Adarsh Ramakrishnan

Online learning has exploded in popularity in the past five years. Most online courses (sometimes referred to as “Massive Open Online Courses” or MOOCs) follow a similar format: watch a video lecture, and complete some sort of a knowledge check. However, the statistics speak for themselves, as MOOCs have a less than 6% completion rate. We’ve all been there – we get excited about a subject, find an awesome course taught by a highly credentialed lecturer, begin the course, and then….life gets in the way. Working professionals are most likely to fall into this trap, often having to choose between investing in their professional growth and actually performing their job.
I designed Startship to give professionals a better way to build new skills by leveraging the power of active learning. The courses (called Journeys) also help organizations build a culture of innovation and intrapreneurship within their ranks. Although I could wax poetic on the state of education, all the research around experiential learning, and my vision, I’m going to focus this case study on how I built and launched the platform.

nsEYEte combines the visual style of a mind map with several project management tools such as task, file, contact, and calendar management. The main goal was to create a tool that allowed us to efficiently move from brainstorming to implementation and keep the various parties involved at different stages in the process on track. The platform had to be robust, aesthetically pleasing, and intuitive so that we could onboard clients and contractors seamlessly. While I served in multiple roles as needed, my primary responsibilities were as a product manager, product designer, and user experience strategist.