Case study: Reimagining the scuba training experience
By: Charles Crawford
Tags: Case Study, UX, Product Design, Elearning, Edtech

Background

As part of its commitment to deliver state-of-the-art diver education, PADI sought to re-evaluate and update its flagship product, the Instructor Development Course (IDC) for the first time in over 10 years in 2018.

The purpose of revising the IDC experience was to not only enhance the curriculum by digitizing course materials, but to also deliver a new learning experience by launching a new cloud-based platform and companion mobile app.

The IDC revision was strategically planned as the foundation for revising PADI’s entire digital learning experience, enabling its training to be accessible to divers of all levels.

My Role as Design Leader

In early 2018 I teamed up with the VP of Training Products to set in motion the vision and execution of a reimagined learning experience for PADI. As VP of Product Design at PADI, I developed and owned the vision for the new learning experience, managing the design department that would execute this strategic vision. This multi-disciplinary team consisted of UX researchers, product designers, visual designers, and instructional designers. Working alongside my design managers, my primary role was to support and clear the way for the team to meet our objectives and successfully implement the vision.

The team behind the Instructor Development Course (IDC) revision

The Solve

We realized early on that the need for a formal discovery phase was essential to the success of the project.

Users, Journeys, and Insights

Multiple discovery workshops were held with training staff and content subject matter experts (SMEs) in the first few months of the project. Personas were identified and generated from the outputs of our initial workshops to help direct design decisions. The end result of our sessions was the development of a set of comprehensive service blueprints that identified the pain points and opportunities for each of the key actors in the training and certification process.

Key decisions made early in the project were to create parallel design tracks for the course content and delivery experiences, as well as to design the experience holistically for both student and instructor.

IDC project war room

Utilizing our Design System

Throughout the project, the team looked at building out efficiencies for future course builds. This was primarily done by taking the same systematic approach that had previously been done when creating PADI’s proprietary Cousteau design system.

By taking the same “atomic” approach that was used to create the learning platform experience, the team was able to adjust and create an innovative solution to the massive task of creative asset production.

PADI’s proprietary Cousteau design system

Prototype, Test, and Iterate

As we progressed into our design phase the decision was made to procure a rapid e-learning authoring tool to enable efficiency and consistency in the development of the digital course materials. More importantly, the new platform allowed instructional designers to quickly prototype a multitude of learning experience variations that dove-tailed into the broader learning platform experience their UX design counterparts were creating.

These early-stage prototypes were tested extensively with our SMEs and other PADI training staff to ensure standards were being met while honing in on some of the nuanced pain points of the overall learning journey.

Each iteration of the full experience was trialed “in the wild” by a select group of PADI regional sales managers and instructors in key locations around the world. This allowed us to conduct our user testing with actual students in real-world scenarios.

E-learning prototype iterations used for testing

Demo, Demo, Demo

Finally, we took our pilot experience to Las Vegas (Vegas baby!) to demo it to the larger learning and development (L&D) industry at the 2018 DevLearn conference. We had our design team lead the demos, giving them first-hand exposure to baselining the new learning experience against industry expectations.

Presenting the new learning experience at DevLearn’s DemoFest in Las Vegas

The Product Experience

The end result was the creation of a new learning experience that was comprised of three key parts: 1) A custom learning experience platform; 2) a complementary training app, and 3) the digital course material itself.

Learning Experience Platform (LXP)

The new learning platform was designed and developed from the ground up using the Cousteau design system. It was built as a scalable framework to eventually support the migration of PADI’s entire e-learning library to the new experience.

While the initial focus was on providing course access and delivery, the learning platform created the foundation for the ultimate re-design of the entire PADI customer platform.

Training App

The training app was developed to complement the online experience. It was designed to provide additional features for on-the-go learning, including the ability to download coursework and exams for offline access, the syncing of course progress and exam completion once back online, and a download manager for managing downloaded files and device storage.

Digital Course Material

The new digital course material was designed with a fluid layout responsive to any screen size and with functionality optimized for each of the most popular devices. The experience was further enhanced with the addition of interactive learning features and the contextual integration of tests and quizzes to create a seamless pathway through the coursework for the learner.

Key Challenges

The complexity of the task brought with it some interesting challenges:

Navigating the Unknown

No research had been performed to inform the user experience. The design team also had little knowledge of the current IDC process as the course was taught only a few times a year and only at select locations around the world.

Digitally Enhancing an Analog Experience

Practically every step of the process was being done manually — from registration through to accreditation. As such, the design team had to consider not only digitizing the courseware itself, but also identify opportunities for digitizing key moments across the entire user journey.

Designing for a Global Audience

The IDC product is used in over 180 countries globally and made available in 26 languages. Accessibility was a key consideration in design — not only for usability, but in the cultural (religious implications on image selection), geographic (literacy concerns), and technological (access to web) context of product use.

Results

The impact from the launch of the new learning experience for PADI was vast:

The digital revision of PADI’s Instructor Development Course resulted in incremental revenue of over $7M in the first year of launch. PADI earned a further $1.5M+ in revenue in the first month of launching the first diver-level course under the new experience in early 2020.

From 2018–2020 PADI was able to increase the adoption and utilization of its online learning platform from 35% to 65%, providing its members with educational products that were both resilient to shipping disruptions and provided an environmentally-friendly option for training materials.

App store ratings for the PADI Training app increased by an average of 2 stars across both iOS and Android platforms versus the previous tablet-only version of the app.

“I absolutely love the revised course! The e-learning was extremely effective at delivering content to the candidates. They took a lot in and classroom time was way more fun, effective and interactive.” — Holly Macleod

Holly is a PADI Platinum Course Director in Indonesia who piloted the new IDC experience for over a year before its launch in October 2019.