Innovating Math Education Through
AI-Powered Games
Age of Learning is an EdTech company offering research-based digital learning programs like ABCmouse, which have educated over 50 million children worldwide. In 2015, they began developing Math Mastery games with AI-driven, adaptive learning paths to accelerate skill mastery, enhance math fluency, and boost student confidence.
Role
Senior UX Design
Timeframe
6 months, 2015
Tasks
UX design and research
Industry
EdTech
Product Category
Consumer Product and Enterprise Tool
Challenge
Loss of Interest if Too Hard or Too Easy – Kids tend to lose interest when the learning experience is either too easy or too difficult, highlighting the need for personalized education.
Lack of AI Learning – In 2015, AI-driven education was still a new frontier, and Age of Learning recognized an opportunity to lead the market
ABCmouse’s Limited Reach – ABCmouse focused on early learners, limiting its support for older children and struggling to maintain engagement with a linear activity progression as kids mastered basic skills.
Objectives
Develop AI-driven math games integrating proprietary curriculum and technology to create an engaging, adaptive learning experience.
Leverage the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) framework to tailor challenges to each student’s skill level.
Provide a math support curriculum to enhance elementary classroom instruction nationwide.
Expand Age of Learning’s product offerings to reach older students, increasing engagement and market potential.
Personas
Provisional personas were created based on user insights and business goals to guide design decisions, ensure alignment with user needs, and serve as a reference for usability studies. These personas helped the team anticipate user behaviors, identify pain points, and validate design choices throughout the development process.
Adaptive Rules
In collaboration with game designers and engineers, the Adaptive System Rules were created to guide children on what to play next, keeping them in the Zone of Proximal Development—the balance between what a student can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis of the key players in the industry was performed to identify market trends, uncover opportunities for differentiation, and inform strategic design and product decisions.
Game User flow
Various math games were created, focused on different aspects of early math literacy. Screen flows were an important tool for team collaboration, helping game designers, curriculum experts, and ML engineers align on the main screens, paths, and overall experience.
Teacher dashboard
In addition to the Math games, a Teacher tool was developed to help track students’ progress.
Usability Testing, Prototype
Coordinating the end-to-end usability testing process involved creating participant surveys, collaborating with engineers on the prototype, writing scripts, moderating tests, and preparing reports.
Usability Testing, Report
Usability Test Summary: We tested with an average of 5-6 kids, aged 5. The goals were to see if the kids understood how to play, and if they experienced boredom or frustration.
Week 5 Testing Results
Learnings: The game was easy to learn and engaging for the kids. However, the game progress indicator was challenging, and the adaptive engine felt narrow.
Recommendations: Rethink game instructions to be more age-appropriate. Improve adaptive rules to provide a more personalized experience.
Outcomes
The Adaptive Math Games project was the precursor for the My Math Academy, My Reading Academy, and My Reading Academy in Spanish product lines, reaching 600,000 classrooms and impacting 50 million students across the US.
In more recent news, Age of Learning raised $300M in their 2021 funding round, reaching a $3 billion valuation, and reported $50 million in revenue by 2024.
Lessons Learned
Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Intrinsic motivations, like the rewarding feeling of accomplishing tasks, combined with extrinsic motivations, such as earning points and rewards, were key to keeping kids engaged in the games.
Frequently engaging with real users matters: Ongoing conversations with real users provided invaluable insights to refine the games and meet their needs.
User testing is viable when operationalized. Efficient user testing can be implemented with a clear process and defined roles, allowing for fast feedback loops and iterations.