Academic Workflow Modernization for Ashesi University

Faith Awokunle

Semesterise

Interactive Biome Display is a mobile application that allows users to paste product links and preview those products in immersive biomes. The app enhances product discovery by blending nature-inspired environments with intuitive mobile interaction.

Overview

At Ashesi University, Ghana, one of Africa’s leading liberal arts institutions, students and staff were navigating academic workflows that hadn’t evolved with their needs. From petitioning course substitutions to requesting graduation audits, critical tasks were slowed down by Manual paperwork, Ambiguous approval paths, Lack of status visibility, It wasn’t just inconvenient. It was inefficient, anxiety-inducing, and error-prone.

My Challenge?

Design a modern academic platform that simplifies submissions, gives users clarity, and makes institutional review processes feel seamless without overloading the system or the staff.

Understanding the Landscape

The client provided access to survey data, staff interviews, and system audits. From this, I extracted key friction points and use cases to anchor the design work.

Core Challenges Identified

Students were lost. After submitting forms, there was no visibility into what happened next.​
Staff were overwhelmed. Chasing missing documents or fixing submission errors created bottlenecks.
Workflows were inconsistent. Approvals varied between departments and lacked clear structure.

Reframing the Submission Experience

With the client team, I redefined the submission flow not just as a data entry task but as a guided journey that respects users’ time and attention.

Design Priorities

Clarity: Help users know where they are in the process
Speed: Reduce back-and-forth through better guidance
Structure: Bring consistency to how forms are submitted, reviewed, and approved

Digital Form Submissions

We replaced paper-based forms and PDF downloads with clean, structured web forms.
Exactly the same inputs as the old forms, but now filled online
Clean interface with built-in validation to prevent empty or invalid fields
Old and new format of submission
Old and new format of submission

Smart Dashboard for Reviewers

Staff see submission priority, approval history, and attached docs, all in one place.
Triage view for quick sorting
Inline commenting and approvals
Document viewer and status history
Petition details page for academic staffs
Petition details page for academic staffs

Transparent Status Updates

Real-time progress tracking means fewer emails like “Just checking on this…”
Status badges (“Pending,” “Reviewed,” “Approved”)
Alerts when actions are required
Digest view to stay updated without being overwhelmed
status and approval workflow
status and approval workflow

Degree Auditing System

We also designed a system that helps students audit their degree progress allowing them to clearly track completed courses, outstanding requirements, and plan ahead with confidence. It was a thoughtful mix of UI clarity and functional problem-solving, built to reduce the confusion many students faced with manual tracking.
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Posted Jul 23, 2025

Designed a modern academic platform for Ashesi University to simplify submissions and improve workflow efficiency.

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