Designing State-Aligned Professional Learning Experiences at Scale

SimpleK12 provides professional learning and license renewal pathways for educators across the United States. I led experience strategy and digital design to transform a generic content-driven site into a scalable, state-aligned experience system that reduces uncertainty and guides educators confidently to completion.

Experience Strategy & Creative Direction

I led experience strategy and digital design for SimpleK12’s state-aligned professional learning platform, operating at a principal scope across strategy, structure, and execution.

My work spanned experience definition, page architecture, content hierarchy, and conversion design, partnering cross-functionally to ensure clarity, trust, and scalability across educator touchpoints.

This included designing both state-specific landing pages and multi-state pathway experiences.

Scope: Experience strategy, information architecture, conversion design, state-based scalability
Impact: Improved clarity of regulatory requirements, increased conversion readiness, scalable framework for state expansion

Role: Digital Experience Direction & Product Design
Level: Operating at a principal scope
Organization: EdTech SaaS - Professional Learning & License Renewal
Users: K–12 educators across multiple U.S. states

At a glance

ROLE & RESPONSABILITY

Experience Strategy → Information Architecture → Guidance Systems → Conversion Design

I owned decisions across this entire experience layer, ensuring consistency, clarity, and scalability.

High cognitive load

Unclear next steps

Disconnected course discovery

Professional learning is mandatory, but the path isn’t clear

Educators are required to complete professional learning hours to renew their licenses, yet requirements vary significantly by state. Prior to this work, educators were often forced to interpret dense regulatory language, search for applicable courses, and piece together renewal steps without clear guidance. 

Constraints & Realities
  • State-by-state licensing requirements with non-negotiable compliance language
  • Educator anxiety around renewal timelines and eligibility
  • CMS-driven content authoring with limited engineering support
  • Need for a scalable model that could expand to additional states

Constraints & Realities

State-specific landing pages

I introduced a clear professional development checklist that reframed license renewal as a step-by-step process aligned with how educators already plan and track professional learning.

I designed state-specific landing pages that translated licensing rules into scannable, human-readable requirements. Each page anchored educators in their state context while clearly communicating total hours, timelines, focus areas, and renewal expectations. The New York experience served as a scalable model for additional states.

State-Aligned Course Discovery

To remove uncertainty at the point of action, courses were explicitly aligned to state requirements within the experience. Rather than asking educators to interpret whether a course “counts,” the experience surfaced relevant courses directly within the context of state-specific requirements.

This closed the gap between understanding what is required and taking the next step, increasing confidence and reducing friction at the moment of enrollment.

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Shared template

Dense regulatory content was transformed into visual summaries, allowing educators to quickly assess effort, timeline, and focus areas. This reduced anxiety and made the renewal path feel achievable.

Visualizing requirements as actionable milestones

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Designing for confidence, not just compliance

Rather than presenting regulatory requirements as static content, I reframed the experience around educator goals: understanding requirements, planning learning hours, completing courses, and renewing licenses with confidence.

Key Experience System Decisions

State-specific override

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Professional Development Checklist

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Start with requirements

Set learning goals

Enroll and earn certificates

Apply for renewal

Design decisions
  • Requirements are visible before courses
  • Effort and timelines are summarized at the top of the page
  • Next steps are always explicit
  • Content expands progressively, never all at once

Multi-State Pathway Design

To support educators across multiple states, I designed a scalable entry experience that routes users from a single point of entry into state-aligned pathways, without duplicating design logic or content structures.

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Aligned to state requirements

Counts toward license renewal

Single entry → state-specific experience

Visualizing requirements as milestones

From generic content to state-aligned experience

CONVERSION & TRUST DESIGN

Throughout the experience, calls-to-action were intentionally paired with context, reassurance, and expectations, ensuring educators understood not just what action to take, but why it mattered.

Clear paths lead to confident action

IMPACT

This work established a scalable foundation for state-aligned professional learning experiences across the platform. Resulting in:

  • Clearer understanding of state requirements
  • Improved discoverability of relevant courses
  • Stronger trust in SimpleK12 as an approved provider
  • A scalable foundation for expanding state-specific offerings

Multi-State Pathway Design

This project reinforced that regulated experiences succeed when complexity is structured, not hidden. By aligning regulatory content with educator mental models, the experience shifted from compliance-driven to confidence-driven.