Feature Enhancement: Restore the left-sidebar navigation in the learner experience

Development Design
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Hi everyone,

In one of the recent conferences, I was quite pleased to see the proposal to bring back the left-sidebar navigation in Open edX (for context, see the feature proposal).

We activated it in our latest platform upgrade. However, after receiving feedback from our users, I have to admit that the result was not what I expected.

The reasons for introducing the sidebar—mainly to increase focus on content and improve the use of screen space—are valid. However, moving away completely from the previous navigation model has created some issues:

  1. The previous approach worked well because users always knew where they were within a subsection. The top navigation provided a clear view of progress (e.g., number of units remaining and content type), and the breadcrumb made it easy to move across the course.

  2. Relying on a single navigation pattern (via the hamburger/sidebar) reduces flexibility. It forces users into a more interaction-heavy experience, where they need to actively retrieve context instead of having it readily available.

At the same time, the current sidebar clearly brings relevant benefits that we would not want to lose. The issue, in our view, is not choosing one approach over the other, but rather how to combine the strengths of both.

To address this, we asked EduNext to implement a temporary hybrid solution, reintroducing both solutions working at the same time, and, therefore, addressing what we consider critical:

  • Breadcrumb navigation (for persistent context)
  • Sequence navigation (for progress and flow when the hamburger is closed)
  • Sidebar navigation (for full course structure)

From a UI perspective, this is not the cleanest solution. However, it reflects a more balanced approach by preserving what worked well in the past while taking advantage of the newer improvements. Most importantly, after this change, user complaints stopped, which suggests that both navigation models were addressing real and complementary needs.

Can we address this issue in the community? @e0d @marcotuts @Cassie @Felipe who else can be part of this discussion?

Thanks,

Pedro - NAU Plataform (Portuguese National MOOC Platform)

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Hi Pedro - thanks for the feedback! I’m including @Chelsea_Rathbun here as the product manager. Also I think MIT may still use the breadcrumbs - paging @pdpinch in for any context.

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I’ll add an image of the current combined solution we have running for learners. Notice the breadcrumb that will not collapse when the accordion is closed.

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Thank you for your message. We, too, were very excited to introduce the sidebar navigation! It is always helpful to hear feedback from the community about what’s going well and what might be a friction point for their instance or the broader community.

I have heard of other organizations adding the breadcrumbs back to the learner experience pages as well (and I remember this being something we went back and forth on during the implementation of the feature), so this might be something we can and should raise as a UI/UX improvement with the Product/Design WGs to see if we might get some design and product eyes from the community on bringing the breadcrumbs back to the learner experience page. I think a UX Fast Track Change Proposal would do for this work. @cabralpedrofccn Would you prefer to submit it? If not, I can take the data from your post and get it into the queue (just let me know).

As for the horizontal navigation: We know of at least one other organization that favor the horizontal navigation and choose to use it instead of the sidebar navigation (your combo approach is an interesting one I haven’t heard of yet). The biggest reason we decided to remove the horizontal navigation altogether was to ensure that when a learner decides to collapse the navigation, the unit page content takes the main stage and provides learners with a more distraction free learning environment. These designs were developed in partnership with and using research from WGU learners. Do you (and/or other community members!) have feedback from learners that they were feeling lost or stuck without the horizontal navigation in view (cc: Peter Pinch - already @ ed on this post)?

I’m always open to exploring if we have any research the core navigation experience we offer by default to improve learner experience.

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@cabralpedrofccn Thank you for sharing this information. I love hearing how real users are using the platform. I think Chelsea has you covered in how to move this idea forward :slight_smile:

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Hi @Chelsea_Rathbun,

Thanks for the follow-up. @Felipe added an image to this thread that helps illustrate the current solution. As mentioned earlier, it’s not perfect from a UI perspective, but it seems to have addressed the issue—since the change, we have stopped receiving tickets related to course navigation.

Our window for collecting structured feedback was quite limited. We acted quickly, and the fix implemented by @brayan, and by @IvoBranco took less than two weeks from EduNext’s initial analysis to deployment in production. As a result, we don’t have a comprehensive view across all course teams and learners.

That said, based on a quick review of our ticketing system (where feedback is typically brief), the main points raised were:

  • “Is this a permanent change? We may need to update our learner tutorials.” (course team)
  • “Is the absence of the top bar a bug or an intended change?” (course team)
  • “I didn’t enjoy the recent platform upgrade.” (learner)
  • “I have to keep opening and closing the sidebar to know where I am.” (learner)
  • “Please bring back the top bar.” (learner)

Overall, this suggests that removing persistent contextual navigation created friction, particularly around orientation and usability.

With that in mind, it seems that both approaches (previous navigation and sidebar) address different, complementary needs. Our hybrid solution — although not visually ideal, as you can see in Felipe’s screenshot — was effective in practice, as it combines these strengths and seems to have resolved the immediate user pain. I would add, that users aren’t always happy about any big change. :wink: But once again, I admit that I was always a fan of the side bar. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Would you be able to take this topic forward into a UX Fast Track Change Proposal? We’d be happy to support. Please let me know what additional information would be useful from our side.

Thanks!