Designing an Innovative Educational Tool to Enhance Oral Language Comprehension in Early Learners

Client
AskMeno

Year
2021- Present

Role
Head of Content + Design

Tools
User Research + Testing: Surveys, interviews, in-class observations, in-class product testing with children

Design: Figma

Analytics: Google Analytics, Tableau

Challenge

Using existing collegiate-level technology, create an interactive educational platform aimed at enhancing conversation opportunities for language comprehension assessment in children aged 4-6.

Outcome

A digital learning tool that designs conversation opportunities for language comprehension assessment in Pre-K to 1st Grade learners.

every good project starts with a question (or 100)

questionS along the way

How can we convert existing tech to be kid-friendly? What are the hallmarks of this developmental stage? What challenges does this age group face? What problems do teachers of this age group face? How can we help support the teachers? How can we help the students? What do colors mean to them? What typeface is best for early readers? What contrast ratio is best for developing eyesight? How do projectors casting onto whiteboards affect the user experience? How much clickable space is needed on a smartboard? How do we make our buttons more intuitive? How can we more effectively train teachers? What data matters most to them? How many words per minute should our video voiceovers be for kids to best understand? How can we assign rubric tags to utterances to track progress from lower-order to higher-order thinking? How can we help kids feel more confident? How does our error handling affect the user experience? How can we best serve our users?

Design Process

Empathize: Conducted user research activities, including surveys, interviews with educators, in-class observations, and reading books and resources from experts, to gain insights into the developmental stage and learning preferences of children aged 4-6. This phase focused on understanding the unique needs and challenges of our target audience.

Define: Synthesized research findings and insights from expert literature to identify key user pain points, goals, and opportunities. This phase involved defining the scope of the project, establishing educational objectives, and outlining design requirements to guide the development process.

Ideate: Brainstormed creative solutions and design concepts to address identified user needs and goals. This phase involved collaborative ideation sessions with cross-functional team members, exploring innovative approaches to interactive storytelling and educational content delivery.

Prototype: Utilized prototyping tools such as Figma to create design prototypes and interactive mockups. Developed immersive story-driven content incorporating educational standards to create a compelling learning experience. Integrated virtual character interactions to encourage student engagement and active participation. These prototypes were iteratively tested with teachers and young students to gather feedback on usability, engagement, and overall user experience.

Test: Conducted in-class product testing sessions with children to evaluate the effectiveness of interactive storytelling content and user interface design. Feedback from testing sessions was used to inform iterative design improvements and refinements.

Iterative Development: Implemented feedback-driven design iterations to refine the user interface, optimize user interactions, and enhance overall user experience based on user feedback and analytics insights. This iterative approach allowed for continuous improvement and refinement throughout the development process.

Design SYSTEM

Recognizing the unique cognitive abilities and learning preferences of children aged 4-6, a specialized design system was developed to create a kid-friendly and engaging user experience. This design system incorporated age-appropriate visual elements, interactive components, and intuitive navigation patterns that catered to the developmental needs of young users. Colors, typography, iconography, and animations were carefully selected to enhance comprehension, promote exploration, and foster a sense of delight and wonder during interactions with the platform. By creating a design system tailored to the specific needs and preferences of its target audience, AskMeno aims to maximize engagement, retention, and learning outcomes for young students.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a core principle in the design and development of AskMeno, with a commitment to making the platform inclusive and usable for all users, including those with disabilities. To achieve this, rigorous adherence to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards was followed throughout the design and development process. Regular accessibility audits were conducted to identify and address any potential barriers or issues that could impact users with disabilities. By prioritizing accessibility, AskMeno aims to provide an equitable learning experience for all students, regardless of their abilities.

SUCCESS METRICS

  1. User Metrics:

    • Engagement: Time spent interacting with virtual characters and story content

    • Interaction Rate: Frequency of questions asked by students during storytelling sessions

    • User Satisfaction: Feedback ratings from teachers and students

  2. Business Metrics:

    • Adoption Rate: Number of classrooms and educational institutions integrating AskMeno into their curriculum

  3. Technology Metrics:

    • Performance: Stability and responsiveness of the AskMeno platform

    • Analytics Integration: Utilization of Google Analytics and Tableau for comprehensive data analysis and visualization

ongoing improvements

Accessibility: Continuously enhance accessibility features to ensure inclusivity for users with diverse needs. Conduct regular audits to assess accessibility compliance and identify areas for improvement, ensuring that AskMeno remains accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities.

Teacher Support: Introduce features to facilitate teacher-student communication and streamline classroom management tasks. By providing tools and resources to support teachers in effectively integrating AskMeno into their instruction, such as streamlined training modules and physical product resources, AskMeno aims to empower educators and enhance the overall teaching and learning experience.

Data Analytics: Further leverage data analytics tools to gain deeper insights into user behavior and content effectiveness for ongoing optimization. By analyzing user engagement metrics, content interaction patterns, and learning outcomes, AskMeno aims to identify opportunities for refinement and improvement, ensuring that the platform continues to meet the needs and preferences of its users.

Usability: Continue to improve ease of use both for teachers and students. By implementing user feedback and conducting usability testing, AskMeno aims to enhance the overall usability of the platform, making it more intuitive and user-friendly for all stakeholders.

RESOURCES

Throughout the development process, a variety of resources played a crucial role in shaping the design and educational effectiveness of AskMeno:

Books:

  1. "Design for Kids" by Debra Levin Gelman

  2. "From Solo to Scaled" by Natalie Marie Dunbar

  3. "Conversations with Things" by Diana Diebel and Rebecca Evanhoe

  4. "Figure It Out" by Stephen P. Anderson and Karl Fast

  5. "Designing Agentive Technology" by Christopher Noessel

  6. "The User's Journey" by Donna Lichaw

  7. "Playful Design" by John Ferrara

Websites and Online Resources:

  1. Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) - www.nngroup.com

  2. Web Accessibility Initiative - www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

  3. Material Design - https://m3.material.io/

  4. UX Matters - www.uxmatters.com

  5. UX Collective - www.uxdesign.cc

  6. Interaction Design Foundation (IDF) - www.interaction-design.org

Educational Research:

  1. National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) - www.naeyc.org

  2. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University - developingchild.harvard.edu

  3. American Educational Research Association (AERA) - www.aera.net