Simplilearn - Manjusha | Portfolio 2026

Driving 40% increase in course completion rate for new learners by peer engagement

Overview

Simplilearn was successfully acquiring learners, but very few were completing their programmes. For a business built around professional upskilling, low completion rates affected learner outcomes, retention, and long-term trust.

WhatDesigned a peer-driven learning experience that helped learners stay engaged and complete certification programmes.

WhyHigh enrolment wasn't translating into successful learners. The challenge wasn't getting people to start, it was helping them stay motivated long enough to finish.

My rolePartnered with Product Owner, Lead Designer and engineering throughout research, concept validation and interaction design.

Team1 Lead UX Designer, 1 UX Design Intern (me), 1 Product Owner

DurationMay 2022 - Sept 2022

Impact

40%

Increased Course Completion Rate for new learners

28%

Reduced Onboarding drop off by simplifying entry flows and clarifying early learning steps

What did the old experience feel like?

Fewer than 15% of learners who enrolled ever finished.

Course completion stayed under 15% despite strong enrollment. Five reasons kept surfacing:

Lack of self-discipline

Lack of motivation

No peer engagement

No time management

Unsatisfied online experience

User's current journey

We initially assumed onboarding friction was causing learners to leave. Research showed something different, most learners dropped off much later, when motivation declined and learning became increasingly isolated.

Pre-learning

During learning

Post-learning

Understanding the drop-off

Questions I set out to answerWhy learners drop off before finishing the program

Under 20% completion, jumped to last courseLocation: IndiaDemographic: mixed groupQualitative research, focus groups, surveys

From the surveys

0%want group study for common topics and doubts

0%procrastinate on submissions from low interaction

0%never started the certificate program they enrolled in

From the interviews

Projects create a sense of aversionCareer-switchers see assignments before their first class and disengage

Varied experience levels for usersBeginners can't find peers at their level to learn with

Users actively look for study groupsLearners already build workarounds — side chats, shared links, evidence that collaboration was valuable, but unsupported.

Together, these patterns pointed to one redefined problem:

Understanding Peer Engagement Through a Behavioural Lens

The issue wasn't access to content. Learners needed timely social reinforcement to sustain motivation over several weeks.

Fogg Behavior Model

BMAT

Behavior happens when Motivation, Ability, and Trigger converge.

MMotivation

Tap into learners' desire for support, recognition, and progress.Eg: "75% of your peers completed this module."

AAbility

Make engaging extremely easy and low-stakes.Eg: inline "Ask a peer" buttons, one-click replies.

TTrigger

Nudge learners at the right moment: stuck, idle, or back from a break.Eg: "You've paused here for 3 mins — want to see what peers said?"

Why peer learning works:

Teaching builds retention

Discussion builds accountability

Peer views deepen understanding

Redefined Problem Statement

How might we

motivate learners to engage and learn from other peers, to increase the completion rate of the program?

Initial exploratory concepts & features

Explored four directions before landing on one.

Leaderboards

Why we explored itIncrease motivation

Why not chosenIncreased anxiety for beginners

Gamification

Why we explored itEncourage consistency

Why not chosenRewarded streaks, not meaningful learning

Mentor matching

Why we explored itPersonal support

Why not chosenOperationally expensive and difficult to scale

Peer collaboration

Chosen

Why we explored itEncouraged accountability with low implementation cost

Narrowed a wide set of concepts using a decision matrix scored on feasibility and impact.

Scored — effort × impact

High impactLow effort · High effort →

Learners introduction within the cohortProject Discussion threadsDiscussions in Self Learning Videos

Group ProjectsPeer feedback

Breakout rooms within Live classes

Low impact

Design Interventions for Learner's touchpoints

Getting to know peers in the same cohort

Lowered the activation barrier by giving learners a shared starting point before classes began, making the course feel like a cohort rather than an individual journey.

Self Learning Videos

Turned passive video consumption into collaborative learning, allowing questions to surface exactly where confusion occurred instead of forcing learners to leave the lesson.

Assessments - Group Projects

Reduced submission anxiety by making assignments collaborative before they became evaluative.

Live Discussion Rooms

Encouraged lightweight accountability through shared progress rather than competitive rankings.

Community

Kept discussions contextual to where learners were already studying, avoiding the drop-off common in standalone community spaces

Learnings & Takeaways

This project changed how I think about engagement design. The solution wasn't adding more features, it was identifying the moments where learners naturally needed encouragement and designing around those behaviours. Since then, I've approached retention problems by looking beyond interface friction and understanding the behavioural systems underneath.

This shipped in 2023. If I designed it today, AI would change these.

Match accountability partners based on learning pace, availability and goals instead of static cohorts.

Detect disengagement signals early and surface personalised interventions before learners abandon the course

Use AI to summarise long discussion threads so learners can quickly catch up instead of reading dozens of messages.

Driving 40% increase in course completion rate for new learners by peer engagement

Driving 40% increase in course completion rate for new learners by peer engagement

Overview

Before you go, leave a doodle/note for me or take a little piece of my hometown with you.

& a lot of caffeine

Before you go, leave a doodle/note for me or take a little piece of my hometown with you.

& a lot of caffeine

Before you go, leave a doodle/note for me or take a little piece of my hometown with you.