A clearer start for educators
Helping teachers understand the product and create their first classroom with a clearer, more focused setup experience.
- My role
- Design lead · UI/UX · Design direction
- Focus
- First-use experience and organization setup
- Context
- GitHub Education
Onboarding redesign · Archived design exploration
Make the first classroom
feel reachable.
Educators had to navigate setup before they had a clear understanding of GitHub Classroom. The relationship between their account, a GitHub organization, and a classroom was not immediately apparent.
I explored a focused introduction and creation flow that brings the product story and required setup into the same experience.
Separate the dependency
from the destination.
An organization is required for a classroom, but educators should not lose sight of what they are trying to create.
Orient first
Introduce Classroom alongside account context before requesting configuration.
Support both paths
Educators may select an organization or create one when needed.
Preserve the destination
Organization setup leads back into the first-classroom task.
A welcome that
also helps you act.
A reason to begin
The introduction explains the product and the benefits available to a verified teacher.
Visible account context
The signed-in account is shown where the educator makes setup decisions.
A focused creation form
Organization and classroom name sit together, with one clear create action.
Treat organization setup as a connected detour.
When an account has no organization, the introduction remains while the setup area explains the dependency. A distinct organization-creation step then leads back to classroom creation.
The proposed flow makes that return visible rather than leaving educators to reconstruct the path.
Explore the remaining onboarding studiesView original designs
Show what happened.
Make the next action visible.
Creation is a transition, not a dead end.
The first-classroom view confirms completion and introduces the teaching workspace. The initial tour sits alongside assignment-creation options, connecting the setup task to what an educator can do next.
Preserving the design exploration.
Final rollout and post-launch results have not been confirmed. GitHub retired Classroom on August 28, 2026, so these designs are presented as an archived case study.