Case study: moving a computer science department online in one term
An illustrative rollout showing how a department can take a course from paper and spreadsheets to Lernie in a single term, week by week.
By Lernie team
Customer success · October 4, 2026 · 2 min read
This case study is an illustrative example. It follows a realistic rollout using the demo institution "Demo University" and its Data Structures course, based on how we recommend departments adopt Lernie. We'll publish stories from our institutions as they go live.
The starting point
Demo University's computer science department ran its first-year Data Structures and Algorithms course (CS-210) the way many departments do:
- lecture notes shared in a messaging group;
- lab assignments emailed to the lecturer;
- marks kept in a personal spreadsheet;
- a paper midterm marked by hand over two weekends.
Seven students in the pilot group, one lecturer and one goal: run the whole course on Lernie for one term without disrupting teaching.
Weeks 1–2: set up the course
The lecturer created CS-210 in Lernie and built three weekly modules (complexity, linked lists and trees) with short pages, uploaded slides and a reading for each week. Using the Builder, the whole structure took under an hour.
The CS-210 course in the Lernie builder
Students were added by email and the weekly timetable was added to the course schedule, so lectures and labs appeared on every student's calendar automatically.
Weeks 3–6: move assessment online
The first lab, Linked list implementation, was set up as an online assignment with a deadline and a 10% late penalty. All seven students submitted online. The lecturer graded each submission with written feedback and released the grades in one go.
Weighted categories were set to match the syllabus: quizzes 25%, assignments 25% and the final exam 50%. Because ungraded work counts as zero, students' totals showed exactly what they'd earned so far.
The CS-210 gradebook
Weeks 7–8: the first online quiz
A week-4 quiz on searching and sorting was built from a question bank, with a 20-minute time limit and two attempts. Students got their results instantly, with correct answers shown afterwards, turning the quiz into a learning moment rather than just a mark.
Throughout: conversations in one place
Instead of a group chat, students asked questions in the course inbox and discussions. A thread on "When would you pick a linked list over an array?" became one of the most useful study resources of the term.
A CS-210 discussion thread
The result
By the end of term, everything about CS-210 lived in one place:
- every submission was on time or clearly marked late, and nothing was lost;
- grades were calculated consistently and released when the lecturer was ready;
- students could see deadlines, results and feedback on their own dashboard and phone;
- the course was ready to copy for next year, with its question bank intact.
What other departments can take from this
- Start with one course. Prove it works, then expand.
- Move assessment early. Online submissions and grade release deliver the quickest wins.
- Close the group chat. Course messaging keeps questions answerable and phone numbers private.
Want to run a pilot like this in your department? Talk to our team.
