How Students Who Design set up Figma in their online classroom | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)
Students Who Design uses Figma as the central workspace for running an online product-design course. Its system combines personal onboarding, shared file organization, reusable UI templates, recorded lectures, hands-on assignments, and asynchronous instructor feedback. The approach helps students work independently while allowing instructors to monitor progress and provide guidance in a shared environment. ## Pre-Class Setup - Students create free personal Figma accounts and familiarize themselves with the editor before class begins. - Instructors invite students to the Students Who Design team as editors. - Lectures are stored in the shared workspace, with Loom recordings providing audio narration for self-paced learning. - Projects and naming conventions organize instructor materials, sponsorship work, brand assets, and student files. - Each student creates a Master Figma file using the naming format `Intro DPD: Name`, making work easy to locate and manage. ## Teaching Through Hands-On Projects - The three-week course centers on improving Messenger: - Research and design principles - A class-wide brainstorm to prioritize feature improvements - An individual high-fidelity user flow - Students watch recorded lectures and complete assignments on weekly deadlines. - Each student duplicates a master file containing a UI kit and Messenger building blocks, reducing setup time and keeping work consistent. - Students use Pages to document their process, with recommended organization including: - Numbered pages for easy scanning - Titles describing the design stage or page contents - Dedicated areas for exploration, inspiration, and revisions - Because students work in one file throughout the course, they can create and share Figma prototypes directly with instructors. ## Monitoring Progress and Providing Feedback - Figma lets instructors enter student files remotely and review progress without being physically present. - Viewing individual pages makes it easy to identify completed assignments and ongoing explorations. - Critique and feedback are treated as essential parts of the course, particularly for beginners. - The shared workspace supports asynchronous review while keeping student work, prototypes, and course materials connected. The recommended model is to establish a clear workspace structure before class, give students reusable templates, and keep all project development in one organized Figma file. This creates a flexible online classroom where students can learn at their own pace while instructors maintain visibility and provide timely design feedback.