LMS UX Qualitative Analysis for Better Course Design

According to the August 10, 2026 Faculty Focus article by Dr. Mark Savignano and Dr. Scott Page, students strongly preferred a redesigned D2L shell and reported measurable satisfaction improvements.

The Faculty Focus article reports two headline statistics that map directly to design decisions: a 65% student preference for the newer layout in August 2026 and an average satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5 for the redesigned shell.

• 65% of respondents favored the newer KSP 330 layout, according to the August 10, 2026 Faculty Focus report.
• KSP 330 received an average satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5 and a comparative score of 4.43, as reported on August 10, 2026 in Faculty Focus.
• The Faculty Focus study used a mixed-methods approach in August 2026, combining open-ended responses and Likert-scale surveys across two course shells (KSP 202 and KSP 330).

The Faculty Focus study compared two D2L course shells (KSP 202 and KSP 330) and measured student perceptions using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, as described by Dr. Mark Savignano and Dr. Scott Page in the August 10, 2026 article.

The Faculty Focus article explains that KSP 202 relied on default D2L layouts while KSP 330 used HTML templates, weekly structure, embedded submission links, and visual checklists; student feedback was collected via open-ended responses for KSP 202 and a Likert-scale survey for KSP 330.

Constraints reported in the Faculty Focus piece include transition friction when students moved from the older KSP 202 layout to KSP 330 and isolated usability issues such as redundant links and unclear assignment instructions.

Instructional designers should prioritize clear weekly structure, embedded submission links, and visual checklists because the August 10, 2026 Faculty Focus article reports students explicitly valuing those features.

The Faculty Focus findings imply that small UI improvements reduce cognitive load, so UX researchers should instrument A/B comparisons of navigation patterns and task completion times before and after design changes.

Design teams should plan for an adjustment period when migrating shells, because the Faculty Focus authors note an observed transition friction when students moved from KSP 202 to KSP 330.

The August 10, 2026 Faculty Focus study demonstrates that intentional LMS UX changes correlate with higher student satisfaction and clear qualitative praise for structured weekly formats and embedded links.

UX teams and instructional designers should pair short Likert surveys with open-ended prompts and analyze both with AI-enabled qualitative tools to get fast, defensible recommendations.

If you want to operationalize the Faculty Focus workflow at scale, start by collecting a baseline round of comments and survey ratings, then use an AI qualitative platform to extract themes, counts, and exemplar quotes and prioritize design fixes.

To try this approach, Try Evidano for free and follow the guided workflows to import transcripts, run thematic analysis, and produce stakeholder-ready tables and visualizations.