Project: Interaction Design 1 week design challenge
Work: Interaction design, paper prototyping, testing
Team: Tianlu Xue, Kai Wang, Adam Sweeney, Lee Beckwith
Target User: Secondary language learners
The goal of this app was to give students a new, better way to learn a foreign language than with traditional text-book style studying. The core idea behind this was to minimize disruption when reading in a foreign language, and we did that by combining a content panel with an “extended knowledge” panel, which draws information about selected portions of content from an external database.
One the most disruptive parts of reading a new language is the pauses built into reading text due to unfamiliar words and phrases, often leading the student to abandon the work in process, turn to a dictionary or translation program, and completely lose focus on the article or reading in question.
In fact, research indicates that students are less efficient at learning vocabulary in a second language when they must refer to a paper dictionary, a type-in translation method, or no dictionary at all. The method that yielded the most vocabulary retention in their experiment was a on-screen pop-up dictionary. [Liu, Lin 2010]
Currently, there are no apps or e-readers that allow a reader to concurrently view their content and their translation in a smooth, intuitive way. The existing designs all defer to simulating an actual dictionary. In current products, the user must exit their document, open up the dictionary feature, and search for a word.
By directing our design to minimizing disruption when reading a new language, we keep the student on task, helping where translation, definition, alternative use cases, or synonyms are needed without distracting from the primary process, reading.
Once we designed this app whose primary function is the content panel and the "extended knowledge" panel, we wanted to expand the possible uses of this app. From the beginning it was our goal to not make just another educational or reading app, but to allow a big change in the way people learn, what they learn, and how they learn it.
In the future we could use this to display and compare two different areas of learning, say history and science, or music and mathematics. Education often suffers because every subject is split apart, when in reality many areas affect each other in significant ways. This tool will allow students and teachers to explore different subjects in new ways.
We started with the brief in our Interaction Design Practice class, to build the educational app of the future to replace text books. We began with brainstorming in meetings, as well as much exploration of the problem space and sketching. Then we made paper prototypes, which initially included a "dashboard" where you could select exercises and functions. We also did some usability tests, which were quite revealing to us.
Based on the usability tests and further discussion, we decided to get rid of the dashboard and instead focus on the core of our design, the two-panel reader, one displaying content, and the other displaying extended knowledge from an external database. It was this iterative, collaborative approach where we facilitated communication and a flexible process that allowed us to produce a strong concept design we are proud of.
Team: Kai Wang, Tianlu Xue, Adam Sweeney, Lee Beckwith
copyright: Lee Beckwith 2011
Work: Interaction design, paper prototyping, testing
Team: Tianlu Xue, Kai Wang, Adam Sweeney, Lee Beckwith
Target User: Secondary language learners
Can connectivity change the way we use textbooks?
The goal of this app was to give students a new, better way to learn a foreign language than with traditional text-book style studying. The core idea behind this was to minimize disruption when reading in a foreign language, and we did that by combining a content panel with an “extended knowledge” panel, which draws information about selected portions of content from an external database.
Insights
One the most disruptive parts of reading a new language is the pauses built into reading text due to unfamiliar words and phrases, often leading the student to abandon the work in process, turn to a dictionary or translation program, and completely lose focus on the article or reading in question.
In fact, research indicates that students are less efficient at learning vocabulary in a second language when they must refer to a paper dictionary, a type-in translation method, or no dictionary at all. The method that yielded the most vocabulary retention in their experiment was a on-screen pop-up dictionary. [Liu, Lin 2010]
"...Design to minimize disruption when reading a new language"
Currently, there are no apps or e-readers that allow a reader to concurrently view their content and their translation in a smooth, intuitive way. The existing designs all defer to simulating an actual dictionary. In current products, the user must exit their document, open up the dictionary feature, and search for a word.
By directing our design to minimizing disruption when reading a new language, we keep the student on task, helping where translation, definition, alternative use cases, or synonyms are needed without distracting from the primary process, reading.
Expanding Our Reach
Once we designed this app whose primary function is the content panel and the "extended knowledge" panel, we wanted to expand the possible uses of this app. From the beginning it was our goal to not make just another educational or reading app, but to allow a big change in the way people learn, what they learn, and how they learn it.
In the future we could use this to display and compare two different areas of learning, say history and science, or music and mathematics. Education often suffers because every subject is split apart, when in reality many areas affect each other in significant ways. This tool will allow students and teachers to explore different subjects in new ways.
Process
We started with the brief in our Interaction Design Practice class, to build the educational app of the future to replace text books. We began with brainstorming in meetings, as well as much exploration of the problem space and sketching. Then we made paper prototypes, which initially included a "dashboard" where you could select exercises and functions. We also did some usability tests, which were quite revealing to us.
Based on the usability tests and further discussion, we decided to get rid of the dashboard and instead focus on the core of our design, the two-panel reader, one displaying content, and the other displaying extended knowledge from an external database. It was this iterative, collaborative approach where we facilitated communication and a flexible process that allowed us to produce a strong concept design we are proud of.
Team: Kai Wang, Tianlu Xue, Adam Sweeney, Lee Beckwith
copyright: Lee Beckwith 2011
