Self-paced learning platforms
Lesson catalogs, video playback, reading materials, progress tracking, completion certificates. We have shipped two of these end to end with full author-side content tooling.
Industry pillar
EdTech software development partner. Two production learning platforms live in Los Angeles and New York.
We build learning platforms, LMS products, assessments, and instructor tooling for EdTech founders, corporate L&D teams, and higher-ed groups. Self-paced. Live. Multi-tenant. Tampa-based agency. LA and NYC shipped track record.
2
Production learning platforms shipped since 2020
LA + NY
Where the live products serve their learners
10-14w
Typical self-paced MVP timeline
2020
First EdTech engagement; live ever since
The short version
EdTech MVPs fail when the learner experience is beautiful and the instructor experience is a Google Sheet. We have shipped two learning platforms that survived this trap by designing both sides in the same engagement. The sections below name the patterns.
What we build for EdTech teams
Six EdTech surfaces we have shipped at least once in the last five years.
Live class delivery
Zoom, Daily.co, and LiveKit integrations for synchronous classes. Attendance, recording, breakout rooms, instructor controls. Built on top of proven video infrastructure rather than reinventing.
Assessments + grading
Quiz authoring, auto-grading for objective questions, AI-assisted feedback for short-answer responses, rubric-based grading for instructor review. We treat assessment integrity as a real feature, not a checkbox.
Certificates + credentials
Generated PDFs with verification URLs, learner-facing credential wallet, optional integration with Open Badges or Credly. The verification side matters more than the design; we build it to actually verify.
Instructor + admin tooling
Cohort management, learner progress dashboards, content authoring (text, video, quiz), bulk operations. Most EdTech MVPs ship a beautiful learner app and a Google Sheet for instructors; we ship both sides.
Multi-tenant for schools or L&D programs
Org-level isolation, custom branding per tenant, SSO via Google Workspace or SAML, separate billing accounts. The architecture for this is decided up front; retrofitting is painful.
Why DesignKey for EdTech
What we believe about building EdTech the right way
01
Two production learning platforms, both live
One in Los Angeles, one in New York. Different pedagogies, different stakeholder mixes, same underlying playbook for learner experience and instructor tooling.
02
We design for the instructor, not just the learner
The biggest EdTech failure pattern is a great learner UX that no one teaches on because the authoring side was an afterthought. We design both surfaces in the same engagement.
03
We pick build vs. integrate honestly
Sometimes Moodle or Open edX is the right answer and our job is to wrap them with a better learner experience. Sometimes the pedagogy is unusual enough that bespoke wins. We will not push a custom build to inflate the SOW.
04
COPPA, FERPA, and accessibility from day one
If your learners include minors, education-record protections and a11y conformance are not optional and not retrofittable. We design to them up front.
05
School calendars matter
We plan EdTech engagements around the academic calendar so we are not shipping a feature the week before classes start. Most agencies do not think this through.
06
Tampa rates for US-time-zone delivery
Roughly 30 to 40 percent below LA or NYC EdTech specialists for equivalent senior engineering, with full continental-US working-day overlap.
Case studies
Two learning platforms we shipped
One based in Los Angeles, one in New York. Different course-delivery patterns, different learner mixes, same underlying playbook for instructor and learner UX.
How an EdTech engagement starts with us
Three steps before code so the pedagogy and the engineering stay aligned.
- 1
Pedagogy + content-shape map
What learners actually do, in what order, with which artifacts. Self-paced or cohort-based. Sync, async, or hybrid. This decides the data model and the UI architecture, both. Skipping it produces a platform that does not match how the content was designed to be taught.
- 2
Instructor + admin workflow walkthrough
Who authors, who publishes, who reviews, who grades, who emails the cohort when something breaks. We design these surfaces as real products in the same scope because instructor adoption is what determines whether learners ever see your platform.
- 3
Compliance + accessibility scope
COPPA if you have under-13 learners. FERPA if you touch education records. WCAG 2.2 AA is the baseline; AAA where the funder requires. These are designed in, not added later.
Related services and deeper guides
EdTech touches video, mobile, and accessibility deeply. These pages dig into the surfaces.
FAQ
EdTech development questions, answered
Questions we hear from EdTech founders, instructional designers, and L&D leaders.
Building EdTech in 2026?
No sales pitch. A working session on your pedagogy, instructor workflow, and compliance surface. We share what we have shipped and where we say no.
Schedule an EdTech discovery call