Itslearning

(EdTech, LMS · 2026)

From 1 in 5 to 5 in 5: redesigning the Itslearning mobile app so students can actually find their final grade.

(timeline)
6 weeks
(my role)
Product & UX Strategist
(scope)
Mobile app, LMS, redesign, usability
(users)
10 IT students, aged 23–41
The redesigned Itslearning app on two iPhones: the splash screen and the Kurser view with course cards and progress bars.

Before

(an app students avoid)

(the context)

Designed for teachers, used by students

Itslearning is a learning management platform described as designed primarily for teachers. Students are at least as large a user group, and as students ourselves we noticed we avoided the mobile app and used the desktop version instead.

As product strategist, I convinced the team to choose the product and set our direction: solve real problems students face every day, well enough that we could present the solutions to Itslearning itself.

(baseline test)

4 of 5 students couldn’t find their final grade

Five students searched a completed course for its course plan, an assignment grade and the final course grade. Everyone found the first three, by different routes, but the final grade was another story.

1/5

found the final course grade

4:53

minutes on average for the scenario

3.2

misclicks on average

1/5

average rating for ease, clarity and satisfaction

“I think there should be a tab, so it’s clear where I can see my final grade.”
(User 5, 34, translated from Swedish)
“Planning and content are sometimes kind of the same thing.”
(User 1, 28, translated from Swedish)

(what was broken)

Four usability problems

Invisible system status

Grades were buried under “Rapporter”, or at the very bottom of an overview page.

No user control

The hybrid app kept sending students to external browser views with no easy way back.

Messy information architecture

“Planeringar” and “Innehåll” overlapped, and the same documents lived in several places.

Inconsistent standards

The app was in English and the web in Swedish, and versions differed between devices.

After

(validated with five new students)

(results)

Every student found their final grade

5/5

found the final course grade(up from 1/5)

1:25

minutes on average(down from 4:53)

0

misclicks(down from 3.2)

4.8–5

out of 5 for ease, clarity and satisfaction(our goal was 3)

4 of 5 participants called the app “very clear” and all five called it “very easy” to navigate and said they were “very satisfied”.

“The layout is very clear, and it’s very clear what the different parts are for. I think it’s very simple.”
(User 2, 41, translated from Swedish)
“The previous version isn’t even really an app, it just takes you to the browser. This feels like something you could actually use more often.”
(User 4, 23, translated from Swedish)
[prototype start screen]

(try it yourself)

Can you find the final grade?

These are the same four tasks our test participants did. In the old app, only 1 in 5 managed the last one. See how long it takes you in the redesign.

  1. Find a completed course
  2. Open its course plan
  3. Find the grade for one assignment
  4. Find the final course grade
try the prototype ↗

(opens the interactive Figma prototype)

Bridge

(how we got there)

(research)

Hypotheses, impact map and a two-pass test

We started from a heuristic evaluation based on Nielsen’s principles and an impact map with seven personas, from the busy student asking “Where is my final grade?” to a student with dyslexia and a teacher. Our goal: more engagement with the mobile app and less frustration, measured by clicks, time on task and a satisfaction score of at least 3 out of 5.

I suggested testing one short user flow twice: first timed and silent for task success, errors and first clicks, then thinking aloud for the why. It gave us both numbers and insight from the same five sessions.

(redesign)

Three solutions

(solution 01)

Make the final grade visible

Before

Old app: the “Rapporter” page opened in an in-app browser, with Bedömningsöversikt and detailed reports.
The final grade was hidden under “Rapporter”, or at the bottom of an overview of completed assignments.

After

Redesign: completed courses (Avslutade) with the final grade badge on each course card.Redesign: the Betyg view listing the final grade and every assignment grade for a course.
The final grade shows directly on each completed course card, and all grades live in one place, renamed from “Rapporter” to “Betyg”.

(solution 02)

Clarify the menu and information architecture

Before

Old app: the “Innehåll” list mixing folders and documents in one long table.
“Planeringar” and “Innehåll” overlapped, and all courses were mixed in one list behind a hamburger menu.

After

Redesign: the collapsible “Kursmaterial” view grouped by topic.
“Planeringar” and “Innehåll” merged into collapsible “Kursmaterial”, with “Kursplan & Schema” and “Inlämningsuppgifter” as their own clear categories.

(solution 03)

Make the app native

Before

Old app: the Kurser page in a browser view with starred course cards that weren’t clickable.
Home and Courses were separate, course cards weren’t clickable, and links opened in external browser views.

After

Redesign: one native Kurser view with clickable course cards, dates and progress bars.
One “Kurser” view with clickable cards showing name, date and a progress bar, no external links, and an app language students can choose.

(design details)

On brand and accessible

The redesign follows Itslearning’s brand guidelines, colours, icons and the Lato typeface, with contrast ratios of at least 6.48:1, a minimum text size of 16px, large touch targets and a consistent layout across every screen.

Push notifications were one of the most requested features, but we deliberately scoped them out: we couldn’t solve every problem at once.

(my role)

Strategy, and owning a mistake

As product and UX strategist I chose the product, set the vision and kept the scope focused on the flow with the biggest pain.

After the baseline test we discovered that participants had used two different app versions, which skewed the results. I suggested a team retrospective, we investigated the versions across devices, and for validation we recruited only users of the older version, so the comparison would hold.

(reflection)

What I’d take forward

Control test conditions

Check app versions and devices before testing, not after.

Scope on purpose

“We can’t solve every problem at once” made the redesign sharper.

Look beyond the app

Students find it less useful when teachers spread information across Teams and email. Teachers are the next study.

Next steps: usability studies with teachers and educators, testing a dashboard and progress feature, swipe gestures in the prototype, and simpler document previews.

Want to walk through the prototype? Let’s talk.

say hej →