects the reliability of each review.
Prototype B required fewer clicks with time-based tabs, but showing all content at once caused information overload.
“I don’t know where my eyes should land.”
— User during testing
Card slider for better focus
Only 3 reviews are shown at once per section, reducing visual clutter and improving focus.
Track and organize preferred courses with ease.
Report missing or outdated info to keep course data accurate.
We approached the problem from a systems perspective and challenged the traditional rating model. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, we reframed feedback to highlight what can be improved, shifting from metrics to meaningful, forward-looking insights.
Designing a great user experience isn’t enough—real-world constraints like policy, labor, and institutional processes shape what’s possible.
Because our interviews focused on art and design students, the features are tailored to their needs. Moving forward, we’ll need to adapt the system to support a wider range of majors.
