Promethean Teacher Planner
Industry-first lesson planning and delivery
As Director of Product Design, I led strategy, design, and testing across the entire product experience.
PRODUCT VISION & STRATEGY
USER RESEARCH
UX DESIGN
VISUAL DESIGN
Overview
The Teacher Planner was envisioned as the foundation of Promethean’s ActivSuite™. Planner aggregates a teacher's disparate lesson content into a single hub, organizes it into a timed playlist, and launches it seamlessly in class with dual teacher/student views. As Design Director, I led the strategy and design to fill a critical gap in the industry and our product portfolio. I later evolved this concept into "Teacher’s Pet", an expansion of the original idea with richer features, deeper functionality, and a new patent filing.
The Problem​
Teachers had too much content in too many places, making planning and delivery of lessons complicated, time consuming, and stressful.
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Disconnected tools → Teachers relied on pen and paper, juggling files, apps, links, and logins across multiple platforms.
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Lost in the layers → Even when content was on the classroom display, teachers often struggled to find it in the moment due to layers of folders, windows and tabs.
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Interrupted teaching flow → Technical snafus, repeated logins, and broken links made it hard to stay on track and keep students engaged.
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No way to share → Sending lesson plans to subs meant sharing hand-written notes, apps, logins, files, and links; a nearly impossible task.
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The result? Stress, wasted effort, and less attention on students.
A Gap in the Market + An Opportunity
While the edtech space was crowded with lesson creation tools, none helped teachers organize and actually deliver lessons smoothly. Teachers didn’t need another authoring app — they needed a way to aggregate, program and teach their existing content.
For Promethean, this was both an industry opportunity and a portfolio opportunity: our products supported delivery in the classroom, but we lacked the crucial first step — planning.
What We Heard From Teachers
Through interviews and classroom observations, we captured the daily frustrations in their own words: lost content, login loops, pacing issues, and sharing difficulties.
Teacher voices highlighted fragmented workflows and the stress of disorganized lesson delivery.
Key teacher needs surfaced in the research
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A tool to aggregate content into a central place.
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Seamless connection between home and classroom.
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A way to stay on track/on time while teaching.
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Dual teacher/student views to avoid distraction.
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Easier sharing with substitutes.
From Sketches to Prototypes
To explore solutions, we ran a design sprint. As Design Director, I guided strategy but also worked hands-on with the team; sketching flows, facilitating critiques, and prototyping concepts.
Early sketches explored how planning could connect directly to lesson delivery.
A Seamless Teaching Flow
The final concept brought everything together in one continuous workflow: Plan, organize, launch, and teach.
How it Works
Think of the planner like a playlist, but for lesson content. Teachers drop in their existing lessons and the planner organizes everything into a timed sequence.
Adding Lessons to the Planner
Teachers drag and drop content into time blocks
Start with a simple calendar view.
A teacher can add any lesson content to a time block, which opens a modal
Teacher can pull in files, links and notes as well as program start and end times
Start with a simple calendar view.
Viewing the Playlist
When the calendar is complete, it can be viewed as a "playlist". Teacher has full control over playback.
Launching the Planner
Entering the classroom, a teacher hits "Start my Day" and the calendar turns into a playlist. At exactly 8am (the start time of the first block), the associated lesson content automatically appears on the classroom display.
Teacher clicks "Start my Day" to initiate the playlist
At exactly the programmed time, the first block appears full screen on the classroom display
The teacher sees their own dashboard view and is able to multi-task while controlling the playback
Teacher clicks "Start my Day" to initiate the playlist
Key Innovations
Timed Playlist
Autoplaying time blocks keep teachers on time and on track, allowing flexible pacing and classroom responsiveness. Each block may also include optional backup or enrichment content, allowing teachers to fill time flexibly if a lesson ends early or if students finish ahead of pace.
Audio Queues
Subtle audio prompts indicate time transitions and help teachers stay on schedule while assisting students.
One-Click Planner Sharing
A one-time setup flow collects teacher experience, grade, subject, and district info to tailor standards alignment, AI planning, and SmartFetch results.
Teacher Dashboard View
Content is displayed fullscreen on the classroom panel, while the teacher's laptop displays a dashboard view where they can control playback and multitask.
Personalized Onboarding
A one-time setup flow collects teacher experience, grade, subject, and district info to tailor standards alignment, AI planning, and SmartFetch results.
Import Existing Plans
Teachers can upload existing lessons or slides and assign them to time blocks.
Future Features
Chrome Extension
Push any web content directly into the SmartBlock planner during prep time.
AI Standards Tracking
AI monitors which standards are met over time and flags gaps in instructional coverage for reflection and planning.
Mobile App
Full playback control and hands-free voice commands like "next block" or "pause lesson" keep the teacher untethered.
Lesson Templates
Reusable block-based playlists allow teachers to quickly reapply pacing and structure across different subjects or days.
AI Search
Automatically surfaces previously used or viewed content across Google Drive, OneDrive, browser history, bookmarks, and downloaded files. SmartFetch may also recommend relevant extension content—videos, articles, or activities—that align with the lesson theme and can be optionally shown as bonus or early-finisher material.
Outcomes & Reflection
Although Teacher Planner was never launched, it was a valuable investment.
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Clarified that teachers needed organization and orchestration more than new authoring tools.
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Informed Promethean’s long-term strategy for integrated workflows.
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Laid the foundation for Teacher’s Pet, my follow-up project now advancing under a new patent filing.​
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Takeaway: This case study reflects my ability to identify market gaps, translate teacher needs into product strategy, and lead both strategic direction and hands-on design to create innovative solutions.
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