The current Account Request Form no longer aligns with the actual workflow and has is a potential source of confusion for both instructors and future administrators. The form and its associated processes need to be updated to better reflect the current reality.
Problems with the Existing Form
- Form Purpose Does Not Reflect Actual Workflow
The current form is presented as an “Account Request Form,” but users are not actually requesting an account. Instead, they are requesting permission to create courses within a specific institute. The terminology, field labels, and user-facing messaging should be updated to accurately represent this purpose.
- Incorrect Source of Truth for Course Creation Privileges
Currently, any instructor with co-owner role can create courses associated with a particular institute. This includes instructors who have not been vetted by the administrator. The account request should become the source of truth and used to determine if an instructor is allowed to create course for a particular institute. The entity name might be changed to better reflect its purpose.
- Requests Are Not Tied to User Accounts
The current process allows users to submit requests using an email address that may not correspond to the actual account used to join the course later. In addition, linking the account to the account request would give us more information we can use to vet an instructor (whether he/she has previous requests, whether account is linked to instructor/student profiles)
- Instructors should be required to log in before submitting a request.
- Requests should be automatically associated with the authenticated user account.
- Country Selection Is Fragile
The current country field relies on free-text input with a set of common value replacements and normalizations. This approach is error-prone and results in inconsistent data.
The country selection mechanism should be replaced with a structured country picker (e.g., standardized dropdown or searchable country list) to ensure data consistency and reduce validation complexity.
This is also an opportunity to rework the UX of the page and other references to the page. For example, there should be a link to this page from the create course or unauthorised access page.
The current Account Request Form no longer aligns with the actual workflow and has is a potential source of confusion for both instructors and future administrators. The form and its associated processes need to be updated to better reflect the current reality.
Problems with the Existing Form
The current form is presented as an “Account Request Form,” but users are not actually requesting an account. Instead, they are requesting permission to create courses within a specific institute. The terminology, field labels, and user-facing messaging should be updated to accurately represent this purpose.
Currently, any instructor with co-owner role can create courses associated with a particular institute. This includes instructors who have not been vetted by the administrator. The account request should become the source of truth and used to determine if an instructor is allowed to create course for a particular institute. The entity name might be changed to better reflect its purpose.
The current process allows users to submit requests using an email address that may not correspond to the actual account used to join the course later. In addition, linking the account to the account request would give us more information we can use to vet an instructor (whether he/she has previous requests, whether account is linked to instructor/student profiles)
The current country field relies on free-text input with a set of common value replacements and normalizations. This approach is error-prone and results in inconsistent data.
The country selection mechanism should be replaced with a structured country picker (e.g., standardized dropdown or searchable country list) to ensure data consistency and reduce validation complexity.
This is also an opportunity to rework the UX of the page and other references to the page. For example, there should be a link to this page from the create course or unauthorised access page.