Oppia

Designed the language feature and conducted user research to help improve the user experience on the app

Project overview

Oppia is a learning platform aimed at providing quality education to children who lack access to traditional schooling. Given that 61 million children worldwide are unable to attend primary education, and 17 million will never step foot in a school if current trends persist, Oppia's mission is critical. The language and voice feature was designed to enhance the accessibility of the app, making it easier for children from diverse linguistic backgrounds to learn effectively.

My Role

As the Lead Product Designer, I was responsible for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing the language and voice features. This involved conducting user research, developing user personas, creating wireframes and prototypes, and working closely with developers and educators to ensure the features were effective and aligned with the educational goals of Oppia.

Problem Statement

Millions of children worldwide lack access to primary education due to various barriers, including language and literacy challenges. Oppia aims to address this by providing an inclusive learning platform. The current version of the app lacks features that accommodate children who are non-native speakers or have limited reading skills. There is a need to design language and voice functionalities that can make the app more accessible and engaging for these children.

Goal

To enhance the accessibility of the Oppia Android learning app by integrating language and voice features that cater to children from diverse linguistic backgrounds and varying levels of literacy.

Product Metrics

Currently we have 4 languages on the app, and through our analytics we have gotten 10,000 more children onboarded on the app and we are looking to add more languages on the app.

Research & Analysis (How we generated the product metrics)

Before coming up with the solution, I conducted interview with children within the range of 7-14.

Here are the interview questions and key insights from the research

Interview Questions

1. Did you find it difficult reading in English?

2. What are some of the distractions you face when using the app?

3. How are you navigating within the app?

4. Which apps do you use for learning?

Key Insights

1. 30% of the mobile app users needed interpreters to help translate

2. Email and Text Notifications

3. The app is very seamless and easy to use

4. Most of the users make use of Ulesson for study

Our Process using the “How Might We Technique”

At the end of the discovery, we constructed some how might we questions that will help us solve frame the problems for ideation.

How Might We make the Oppia android mobile app inclusive for underprivileged children globally in order to enjoy free access to education.

Design Solution

We implemented the language feature and added three languages( Portuguese, Arabic, Pidgin )

Once the user clicks on the App language in the settings page, it takes the user to the language option and they are able to switch languages

Once a user clicks on App language, It takes them to the Language options

User Testing

I conducted an in person interview with two children to be sure they can access the language feature and switch to the language of their choice

Results from the testing

From the testing, we gathered that users should be able to choose the language they want at the onboarding stage.
The app is fun and educative.
It is easy to locate the language app.

Challenges Faced

Diverse Linguistic Needs:

Addressing the wide range of languages spoken by the target user base.

Solved this by prioritizing the most commonly spoken languages and planning for future expansions.

What Comes Next?

We will keep improving the experience of the app and reaching out to NGOs to help train underprivileged children to be able to use the app.