My Learning Pal
My learning Pal is an engaging online learning experience for young learners.
What is the problem?
Students experienced various difficulties related to the delivery of online learning. Young learners didn’t have prior experience with online learning so for these students, the transition to online learning was problematic. These problems include decrements in academic performance, feelings of isolation, and a lack of learning motivation
Why is it important to find a solution?
Even after the pandemic, the current mass adoption of online learning could have lasting impacts on the global education system, and potentially accelerate and expand the rapid growth of virtual schools on a global scale.
User Research
We started the project with this problem statement, How might we create a more Engaging Remote Learning Experience for a young learner?
We interviewed six people to understand their pain points, needs, and wishes.
We identified several major concerns, limited collaborative learning opportunities, reduced learning motivation, and increased learning burdens, lack of interaction with friends, feeling isolated, feeling unsupported, lack of proper interaction with the teacher.
Ideation
In the ideation phase, we wanted to understand what makes a successful remote learning experience. We did some research, and we learned that the literature on online learning had emphasized the role of Effective Interaction in the success of student learning. Instructional design strategies for online learning have typically considered three main types of interaction: student-content interaction, student-teacher interaction, and student-student interaction. (The American Journal of Distance Education)
To have a successful online learning experience we need to have effective interaction in all three forms of interactions.
Solution
Moving forward we came up with our initial ideas. Based on the feasibility and the impact on the user we chose our final solution. To solve the problem we mainly focused on creating effective interaction to make an engaging online learning experience. Our solution is My Learning Pal which is a digital assistant. From the beginning to the end of class our user not only has the teacher but my pal to help them maintain their focus, answer their questions and help them with their homework. We also designed a friends club that lets our users be social and interact with their friends. We designed a reward system to help our persona stay motivated, earn coins and customize their avatar by playing educational games which helps them have a better interaction with the content.
