Pearson is a leader in nursing education, pioneering eLearning tools such as MyLab® Nursing to help students prepare for the rigorous NCLEX‑RN® exam. Its Clinical Nursing Skills and Clinical Decision‑Making Case libraries are widely recognized as industry‑leading resources that support competency development across the nursing curriculum.

The CRX initiative aims to replace static and fragmented eTexts with an interactive, patient‑centric, and competency-aligned learning experience (LX) that brings lessons, practice, and assessment together in one place. Our objective is to deliver a comprehensive and stand‑alone eLearning platform that moves beyond traditional reading to deliver engaging, applied, and measurably effective Nursing education and training.

The CRX initiative enabled the delivery of 616 lessons across 161 modules in six nursing courses. Through multiple rounds of feedback and iteration, the solution evolved into a flexible, resilient framework that supports a wide range of nursing content while consistently centering instructor and student needs, learning goals, and outcomes.

We conducted targeted research to surface design opportunities and to verify alignment with Pearson’s long‑term objectives. Below are key market insights and their associated design recommendations and goals. See the sample size below.

The combined sample size for Pearson’s research was substantial, representing the U.S. higher education market over more than two academic years. This robust dataset enabled us to develop a compelling and holistic understanding of the trends and outcomes in Nursing education.

A thorough analysis of the extensive dataset revealed significant design opportunities for the application redesign. I presented the findings in a comprehensive research report for the design team; the following are the most compelling results of the human-centered UX research process,

The ideation and design planning phase for this project was rigorous and grounded in evidence‑based LX and UX principles. Through extensive stakeholder co‑creation sessions, we ensured the solution remained user‑centered, goal‑aligned, and innovation‑driven. Over approximately three months, we conducted experience mapping, UX research synthesis, interaction design planning, and iterative concept testing to shape the project’s visual design system, prioritize user needs, define key learning interactions, and craft the end‑to‑end learning experience.

We needed a well‑structured production process to coordinate more than 100 contributors: authors, subject matter experts (SMEs), content production managers, engineers, multimedia researchers, instructional designers (IDs), and LX/UX designers. The figure below shows a streamlined view of our deliverable workflow. As the lead LX designer, I guided the learner‑centered design approach and ensured alignment across the full experience.

Personas help us empathize with the learners who will use CRX for 2+ years. Keeping these archetypes in mind throughout the design process grounds our decisions in real user needs. We developed our personas from patterns observed across our learner samples.

We crafted the design system to provide structure and hierarchy across diverse content. With 616 lessons across six courses, we established comprehensive, clearly documented patterns (even for edge cases!) to ensure complete coverage. This gives the authoring team a flexible toolkit for creating complex media compositions that remain coherent, well‑ordered, and visually consistent.

We design responsive, in‑lesson interactives that guide learners through each lesson. Anchored in proven learning‑science principles, these activities promote active and constructive engagement, reduce extraneous cognitive load, and provide immediate, actionable feedback—driving participation and long‑term retention. The following two theories informed our process, though they do not encompass all pedagogical approaches used.

CRX Infographics streamline the look and feel of traditional poster‑style infographics, distilling them into bite‑size, high‑impact visuals that enhance engagement and support the program’s case‑study–driven learning approach

Our research confirmed that nursing case studies would anchor the CRX experience. As a result, we dedicated significant effort to refining the interactive component–the Patient Encounter–that delivers accurate, relevant case‑study content while keeping learners actively engaged.

The first high‑fidelity prototype was developed as a proof of concept to gather feedback from end users: students and faculty. Built from the initial proposed design family, this prototype also served as a bridge for the authoring team, helping them translate the original eText into the more action‑driven design framework we created.

The first high‑fidelity prototype was developed as a proof of concept to gather feedback from end users: students and faculty. Built from the initial proposed design family, this prototype also served as a bridge for the authoring team, helping them translate the original eText into the more action‑driven design framework we created.

The CRX program is currently in active production. Authoring was completed in Q4 2025, and our builder teams are now implementing the final manuscripts with the approved design specifications. The next phases include editorial and design reviews to ensure both content accuracy and alignment with the intended UX system. We remain on track for Spring 2026 testing across 25 colleges and universities.

The CRX initiative is the largest learning experience project I have worked on to date. It required close collaboration with a large and diverse group of stakeholders across a team of more than 100 contributors, and I take pride in becoming the go‑to LX Designer on the project. Its success pushed me into a leadership role at Pearson, strengthening my LX skill set and offering valuable lessons in large‑scale collaboration, design leadership, and impact at scale.