Deepak J T
The Problem and Approach
The Challenge:
The Genie App is a platform that allows users to explore and download educational content. The challenge involved was to ensure that it is an interactive and user friendly product
for children in rural India. Thus, the team delved deep into detailed research and analysis paving way to create designs that would make learning an enjoyable experience for these children.
The overall Idea was bridging the learning gap among kids (5- 12 years) in rural areas to empower and enable equal learning opportunities available to their urban counterparts.
The Approach:
- Conducted on site research with children from the ages of 5- 12 years.
- No segregation made on what grades or classes they were studying in.
- Analysed the availability of devices and network coverage in the decided areas.
- Recorded the reactions and knowledge levels of the educators and children in the are on useage of the devices
- Gathered information from the government education providers in the region with regards to the skill levels.
- Further research with educational books and material available to urban areas of India.
- Conducted workshops with educators(voluteers) on how to ensure proper methods of releasing material to the users
- Recurrent data capture and analysis to provide better experiences to the users.
Objectives
The present UX & interface, based on material design was more oriented towards “intent driven, adult navigational behavior” and not a “curiosity driven child behavior”
the updated UX/UI attempts to revise the flow such that it creates interest for learning amongst children.
- Goal I: The improved Experience should be smooth, fluid, less explicit, siloed organization of UI choices and flow naturally to allow the child to explore the content provided with no or less assistance.
- Goal II: Secondly, it should be engaging enough to hold the child’s attention for sustainable durations e.g. 10 or 20 minute long sessions. Consider that this also depends on the content
available (combination of demanding tasks to passive fillers) on the EkStep Platform, type of device, connectivity & immediate environment. The User Experience should be cognizant
of these issues.
The process and Methods used:-
- Field study & User Interviews (Secondary users)
- Demographic study
- User journey & Information architecture
- Wireframing, Visual & UI Design
- Stakeholder meetings
- Usability testing (time taken for kids to access their favourite content? and their Emotional response)
- Ekstep Genie had an offline tracking system, that provided data of user sessions and activities. This data was syncronised to the Ekstep analytics
dashboard when connected to a WiFi network using Telemetry files. This allowed the team to measure duration of user sessions in Genie app
Usability testing (time taken for kids to access their favourite content?)
Wireframes
Constraints:
- Remote locations (internet connectivity)
- Less mobile friendly content
- Device availability
- Under prepared educators
- Children with various level of education in the same class
Once the designs were almost final we conducted further tests to understand the drawbacks on devices and
physical barriers that may hinder the use of the app before iterating on it further.
Final Outcome
You can find a detailed information about Ekstep service on Ekstep
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