Create engaging learning experiences through app design

Yaroslav Zubko is a Ukrainian-born visual arts expert and former Design Director at Riiid Labs, an artificial intelligence (AI) company in the field of e-learning and educational app development. Previously, he held the position of a designer at Tinder.

During his tenure at Riiid Labs, he established and managed design teams while serving as lead designer on specific projects. He worked on an application to help American students prepare for his SAT test. The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. He also developed his mobile app DE Saber for Colombian students preparing for his Saber 11, the high school exit exam for university entrance.

Jaroslav will share his insights on the evolution of e-learning and educational apps through the lens of gamification and user experience.

Improving the learning experience: The power of combining e-learning and gamification

Creating new synapses in the brain typically requires repeating an action 400 times, unless the process is engaged in play. In that case, you only need 10-20 repetitions. That’s why it’s almost impossible to find an educational app today that doesn’t have gaming elements. The benefits of gamification are increasingly recognized, and it is predicted to grow by an average of 28% every year from now until 2030.

Gamification involves integrating game elements such as levels, rewards, and badges into non-game scenarios to inject fun and motivation. The main purpose of gamification is to increase engagement, motivation, and increase participation.

And it works. In his study of three generations of students in two computer science courses from 2014 to 2017, his attendance rate in the group that introduced gamification was 86.25%, compared to his in the control group. It turned out that it was over 61%. Furthermore, the gamified cohort achieved a homework completion rate of 56.25%, while the control group’s completion rate was 18.5%.

In another study of 124 students at Utah Valley University’s Woodbury School of Business, 67.7% of students said gamified courses were more motivating than courses with traditional educational approaches. It turned out that I felt it.

Pursuit of playful rewards

In our daily lives, gamification is all around us, subtly influencing our behavior through attractive incentives. Whether it’s at the coffee shop where he collects 9 stamps to earn his 10th cup for free, or when he reaches his 10,000 step goal set by his fitness tracker, these are all available to us. It is a game played using the consciousness of Its purpose is to increase motivation, trigger happiness-inducing hormones, and capture our interest through active participation. At this moment, everyday life turns into a fascinating experience.

Motivational elements like high scores, progress bars, and badges can similarly aid in-app education by encouraging users to improve faster. Additionally, gamification features such as leaderboards and countdowns create a competitive environment and motivate users to keep learning.

My first encounter with educational app design was enriched by my entrepreneurial experience founding Fluently, a mobile application dedicated to making language exchange an immersive and fun experience.

The gamification elements implemented included visually appealing elements such as interactive quizzes, progress tracking with badges and rewards, and animations, which made the learning process fun and rewarding. .

Similarly, these principles have been extended to other educational apps I’ve been working on, with a focus on integrating gamified elements and concepts into mobile applications and web interfaces.

How important are UX/UI elements in educational apps?

Many factors influence app retention in educational applications, from the level of entertainment, the information it contains, to the relevance of the content you provide to your target audience.

But among these important considerations, a crucial element that influences the effectiveness of your app becomes clear. It’s the design of the app and the interactions it fosters within this gamified environment. This is supported by research from the Federation of American Scientists. They emphasized that students can recall 20 percent of information from verbal instructions alone. Incorporating visuals into oral lectures increased retention rates to 30%.

Many people, especially younger Millennials and Gen Z, are already immersed in gaming culture and are familiar with these appealing elements. To get the most out of your app, you need to meet your students’ needs and expectations. And it is difficult to make a good impression on students. Therefore, visual experience and interactive content engagement is paramount. Visuals such as graphics and animations enhance user engagement and convey information effectively.

Striking a balance: user-friendly design and functionality

The design of educational apps goes beyond aesthetics. Designers should focus on students’ needs, age, current educational advancements and knowledge. You should also consider not only the functionality, but also how much your users will enjoy your app.

Riiid Labs has developed educational applications including the already mentioned DE Saber, among other applications and educational platforms. Additionally, while at Riiid Labs, he served as Creative Director of ConnecME Education, an international education company providing customized solutions for schools, universities, and government agencies.

Our goal was to cover all target groups using the application, taking into account factors such as educational background and previous experience with e-learning tools. I take pride in contributing to the development of systems that cater to individual learning styles and ensure a more effective and personalized learning experience for users.

Creating an intuitive interface for DE Saber

At DE Saber, I learned how individuals prepare for exams and cater to their needs. The app stands out for its innovative approach by incorporating motion design and AI technology to personalize study plans and provide real exam questions.

We achieved this through extensive user research, held numerous brainstorming sessions, and leveraged our collective expertise to innovate and create a truly outstanding application. My team and I conducted user interviews to learn more about how individuals currently prepare for exams. Valuable insights gleaned during DE Saber user exploration include understanding users’ diverse study habits, identifying pain points in exam preparation, and identifying user preferences in learning methodologies and content presentation. .

Understanding how individuals categorize questions into recognition sections and connect these question types to specific answering approaches has proven invaluable. This insight has allowed us to train our ability to identify these logical clusters, allowing us to prioritize the most difficult clusters. This streamlines the preparation process and increases efficiency for users. This is how the concept of “low hanging fruit” was born within the application. The easiest to achieve is the question pattern that is most difficult for a particular user. Users are prioritized first, so they can use their preparation time most efficiently.

Incorporating motion and interaction design elements became our hallmark and differentiated DE Saber among our competitors. The UI is not only functional, but also designed to seamlessly engage users, making the learning process intuitive, interactive, and fun. Incorporating cutting-edge AI technology, users can customize study plans, access real exam questions, and receive personalized instruction from AI tutors, all in a dynamic, adaptive learning experience. Contribute.

Navigating diverse audiences

When it comes to educational platforms involving teachers, it is essential to consider that there is an audience with a fundamentally different perspective on digital tools than students. At DE Saber, we were able to identify our user demographic with great accuracy even before we started user research. Certain elements were tailored to the specific age group preparing for the exam.

For younger users, bright colors, playful animations, and gamified learning experiences have been added to stimulate engagement. In contrast, if your product’s learners are older (and perhaps less tech-savvy), the emphasis will be on existing conventions, more conservative navigation patterns, and clear visuals to facilitate ease of use and understanding. It will be.

Making your app easier to navigate improves the overall user experience. Additionally, providing continuous feedback is essential to keeping users engaged and encouraged throughout their interaction with your application.

These principles emphasize the importance of intuitive interfaces, incorporating AI for personalized experiences, responsive design across devices, and inclusivity for diverse audiences; All aimed at optimizing overall user satisfaction and learning outcomes.