Navigation Consistency Between Learner Dashboard and Course Discovery Page

Community
1

Hello Open edX Community,

I would like to share a navigation behavior that was recently reported by one of our clients and gather feedback from the community regarding whether this is an expected UX pattern or if it could be considered for future improvements.

Context

A learner starts from the Learner Dashboard (“My Courses”) and clicks on “Discover New Courses” to browse the course catalog.

From the learner’s perspective, the navigation changes significantly once they arrive at the discovery/catalog page:

  • The header styling may differ from the Learner Dashboard.
  • The direct “Courses” navigation entry is no longer visible.
  • The primary way back to the dashboard appears to be clicking the platform logo.
  • Users may perceive that they have left the main learning area, even though they are still within the same platform.

This can make navigation feel less intuitive for some learners.

Example

In the screenshot provided by the client, the learner starts from the “My Courses” page, where both Courses and New Courses are visible. After navigating to the course discovery page, the navigation menu changes and the direct link back to Courses disappears. The user must rely on the platform logo or other navigation elements to return. imageimage.png†image.png (Image: Dashboard and discovery navigation change)

Questions for the Community

  1. Is this behavior considered the intended UX within current Open edX releases?
  2. Have other operators or developers received similar feedback from learners?
  3. Has there been any previous discussion about maintaining a more consistent navigation experience between:
    • Learner Dashboard
    • Course Discovery / Catalog pages
  4. Would it make sense to expose an optional configuration that keeps a visible “My Courses” or “Dashboard” link while browsing the catalog?

Why We Think It Matters

For less technical users, navigation consistency is very important. When menu items change unexpectedly, learners may feel they have left the platform context, even when they have not.

A more consistent experience could:

  • Improve discoverability.
  • Reduce navigation confusion.
  • Make it easier to browse new courses and return to current enrollments.
  • Reduce support requests related to navigation.

We understand this may be the current intended behavior, but we wanted to raise it with the community to understand the reasoning behind the current design and explore whether there might be interest in improving the learner experience in future releases.

Thank you in advance for any feedback or insights!

Best regards,

2

Hi @Le00m_1 - I don’t see any screenshots. Also what version of the platform are you using? In Ulmo, the new Catalog MFE was debuted, which brings the Catalog in line with Paragon components. See Course Catalog Revamp — Latest documentation for more detail!